explanations of attachment

• what does behaviourism state?

  all behaviour is learned rather than innate
• what does behaviourism assume?

  we are born tabula rasa
• what do behaviourists suggest?


  everything we become can be explained in terms of the experiences we have. behaviourists suggest that all behaviour (including attachment) is learned through classical or operant conditioning
• what is classical conditioning?

  learning through association
• what does the infant gain pleasure through before attachment is learned?


  being fed
• what happens during the infant’s early weeks?

  certain things become associated with food because they are present at the same time as they are being fed
• what do learning theorists call this newly formed stimulus-response?

  mother love
• why does attachment form according to operant conditioning?

  someone or something reinforces attachment-related behaviour. this is a more active form of conditioning related to conscious action rather than instinct. a reinforcer is anything that increases the frequency of a desired response
• what do dollard and miller (1950) say?

  attachment is acquired through both classical and operant conditioning
• what did searset et al (1957) suggest?


  as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them
• what is the support of the learning theory?

  it is based on scientific evidence (skinner)
• what is the counter of the learning theory?

  contact comfort is more important than food (a critique of the ‘cupboard love’ theory)
• what is the alternative of the learning theory?

  bowlby’s theory is considered to be a better explanation of the reasons for attachment
• what are the issues and debates of the learning theory?

  extrapolation and reductionism