AO3 - Learning Theory

• The learning theory can be criticised for environmental reductionism. This is because the theory reduces the complex human behaviour of attachment down to simple basic units of learning to attach through stimulus, response and association. This neglects a holistic approach, which takes in to account how a person’s social and cultural context might influence their attachment. *give an example* Therefore, the learning theory of attachment may lack validity as it doesn't allow us to understand the behaviour in context.
• Research to contradict the learning theory of attachment was conducted by Harlow. Harlow found that monkeys spent more time with the surrogate mother who provided them with comfort, rather than the surrogate mother who provided them with food. The same must be true for humans; after all, learning theorists believed that non-humans and humans are equivalent. Therefore, contradicting the learning theory’s assumption that we learn to attach to the person who feeds us via associations, thus limiting the learning theory of attachment.
• Research to contradict the learning theory was conducted by Schaffer and Emerson, who found that infants tended to form attachments to their mother regardless of whether she was the one who fed them, attachment was due to responding to infants signals and interaction. Furthermore, Field's research into the role of the father, has shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive and responsive caregivers which go beyond just feeding the infant. Therefore, feeding the infant does not appear to be the most important factor in forming an attachment as the learning theory suggests.