AO1 - Learning Theory

• Infants learn to attach to whoever feeds them through classical conditioning
• Milk provided is an unconditioned stimulus which provides an unconditioned response in the infant of pleasure - this response is automatic and doesn't need to be learnt
• The neutral stimulus is the feeder
• Through repetition of feeding, the infant learns to associate the feeder with food and pleasure
• The feeder becomes the conditioned stimulus - the sight of the feeder will indicate to the child that they will get fed, producing the conditioned response of pleasure
• Operant conditioning is learning behaviour through rewards, reinforcements and punishments - can be used to explain why infants cry for comfort, an important behaviour in building an attachment
• When an infant is hungry and cries, this leads to a response from the caregiver, e.g. feeding - this is positive reinforcement for the infant as they receive the reward of food and the crying behaviour is reinforced/repeated

  • positive reinforcement - if we are rewarded for a behaviour, the behaviour is repeated to gain the same reward
• When the caregiver feeds the infant, the crying stops which is negative reinforcement for the caregiver as the negative stimulus of crying has been removed and the feeding behaviour is reinforced

  • negative reinforcement - if doing a behaviour avoids a negative consequence, the behaviour is repeated to avoid the negative consequence again
• The mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment