explanations of attachment

• Attachment

  The strong bond that develops between an infant and their primary caregiver, usually their biological mother
• Biological psychologists' view on attachment

  • Attachment bond is innate, babies are primed with the need to attach to their mother figures, and caregivers have an innate response to care for them
• Classical conditioning explanation of attachment

  1. Neutral stimulus (mother) becomes associated with unconditioned stimulus (food), resulting in conditioned response (pleasure)

  2. Infant learns association between mother (conditioned stimulus) and food - feels pleasure (love) - this forms attachment
• Operant conditioning explanation of attachment- two way process


  1. Crying behavior is positively reinforced when parent provides milk (positive reinforcement)

  2. Crying behavior is negatively reinforced when parent provides care and stops the unpleasant stimulus - strengthens attachment
• Primary drives


  Instinctual desires required for survival and reproduction (e.g. sleep, hunger, thirst, sex)
• Secondary drives

  Learned desires that can ultimately satisfy primary drives (e.g. money, satisfaction of caregiver)
• Attachment- SEARS

  A secondary drive, infants seek attachment with their mothers to satisfy the primary drive of hunger
• Bowlby's Monotropic Theory


  • Infants have an innate, instinctive drive to form a strong bond with their primary caregiver (usually the mother) for evolutionary survival reasons
  • Infants are born with social release behaviors (e.g. crying, smiling) that elicit instinctive caregiving responses from mothers - reciprocal process
  • Attachment in the critical period (first 6 months) - sensitive period
• Learning theory - 'cupboard love' Dollard and miller
• AO3 learning theory - counter-evidence from animal studies: Lorenz geese imprint on first moving object (no food). Harlow monkeys favoured comfort over food.
• AO3 learning theory - counter-evidence from human studies: schaffer and emerson babies formed attachment to their mother with no food involved.
• AO3 learning theory - conditioning involved: babies associate warm and comfortable feeling with a caregiver which influences attachment. Learning theory useful.
• Internal working model - child forms mental representation of relationship with the primary caregiver

  serves as a model for what future relationships are like

  base their parenting style from their experience of their parents
• AO3 - Monotropy lacks validity: Shaffer and Emerson - a minority of babies attached to multiple people. First attachment is just stronger not different qualities.
• AO3 - support for social releasers: Brazelton - observed babies trigger interactions. When attachment figures ignore babies social releases babies became distressed. Social releasers important in emotional development.
• AO3 - support for internal working models: Bailey - observed attachment relationship in 99 mothers and I year olds. Mothers with poor attachment to primary caregiver were poorly attached to babies.