learning theory

• Dollard and Miller (1950) proposed that caregiver-infant attachment can be explained by learning theory. Their approach is sometimes called a 'cupboard love' approach.
• It is called the 'cupboard love' approach because it emphasises the importance of the attachment figure as a provider of food. They proposed that children learn to love whoever feeds.
• Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other
• In the case of attachment, food serves as an unconditioned stimulus
• Being fed gives us pleasure - we don't have to learn that, it is an unconditioned response
• A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus, i.e. something that produces no response
• However, when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food
• When the baby then sees this person there is an expectation of food. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus
• Once conditioning has taken place, the sight of the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure
• To a learning theorist this conditioned pleasure response is love, i.e. an attachment is formed and the caregiver becomes an attachment