Evaluation

Evaluation

1. Strengths

   • Can provide an adequate explanation of how attachments form.We learn through association and reinforcement.
     • However food may not be the main reinforcer; it could be attention and responsiveness from a caregiver which are just as important for creating a bond.

2. Weakness'

   • Contact comfort is more important than food for creating an attachment bond.
     • Harry Harlow (1959) found when looking at monkeys after noticing that the young monkeys that were kept in there cages became incredibly distressed when there cages were being cleaned. the cages had 'sanitary towel' lining and it seemed that the monkeys had become attached to the comfort that they brought to them and they used them as a 'security blanket'.
       • Harlow conducted a study using a 'wire mother' that feeds the monkeys and a 'cloth mother'. then when put under stress he observed the reactions of the monkeys. According to the learning theory the monkeys should have become attached to the 'wire mother' as it fed them however in reality they became attached to the cloth mothers and when in distress went to them for comfort.
   • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) also challenges the importance of food in attachment with a human experiment. They observed 60 babies over a year and found that the infants were not most attached to the person who fed them but were more attached to the person that comforted them and interacted with them the most.
     • 'Cupboard love' is then not seen to be the best explanation for attachment although association and reinforcement may play a part in it.