Explanations of Attachment

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Learning Theory

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Dollard & Miller (1950) state attachment is a learned behaviour that is acquired through both classical and operant conditioning. It is a nurture theory. According to classical conditioning, food (unconditioned stimulus) produces pleasure (unconditioned response). The child simply associates food and mother together. The mother becomes the conditioned stimulus and happiness becomes the conditioned response - an attachment has formed.

Attachment by Classical Conditioning

1.Before conditioning:

Food ---------------> Happy baby

(Unconditioned (Unconditioned

stimulus) response)

2.During Conditioning:

Mother + Food ---------------> Happy baby

(Neutral (Unconditioned (Unconditioned

stimulus) stimulus) response)

3.After Conditioning:

Mother ---------------> Happy baby

(Conditioned (Conditioned

stimulus) response)

Attachments can also be learned by operant conditioning. The presence of the caregiver is reinforcing for the infant. The infant gains pleasure/reward as they are being fed. The behaviour of the infant is reinforcing for the caregiver (the caregiver gains pleasure from smiles etc - reward). The reinforcement process is therefore reciprocal (two way) and strengthens the emotional bond/attachment between the two.

Dollard & Miller (1950) use the term secondary drive hypothesis to describe the processes of learning an attachment through operant and classical conditioning. Secondary drive hypothesis explains how primary drives - which are essential fr survival, such as eating when hngry - become associated with secondary drives, such as emotional closeness. They extended the theory to explain that attachment is a two way process that the caregiver must also learn, and this occurs through negative reinforcement when the caregiver feels pleasure because the infant is no longer distressed.

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Schaffer and Emerson found less than half of infants had a primary attachment to the person who usually fed them.

Harlow's research suggested that monkeys became attached to the soft surrogate mother rather than the one who fed it. This goes against the learning theory of attachment.

Lorenz found goslings imprinted on the first moving object they saw which suggests that attachment is innate and not learnt.

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Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

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Bowlby's monotropic theory of attachment suggests attachment is important for a child's survival. Attachment behaviours in both babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection. This means infants are biologically programmed with innate behaviours that ensure that attachment occurs.

A child has an innate (i.e natural) need to attach to one main attachment figure. This is called monotropy. This concept of monotropy suggests that there is one relationship which is more important than all the rest. Although Bowlby did not rule out the possibility of other attachment figures for a child, he did believe that there should be a primary bond which was much more important than any other (usually the mother). Other attachments may develop in a hierarchy below this. An infant may therefore have a primary monotropy attachment to its mother, and below her the hierarchy of attachments may include its father, siblings, grandparents, etc.

There are three main features of the internal working model:

A model of others as being trustworthy.

A model of the self as valuable.

A model of the self as effective when interacting with others.

Around the age of three these seem to become part of a child's personality and thus affects their understanding of the world and future interactions with others.

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Konrad Lorenz (1935) supports Bowlby's monotropic theory as the attachment process of imprinting is an innate process which has a critical period. Also, the geese also attached to a single person/animal or object, thus showing monotropic behaviour. However, Rutter's Romanian Orphan Study showed that attachments can form after the critical period.

The idea of monotropy and hierarchy is supported by research into attachments formed by the Efe tribe of Congo. Efe women share the care of infants in the tribe and take turns to breast feed them, however the infants return to their natural mother at night and forma a stable bond with the mother.

Use of contradictory evidence: e.g. Schaffer and Emerson's findings regarding multiple attachments.

Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation study provides evidence for the existence of internal working model. A secure child will develop a positive internal working model of itself because it has received sensitive emotional care from its primary attachment figure. An insecure-avoidant child will develop an internal working model in which it sees itself as unworthy because its primary attachment figure has reacted negatively to it during the sensitive period of attachment formation.

Implications (including economic implications) of monotropy theory: e.g. role of fathers, mothers returning to employment, use of daycare, etc.