Learning Theory of attachment.

Learning Theory of attachment.

1. Proposes that behaviour is learned rather than inborn. When children are born they are like blank slates and everything they become can be explained in terms of the experiences they have.

2. Behaviourists suggest that all behaviour (including attachment) is learned either through operant or classical conditioning.

3. Classical Conditioning- involves learning through association. Ivan Pavlov first described this type of learning. He conducted research on the salivation reflex in dogs; it was recorded how much they salivated each time they were fed. He noticed that they started salivating before they were fed, when the door opened signalling the arrival of food. The dogs had come to associate the opening of the door with food; they had learned a new stimulus response. They learned to salivate (response) when the door opened (stimulus).

4. Operant conditioning- Learning also occurs when we are rewarded for doing something (e.g. money/praise). Each time you do something it results in a pleasant consequence, the behaviour is stamped in or reinforced. It becomes more probable that you will repeat the behaviour in the future. If you do something unpleasant and it results in an unpleasant consequence, it becomes less likely you will repeat the behaviour. (Dollard and Miller offered an explaination of attachment based on operant conditioning.)

5. Validity- Learning theory (based on classical and operant conditioning) is largely based on studies with non-human animals. Human behaviour may be similar in some ways but is also different because behaviour is more influenced by higher order thinking and emotions. Behaviourist explanations may lack validity because they present an oversimplified version of human behaviour.

6. Attachment- is an emotional bond between two people. It is a two way process that endures over time. It leads to certain behaviours such as clinging and proximity-seeking, and serves the function of protecting an infant.

7. Schaffer and Emerson (1964) observed 60 babies from mainly working class homes in Glasgow for a period of a year. They found tat infants were not most attached to the person who fed them. They were most attached to the person who was most responsive and interacted with them the most. these studies suggest that 'cupboard love' is not likely to be the best explanation for attachment, although association and reinforcement may be part of the story. Harry Harlow's monkeys spent most time with the 'cloth covered mother' with the feeding bottle for food. This suggests that attachment is related to contact comfort and not food.

8. Strengths- The strengths of the learning theory is that it can provide an adequate explaination of how attachments form. We do learn through association and reinforcement. however, food may not be the main reinforcer; it may be that attention and responsiveness from a caregiver are important rewards that create the bond (such reinforcers were not part of the Learning theory story.)

9. Limitations- The main weakness of this explanation is the role of food in attachment; people seem to believe that feeding an infant is key to develop a close relationship. There is strong psychological evidence to show that feeding has nothing to do with attachment. The most famous of studies is by Harry Harlow (1959) 'The Origins of Love'. Harlow had been conducting research on learning using rhesus monkeys; young monkeys on their own became quite distressed when their cages were cleaned. the cages had 'sanitary pads' lining the bottom and it appeared that the monkeys became attached to these as a kind of 'security blanket'. This lead Harlow to investigate the hypothesis that it was contact comfort rather than food that was more important in the development of love.