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LEARNING THEORY AND ATTACHMENTS

• Dollard and Miller: Learning Theory of attachment
• Importance of food: This is sometimes called the 'cupboard love' explanation because it emphasises the importance of food in attachment formation. Children learn to love whoever feeds them.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli. In attachment:
• UCS (food) leads to UCR (a feeling of pleasure). This response is not learned so it is an unconditioned response.
• Baby learns that mother produces a sense of pleasure. A caregiver (e.g mother) starts a NS, i.e a thing associated with 'food'. So the neutral stimulus becomes a CS