ATTACHMENT
Explanations of Attachment (1)
Attachment: a strong emotional bond between two people that continues over time and is characterized by a desire
to maintain proximity (closeness)
Learning theory of attachment
➔ Learning theory proposes that all behaviour is learnt rather than innate
➔ When children are born, they are ‘blank slates’ and they are shaped by their experience.
Classical conditioning – building an association between two stimuli as a result of which a new stimulus elicits a
similar response to previously known stimuli.
When baby is born… (UCS) FOOD = (UCR) PLEASURE
When a baby is fed as it (NS + UCS) MOTHER + FOOD = (UCR) PLEASE
grows up… Caregiver becomes paired with the food
After repeated feedings… (CS) MOTHER = CR (PLEASURE)
Operant conditioning – learning to repeat a behaviour due to reinforcement/ depending on its consequence
• Hunger: ‘drive’ (feeling of discomfort that motivates behaviour)
• Crying: leads to a child being fed – reduces hunger and leads to drive reduction
• Food: reward & primary reinforces (actual object that reduces the drives)
• Mother: secondary reinforcer – provides the food
• As this process repeats, the child becomes attached to the mother as she is the source of reward and is the
agent of drive reduction
• Behaviour produces pleasant response (positive reinforcement)
STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS
Some explanatory power: Refuting evidence from animal research:
• Infants do learn through association and • Lorenz: imprinting rather than feeding/ drive reduction that
reinforcement but food may not be the leads to the formation of attachment
main reinforcer • Harlow: monkeys sought contact comfort and formed lasting
• It may be that the attention and attachments with the tower-mother instead of the food
responsiveness from a caregiver are the providing wire-mother.
important rewards that lead to the Refuting evidence from human research:
development of good attachments. • Feeding does not appear to be the most important attachment
• Thus, the theory does have some related factor in humans
explanatory power • Shaffer and Emerson’s study: demonstrated that attachment
tended to be with the caregiver who was most interactive and
sensitive to the infant’s needs and not the person who fed
them the most
• In fact, some of the children also had multiple attachment even
though the mothers may have done more of the feeding
Alternative explanation:
Bowlby’s approach: attachment is innate instead of learnt
Explanations of Attachment (1)
Attachment: a strong emotional bond between two people that continues over time and is characterized by a desire
to maintain proximity (closeness)
Learning theory of attachment
➔ Learning theory proposes that all behaviour is learnt rather than innate
➔ When children are born, they are ‘blank slates’ and they are shaped by their experience.
Classical conditioning – building an association between two stimuli as a result of which a new stimulus elicits a
similar response to previously known stimuli.
When baby is born… (UCS) FOOD = (UCR) PLEASURE
When a baby is fed as it (NS + UCS) MOTHER + FOOD = (UCR) PLEASE
grows up… Caregiver becomes paired with the food
After repeated feedings… (CS) MOTHER = CR (PLEASURE)
Operant conditioning – learning to repeat a behaviour due to reinforcement/ depending on its consequence
• Hunger: ‘drive’ (feeling of discomfort that motivates behaviour)
• Crying: leads to a child being fed – reduces hunger and leads to drive reduction
• Food: reward & primary reinforces (actual object that reduces the drives)
• Mother: secondary reinforcer – provides the food
• As this process repeats, the child becomes attached to the mother as she is the source of reward and is the
agent of drive reduction
• Behaviour produces pleasant response (positive reinforcement)
STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS
Some explanatory power: Refuting evidence from animal research:
• Infants do learn through association and • Lorenz: imprinting rather than feeding/ drive reduction that
reinforcement but food may not be the leads to the formation of attachment
main reinforcer • Harlow: monkeys sought contact comfort and formed lasting
• It may be that the attention and attachments with the tower-mother instead of the food
responsiveness from a caregiver are the providing wire-mother.
important rewards that lead to the Refuting evidence from human research:
development of good attachments. • Feeding does not appear to be the most important attachment
• Thus, the theory does have some related factor in humans
explanatory power • Shaffer and Emerson’s study: demonstrated that attachment
tended to be with the caregiver who was most interactive and
sensitive to the infant’s needs and not the person who fed
them the most
• In fact, some of the children also had multiple attachment even
though the mothers may have done more of the feeding
Alternative explanation:
Bowlby’s approach: attachment is innate instead of learnt
