3.5 Learning Theory

Dollard and Miller (1950) proposed that attachment can be described by learning theory. Children love whoever feeds them.
Operant Conditioning
1. Learning from consequence of behaviour. If a behaviour produces an unpleasant consequence, less likely to be repeated. It is a reinforcement, if a baby cries it is more likely to receive comfort, so repeats this.
  1. Reinforcement is a two way process. Baby is reinforced for crying but caregiver receives negative reinforcement because crying stops.
Classical Conditioning
1. Learning to associate two stimuli together. An unconditioned stimulus (e.g. food) comes in contact with a neutral stimulus (caregiver). Over time as caregiver provides food, baby learns to associate them with food. Caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus and produces a conditioned response, pleasure of eating.
Evaluation
1. Strengths:
  1. Elements of conditioning involved in attachments. Baby may associate feeling of warmth with particular adult so may influence their choice of particular attachment.
2. Weaknesses:
  1. Lack of support from human studies. Schaffer and Emerson found that babies form main attachment to mother regardless of who fed them.
  2. Lack of support from animal studies. Factors other than food associated involved in attachment.
As caregivers provide food, primary drive of hunger associated with them and attachment becomes a secondary drive associated between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive.

Resource summary

	Created by Alicja Klak over 1 year ago