explanations of attachment

learning theory

• Dollard and Miller 1950 - use behaviourism to explain attachment formation (learning theory)

• Called the cupboard love approach because it emphasise that the attachment figure is the provider of food and children learn to love whoever feeds them

drive reduction

• Used 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 essential for survival become associated with secondary drives = emotional closeness

• Extended the theory to explain attachment is a two-way process that the caregiver must learn, occurs through negative reinforcement when the caregiver feels pleasure because infant is no longer distressed

  • Primary drives = hunger, thirst

  • Food and drink are primary reinforcers

  • Caregiver who provides food and drink becomes secondary reinforcer

  • Attachment to caregiver is secondary drive learned by association between satisfaction of primary drive and caregiver

• Sears et al 1957 - suggested that caregivers provide food, primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them

  • Attachment is a secondary drive learned by association between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive

classical conditioning and SLT

• Involves learning to associate two stimuli together so we respond in one in the same way as the other, shown below:

• UCS (food) -----> UCR (happy baby)

• NS (mother) + UCS (food) -----> UCR (happy baby)

• CS (mother) + CR (happy baby)

• Hay and Vespo 1988 - parents teach children to love them by demonstrating modelling behaviour - hugging

• Parents reinforce loving behaviour by showing approval when babies display attachment behaviours

• Social learning perspective has further advantage - based around two-way interactions and fits better into reciprocity

operant conditioning

• Babies learn to become attached to their carer as the carer provides them with positive reinforcement for their actions

  • Carer is the primary feeder for the baby

  • Carer plays with the baby and makes them laugh

  • Carer removes unpleasant feelings - negative reinforcement

• Behaviourists would argue that the attachment between carer and baby is formed through simple association and positive reinforcement

• Crying leads to a response from the caregiver - as long as caregiver provides the correct response, the crying is reinforced

  • Baby directs crying for comfort towards caregiver who responds with social suppressor behaviour

  • Two-way process - negative reinforcement for caregiver and positive reinforcement for baby

strengths

some conditioning may be involved

• Elements of conditioning are involved in some aspects of attachment

• Unlikely that association with food is central but a baby may associate warm feelings with the presence of a particular adult and this may influence their choice in their main attachment figure

• Learning theory may still be useful 

  • HOWEVER both classical and operant conditioning see the baby as being passive and simply responding to comfort/reward - research such as Feldman and Eidelman 2007 would disagree

weaknesses

• Counter evidence from animal studies

  • Harlow's 1958 research suggested monkeys became attached to the cloth mother not the one that fed it - goes against learning theory of attachment

  • Monkeys showed more preference for the soft surrogate and displayed attachment in that way

  • Lorenz 1935 found goslings imprinted on the first moving object they saw, which suggests attachment is innate and not learned, also the first moving object is imprinted on regardless of food

  • Factors other than food are important

• Counter evidence from human studies

  • Schaffer and Emerson 1964 found that less than half of the babies they studied had a primary attachment to the person usually fed them - usually attached to the mother

  • Isabella et al found that it was interactional synchrony that influenced attachment not feeding - food is not a main factor

deterministic and reductionist

there are other contradicting theories - Bowlby

bowlby’s monotropic theory

• Monotropy: is the concept that infants have an innate capacity and drive to attach to one primary caregiver or attachment figure.

• Law of continuity: the more constant and predictable a child's care, the better the quality of their attachment

• Law of accumulated separation: effects of every separation between the mother and child 'add up' and they should not be separated in the first 3 years if possible (1975)

  • Low temporal validity as this has been somewhat disproven

 

• Evolutionary theory of attachment that focuses on the concept of a child's attachment

• Argued that we evolved a biological, pre-programmed need to form attachments with out primary caregivers which aids the natural survival process

  • Infants will try to form an attachment to the primary caregiver to increase their chances of survival (external factors such as illness or family dysfunction may disrupt this process).

  • For example, in prehistoric times, a secure bond to one caregiver would be vital to a child's survival as it would ensure they are fed and stay close to those who can protect them. These attached children were more likely to survive into adulthood.

  • Therefore, through natural selection, forming attachments would be a beneficial trait and passed on to the next generation.

• According to Bowlby, this attachment focuses on one primary attachment that provides a template for future relationships

social releasers and critical period

• Bowlby believes that babies are born with tendency to display certain innate and cute behaviours (social releasers) which help ensure proximity and contact with the mother or attachment figure

  • Proposed that attachment happens in stages, and that social releasers are important in facilitating these bonds.

  • The infant's social releases are innate behaviours used to maintain proximity to their attachment figure, such as smiling, crying, crawling and making eye contact

• Suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment (monotropy) - that attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world

  • The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have sever consequences

• Both mother and baby are 'hard-wired' to becoming attached

 

• Some research has supported this idea of attachment being innate: Bushnell et al 2011 found that new-born babies can almost immediately recognise their mother

• MRI scans of mothers' brains have also shown that certain areas of the brain respond to their own baby's cries nut not other babies - suggesting an innate response

 

• This theory also suggests that there is a critical period for developing attachment (0-2.5 years)

• If an attachment has not developed during this time period, then it may not happen at all

• Although in further revisions it was said that within a 'sensitive period' of 0-5 years, attachments may still be able to be formed

four stages

• Pre-attachment

• Attachment-in-the-making

• Clear-cut attachment

• Formation to reciprocal relationships

 

• The four characteristics of Bowlby's attachment theory are a safe haven, a secure base, proximity maintenance and separation distress

internal working model

• Deterministic view of relationships

• The child's relationship with a primary caregiver provides an internal working model which influences later relationships

• This internal working model of attachment is a cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self and others

  • Person's interaction with others is guided by memories and expectations from their internal model, which influence and help evaluate their contact with others

• Someone whose first experience of attachment is a loving relationship - they will expect that from all relationships and bring those qualities

  • If someone's first relationship is poor with neglect or abuse, they will form those relationships later on and treat others/expect that treatment

• Affects the child's ability to be a parent later on, people base their parenting styles on their own parenting, explains why children of functional families tend to raise one in the future

 

• Three main features

  • 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 age three, these seem to become part of a child's personality and affect their understanding of the world and future interactions with others

strengths

Strengths - Lorenz's study of geese supports notion of a critical period being necessary and important to attachments forming

• also Schaffer and Emerson support etc

• Strength - Ainsworth's types of attachment gives support for internal working model as children with secure attachments in childhood have healthier relationships as adults

○ Idea of internal working model predicting pattern of attachment will be passed on - Bailey et al 2007 assessed attachment between 99 mothers and their one year olds

○ Researchers measured mothers' attachment to their own primary attachment figures and assessed quality of attachment to baby

○ Found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures are more likely to have poorly attached babies

○ Supports Bowlby as mothers' ability to form attachments to their baby is influenced by their internal working models

could also talk about RWA - hospitals and day care systems due to law of accumulated separation

weaknesses

• Weakness - not feminist due to social and economic implications of monotropy theory

  • Due to law of continuity/accumulated separation, this puts pressure on women not to go back to work as they may negatively affect their child's emotional development

  • Burman 1994 - points out that this belief sets up mothers to take blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in the future - gives people reason to restrict mothers

• Weakness - lacks validity as Schaffer and Emerson 1964 found that although most babies formed one attachment first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time

  • Although first attachment does have a strong influence on later behaviour, this may mean it is stronger not different in quality

  • Other attachments to family members provide same qualities but maybe just to a lesser degree

  • Bowlby may be incorrect that the first attachment is unique

• May be genetic differences in anxiety and sociability in both parents and infants that influence social behaviour (Korneinko 2016)

  • These differences may also affect parenting ability - Bowlby may have overstated the importance of internal working model at the expense of other factors