Explanations of attachment: learning theory

Who studied the learning theory of attachment

Dollard and Miller 1950

Why is it called 'cupboard love' explanation

It emphasises the importance of food in attachment formation

Children learn to love who feeds them

Role of classical conditioning

UCS - food

UCR - pleasure

This response is not learned so it's an unconditioned response

The caregiver becomes an attachment figure

Role of operant conditioning

explains why babies cry for comfort

Cying is reinforced by caregivers

Negative reinforcement for crying

Baby cries

Baby is reinforced for crying, caregiver receives negative reinforcement because crying stops

Positive/negative reinforcement strengthens and attachment

Hunger is a primary drive

An innate biological motivator

We are motivated to eat to reduce hunger drive

Attachment is a secondary drive

Learned by association between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive

One limitation is counter evidence from animal studies

Lorenz's geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw

Harlow's monkeys attached to cloth mother in preference to the milk dispensing one

In both attachment did not develop through feeding

Shows factors other than feeding are important

Another limitation is counter evidence from human studies

Schaffer and Emerson showed that many babies were not attached to the person who fed them

Isabella et al. Found interactional synchrony related to attachment quality

Suggests other factors are more important than feeding

One strength is some elements of conditioning could still be involved

It seems unlikely that association with food is attachment

However conditioning plays a role e.g. babies choice of caregiver may be determined by the fact that a caregiver becomes associated with comfort

Conditioning could still be important in choice of attachment figures though not the process of attachment formation