Outline at least two theories of attachment and evaluate the extent to which studies support them.

Authors Avatar

Outline at least two theories of attachment and evaluate the extent to which studies support them.

The two theories which describe attachment are the psychodynamic theory and the learning theory.   There is also the social learning theory which describes attachment as well.

The psychodynamic theory was designed by Sigmund Freud in 1924.   He said “the reason why the infant in arms wants to perceive the presence of its mother is only because it already knows by experience that she satisfies all its needs without delay”.   Freud’s psychodynamic theory was based on his theory of development, where it describes how an adult’s personality is dependent on early childhood experiences.   The attachment to its mother is produced as she is related to the satisfaction of pleasure.   He suggested that the first stage or the oral stage of the psychosexual development is when the infant gains pleasure orally, he believed that this had lasting effects throughout life.

Join now!

The learning theory suggested that all behaviour is learnt and is not innate.   Conditioning whether it is classical or operant is said to lead to learning according to behaviourists.   All humans and animals are born with reflex responses, and an unconditional stimulus such as food can produce an unconditional response such as a sense of pleasure.   The mother providing the unconditional stimulus (food) will become associated with pleasure and will then independently produce pleasure.   Even if no food is given there will still be a source of pleasure.   This is also demonstrated with animals, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay