The learning theory

Classical conditioning is about learning through association, for example a baby learning to associate his mother with food. Behaviourists describe this theory scientifically. This learning begins from birth when a baby at first has no response to his mother (his mother is the neutral stimulus). Before conditioning when the baby wants food and is provided with the food he will feel feelings of pleasure, however the baby will not yet associate his mother with the food. During conditioning the unconditioned stimulus is the mother providing the food and the baby’s unconditioned response is pleasure. After conditioning, the baby has now associated his mother with food therefore the conditioned stimulus is the mother and the conditioned response is food. This type of classical conditioning explains how the learning theory works and also how an attachment is formed between a mother and baby.

Operant conditioning can back up classical conditioning as it is all about learning through consequences. This type of behaviour is formed by the use of reinforcement or punishment. Operant conditioning proceeds after classical conditioning. For example in the case of a mother providing her baby with food, once a baby has associated their mother with food they will then encourage the presence their mother by either crying or whining, then encourage the mother to stay by smiling or gurgling.

This theory of how attachments are formed seems to be logical however there have been experiments that contradict it. For example Schaffer and Emerson (1964) conducted an experiment and found that less than half of children in their research had attachments to the person providing them food. In fact the strongest form of attachment they found was to those that responded to a child/baby most sensitively, for example, parents or guardians that could recognise the difference between their baby’s cries and tend to them accordingly.

Another criticism of behaviourist’s theory of attachment is the research by Harlow on rhesus monkeys. Harlow’s experiment comprised of a monkey in a cage with two wire monkeys, one covered in a warm soft cloth and the other left bare but with a bottle of milk attached to it to provide the monkey with food. This experiment showed that the monkeys preferred the wire monkey covered in the cloth. His research indicates that comfort and security are more important foundations to forming attachments.