Explanations of attachment At attachment is an affectional bond that one person forms between themselves and another that binds them in space and endures over time.

Authors Avatar

Explanations of attachment

At attachment is an affectional bond that one person forms between themselves and another that binds them in space and endures over time.

The learning theory

  • Attachment through nurture
  • ‘attachment is a set of learned behaviours resulting from the environment, not an innate process’

Classical conditioning: learning though association

Pavlov’s dogs – dogs salivate when they’re given food. Salivation is the unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus of food. This stimulus and response is innately linked. A bell rings every time food is given to the dog, eventually the dog will associate the ringing bell with food. The bell then becomes a conditioned stimulus to the conditioned response of salivation. The dog has learned a new stimulus/response link.

An infant is born with reflex responses. The stimulus of food produces a response of pleasure. The person providing the baby with food becomes associated with the pleasure food gives. The person giving food eventually becomes a source of pleasure in itself.  This is how the basis of attachment is formed.

Operant conditioning: learning through rewards and consequences

Skinner – an animal is placed in a cage where if a lever is pushed food will appear. First the animal will press the lever by accident but being given a reward of food increases the behaviour and the animal will press it again. The lever is then changed to give an electric shock through the cage, this punishment decreases the behaviour.

Join now!

Dollard and miller (1950) suggested human babies go into a drive state when they’re hungry and feeling uncomfortable. This motivates baby to relieve the discomfort, so babies cry to show their hunger, and the caregiver feeds them and the behaviour is reinforced. The caregiver is associated with the food and becomes a secondary reinforcer.  The infant then seeks to be with the mother to relieve discomfort because she is seen as a source of reward and the infant becomes attached.

Key study - Harlow and Harlow (1962)

Aim

To show that attachment is not based on ...

This is a preview of the whole essay