explanations for attachment

?
View mindmap
  • explanations of attachment
    • 1. Learning theory
      • Classical conditioning - food provides pleasure(mother provides food she will become associated with this pleasure and becomes conditioned stimulus/ response)
      • Operant conditioning - reinforcement (babies cry for comfort, negative reinforcement, cause response from caregiver)
        • reinforcement works both ways, babies get comfort and mum gets the crying to stop)
      • food is the primary reinforcer because it reinforces the behaviour in order to avoid discomfort)
      • the mother becomes the secondary reinforcer whose presence produces a conditioned response of pleasure
      • LIMITATION - suggests that food is the key motivator
        • Schaffer, infants eat to live rather than live to eat
      • LIMITATION-Attachment is not always to the person who provides the food
        • Schaffer and Emerson suggest that sensitivity from the mother is more important for attachment
        • 39% of the children had a primary attachment to the father rather than the mother
    • 2. Bowlbys theory of attachment
      • Attachment is adaptive, child displays behaviour that will increase likelihood of survival
      • uses behaviours known as social releasers, eg crying or smiling
        • Monotropy, Bowlbys theory is monotropic as it puts emphasis on having one particular attachment
          • Bowlby believes they will have a number of attachments but one stronger than any of the others
            • the law of continuity (more constant the care, the better the quality of their attachment
              • the law of accumulated separation (effects of separation from the mother add up, therefore safest dose of separation is no does)

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Attachment resources »