Explanations of Attachment (3.3)

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  • Created by: Amy.w
  • Created on: 11-12-21 12:39
What is the learning theory?
A set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology, that emphasise the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. Explanations for learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning
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What is the cupboard love theory?
(Dollard and Miller) Children become attached to a caregiver that gives them food and meets other basic physical needs
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What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association. A neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and can produce a conditioned response (Pavlov)
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What are the steps of classical conditioning in context of the cupboard love theory?
Response produced naturally when a stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus.
Attachments learnt by stimulus of food (unconditional stimulus), which produces natural response of pleasure (unconditioned response) being paired with caregiver (condit
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What is the neutral stimulus?
A stimulus that does not naturally produce a response (bell)
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What is the unconditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that produces a reflex action (food)
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What is the unconditioned response?
An innate, reflex response (dog getting excited at food)
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What response is given when the neutral stimulus (bell) is paired with the unconditioned stimulus (food)?
Unconditioned response (dog getting excited at food)
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What is the conditioned stimulus?
The stimulus which produces the learned response after an association has taken place (bell after conditioning)
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What is the conditioned response?
A learned response (the dog getting excited when hearing the bell as he believes food is coming)
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What is operant conditioning? -
Learning through positive or negative reinforcement (Skinner; Dollard and Miller 1950)
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Negative reinforcement?
Removing the negative stimulus by carrying out a behavior to stop it, e.g a mother feeding the baby to stop it from crying. The mother is likely to feed the baby if it cries again as they know it stops the behaviour
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Who studied the monotropic theory?
Bowlby
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What is monotropy?
A term sometimes used to describe Bowlby’s
theory. It indicates that one particular attachment is different from all the others and of central importance to the child's development
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What are the 5 features of Bowlby's attachment theory?
- Adaptive
- Social releasers
- Critical period
- Monotropic
- Internal working model
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What are social releasers?
social releasers unlock the innate tendency of adults to care for them. They can be both physical (big eyes, small nose, round face) or behavioural (crying, cooing, smiling)
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What is the internal working model?
The blueprint for our future relationships based on our first monotropic attachment
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What is the critical period?
The period in which an attachment must be formed
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Positive reinforcement?
Pleasurable consequences for a behaviour, e.g a babies receiving food whe crying. They are more likely to repeat the behaviour to receive the desired consequence
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Advantages of the learning theory?
Clear and believable explanation of attachment
Backed up by a significant amount of well controlled research.
It has face validity as it makes sense that babies would cry more if they learnt it gave them attention
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Disadvantages of the learning theory?
- Too simplistic, the interactions between caregivers and infants are too complex to be explained by stimulus-response processes and patterns of reinforcement
- Many studies undermine the cupboard love theory, e.g Harlow's rhesus monkeys study
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Why are attachments adaptive?
Babies have an innate attachment drive in order to survive. Infants are not capable of surviving by themselves so they rely on the caregiver to help them survive
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Advantages of Bowlby's monotropic theory?
- Based partly on Lorenz's study which shows the strength of attachment to a single caregiver
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Disadvantages of Bowlby's monotropic theory?
- Gender bias, only focuses on the role of the mother. This lacks temporal validity asin a moddern society men are expected to have an equal role in the childs upbringing
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What is the continuity hypothesis?
Individuals wwho are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent. They are likely to have secure relationships as adults
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What is the law of continuity?
The more constant a child's care, the better the quality of the attachment
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What is the law of accumulated separation?
The effects of each prolonged separation from an infant add up
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Why is Bowlby's theory deterministic
He believes that if the monotropic attachment isn't made within the critical period of 2 years, it will have detrimental and irreversible effects on the child's IWM.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is the cupboard love theory?

Back

(Dollard and Miller) Children become attached to a caregiver that gives them food and meets other basic physical needs

Card 3

Front

What is classical conditioning?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are the steps of classical conditioning in context of the cupboard love theory?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is the neutral stimulus?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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