Classical Conditioning and Monkey

The term ‘attachment’ is used by psychologists who study the child’s early relationships. An attachment is a unique emotional bond normal between a child and an adult. A theorist called John Bowlby (1970-90) had a relation to the attachment theory. In 1950s John identified that when children and

Attachment is described as an "affectionate reciprocal relationship between an individual and another individual." Much psychological research has been carried out into the types of attachments that infants form with their caregivers, and the results gained from these studies show how early attachments can affect children whether positively or negatively.

The Attachment theory is a psychological, ethological and evolutionary theory that gives a descriptive and explanatory framework of understanding interpersonal relationship between human beings. Presented by John Bowlby, the important tenet of this theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to progress generally.

Dollard and Miller suggested that classical conditioning can be used to show how babies learn to associate a particular stimuli, with a response. They implied that before attachment is formed, classical conditioning begin with an infant gaining pleasure through being fed. When the infant is fed, he associates with the primary caregiver providing him food. Over time, the infant will gain pleasure from the primary caregiver. The primary caregiver will eventually become a conditioned stimuli and pleasure will become a conditioned response. This is when the infant has learnt that the feeder provides pleasure. Soon after, attachment will be learned and

Attachment theory is accepted by most psychologists and psychiatrists as the best explanation for how we develop the capacity to form relationships with others and relate to our environment. It asserts that the methods we use to relate to others, manage our needs, express our demands, and shape our expectations for the world are rooted in our relationships with our early caregivers. Through these interactions we learn to balance our feelings and need states with others and to establish our varying degrees of independence, dependence, power, and control. Attachment also impacts self-esteem through the experience of conflict with caregivers.

Another principle of the attachment theory is the need to develop social, cognitive and emotional skills. To relate this to the attachment theory, the child would of had a primary caregiver who reinforced social, cognitive and emotional development, if a child was not being stimulated accordingly bowlby 's theory of maternal deprivation this would result in long term cognitive, social, and emotional difficulties. This is supported by

The Attachment Theory in Child Psychology The term "attachment" describes "an infant 's tendency to seek

The first theory I will be looking at is the learning theory. The learning theory is also called behaviourism, which says all of our behaviour is learnt because “when born our mind is 'tabula rasa ' (a blank slate).” (McLeod, 2007). The behaviourist theory of attachment was proposed by Dollard & Miller in 1950, who suggests that attachment is a set of learned behaviours linked to provision of food, and an infant will initially form an attachment to whoever feeds it as mentioned by Mcleod (2009). The way the infant is learning to associate to food and the person feeding them is through classical conditioning (CC) or operant conditioning (OC).

An attachment is a strong emotional connection in which animals, and people, depend on each other for a sense of security. Attachment is not always reciprocal and is characterized by specific behaviours in children such as seeking proximity to the attachment figure when upset or threatened (Bowlby 1969.) Within the context of child psychology, attachment is the strong bond which forms in early years of life between babies and their primary carers. This concept helps explain development and personality.

Strengths of attachment theory are that interaction between a care giver and an infant (Berghaos, 2011). This theory made us understand the importance of responding to an infant’s cry can help them form an attachment (Berghaos, 2011). This led us to understand Ainsworth idea of that interaction as a secure base for the infant (Berghaos, 2011). Critics have said that some early attachments do not become consistent throughout the individuals life (Berghaos, 2011). They believe that attachment theory is too simple to explain adult relationships and psychopathology (Berghaos, 2011).

Attachment is “a social and emotional bond between infant and carer that spans both time and space.” (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2010). How do we develop attachment? Why is attachment important? These are the type of questions this essay with answer while also using psychological theory and experiments.

As humans, building relationships between others is a form of connecting and communicating. It is a social situation that is experienced every day through the course of a lifetime. The initial relationship that is made is between the mother and the child. This bond that connects two people is known to be called attachment. The theory of attachment begins at birth, and from that, continuing on to other relationships in family, friends, and romance. Attachment is taught through social experiences, however the relationship with the mother and her temperament are the key factors in shaping the infants attachment type, which

There are two approaches to attachment; evolutionary theory and behavioural theory, and for the purposes of this essay I will focus largely on the evolutionary school of thought.

Attachment theory is a concept that explores the importance of attachment in respect to direct development. “It is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space” (Bowlby, 1969; McLeod, 2009). It is the relationship that develops within the first year of the infant’s life between them and their caregiver. The theory also relates to the quality of the attachment that is shown in the behavior of the infant (Rieser-Danner, 2016). Attachment theory shows that infants need a close nurturing relationship with their caregiver in order to have a healthy relationship. Lack of response from the caregiver

The nature versus nurture debate is one that has long been argued .The nature theory argues that behaviours are passed on in genes.In contrast nurture theorists believe cultural and social issues affect behaviour. The attachments between infants and caregivers can be studied to evaluate this argument. Oxforddictionaries.com (2015), defines attachment as 'An extra part or extension that is or may be attached to something to perform a particular function'. This essay will compare and contrast biological and sociocultural theories surrounding attachment.