Cupboard Love Theories Attachment Study Notes PDF

Preview

Summary

Study Notes on the 'cupboard love theories' of attachment (Behaviourist & Psychoanalytic) Brief overview & evaluation of theories...

Description

CUPBOARD LOVE THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT

• •

BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION OF ATTACHMENT

Behaviourism: John B. Watson (1913) launched a broad attack on the naturalistic explanations on human behaviour when he devised the theory of traditional behaviourism. Watson argued that behaviour is not instinctive, as Freud proposed, but learned. Humans are born Tabula Rasa- ‘blank slate’- with no in-built content. All knowledge comes from experience. People’s behaviour is controlled by their environment- very much nurture-based. ‘’Give me a dozen healthy infants, …and I’ll guarantee to take any… and train him to become any type of specialist I might select- doctor, … artist, and … even … thief, regardless of his talents, …, abilities, ... race of his ancestors.’’ (Watson 1930)

Behaviourists argue that ATTACHMENT IS LEARNED either through classical conditioning or operant conditioning. •

Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning Focuses on reflex responses and states that if two stimuli get associated with each other, the response to one will become the response to the other. FOOD is the UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS), which produces PLEASURE in the baby UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR) The person who feeds the infant becomes associated with the food & becomes the CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS).

•

Operant/Instrumental Conditioning States that a person behaves in a certain way first and that action is followed by a consequence. The subject then associates the behaviour with its consequence.

1

Dollard and Miller (1950) suggested that a hungry baby feels discomfort and anxiety which creates a drive to reduce this unpleasant state. When the baby gets fed, this drive reduces, which creates a sense of pleasure. This is a form of NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT. PRIMARY REINFORCER: FOOD SECONDARY REINFORCER: PERSON who provides the food This individual then becomes associated with reducing the discomfort and becomes ‘a source of reward’.

PSYCHOANALITIC EXPLANTION OF ATTACHMENT Freud proposed that the human psyche has 3 parts: •

the ID,

•

the Ego

•

the Superego.

The Id is rooted in biology, hence present at birth. It consists of 2 basic drives: •

Libido/Eros

•

Aggression/Thanatos.

This is the self-centred part of the psyche, that demands immediate satisfaction. Freud also developed a theory of personality- in which he proposed 5 psychosexual stages. The first stage is known as the ORAL STAGE (in the first 18 months of a baby’s life). Here the centre of pleasure is the mouth. The ID then craves oral satisfaction. The person who feeds the baby becomes the LOVE OBJECT.

Some evaluative points: ➢ Both theoretical approaches provide plausible explanations for attachment. They explain why and to whom babies get attached to.

2

➢ Behaviourism is a rather reductionist approach. Although infants undoubtedly learn through association and reinforcement, it completely ignores emotions and inward-thinking and denies innate factors. One of the strengths of Freud’s theory is that it does take instincts and innate factors into account when trying to explain attachment formation. However, his ideas are rather difficult to either support or falsify empirically.

➢ BOTH OVERSIMPLIFY HUMAN BEHAVIOUR: These theories are sometimes referred to as ‘CUPBOARD LOVE THEORIES’, because they argue that babies simply get attached to the person who feeds them. HOWEVER, numerous animal and human research studies (Harlow 1959, Schaffer & Emerson 1964) reported that the primary attachment figure was not who fed the baby, but who cared the most. RESPONSIVENESS and INTERACTION seem to be more of the determinants of attachment rather than food. Bowlby also shared this notion.

Resources Bee, H., & Boyd, D. (2004). The Developing Child (10th edn.). Boston: Pearson. Davey, G. (2014). Psychopathology Research, Assessment and Treatment in Clinical Psychology (2nd edn.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Davidson, G. C., & Neale, J. M. (1998). Abnormal Psychology (7th edn.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Gross, R. (2010). Psychology The Science of Mind and Behaviour (6th edn.). London: Hodder Education. Gross, R. (2009). Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology (3rd edn.). London: Hodder Education. Harlow, H. F. (1959). Love in infant monkeys. Scientific American, 200(6), 68-75. Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). The development of social attachments in infancy. Monographs of the society for research in child development, 1-77. Vardy, P. (2009). The Puzzle of Sex (2nd edn.). London: SCM Press.

3

Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviourism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20(2), 158-177. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074428

4...