Attachment is a strong deep meaningful and loving bond that develops over time the bond is reciprocal. There are many types of bonds for example the bond between mother and child, father and child, owner and pet and the bond between partners i.e.; husband and wife. The two theories of attachment here to evaluate are ‘the learning theory’ and ‘the evolutionary theory’.
The learning theory by Dollard & Miller (1950) this is also known as the behaviourist theory this states that attachment is a learned behaviour. When a baby is born it is believed that they are all like a blank slate just waiting to be filled with knowledge and that all behaviours are learned rather that known. Through this the baby forms an attachment with the main caregiver …show more content…
Harlow's study only involved giving a baby monkey the choice of either food or comfort, the food was a wire body with a bottle attached no was comfort given, where the comfort was a soft body, but no food given. According to the learning theory of attachment the baby monkeys should have spent most their time on the food body. This however did not happen, the baby monkeys spent most of their time on the comfort body and only went to the food body when hunger was too much. This decreases the value of the learning theory of attachment as the results of Harlow's monkey study showed the opposite what it suggested. The monkey study was only conducted on monkeys and this could be argued that this is not a precise show of a human attachment as people are considered a lot more different than animals and so therefore research on animals to study behaviour cannot be compared to human behaviour. This study was unethical as it caused the monkeys to be socially excluded with no interaction with no other …show more content…
This theory believes that every baby is born with the ability to form an attachment with the main care giver which is mainly the mother and that the bond is formed almost immediately. Bowlby (1969) believed that through evolution that humans have developed a behaviour that is essential to the survival of infants. Babies are born helpless and totally dependent on the help of a caregiver for food, warmth, shelter and safety and survival. It is because of this it is believed that makes an adult have a natural instinct to want care for them, and if adults did not become attached to babies, then the infants would not survive. Bowlby believed attachment is a biological process that has to takes place during the most critical period. Attachment styles developed in infancy will play a major role in later attachment styles through life. Bowlby states the critical period is from birth to 2.5 years so that an attachment to form, and if it is not possible to form this attachment in this time then it is not possible to develop it at all after. This theory only believes that attachment is biological and doesn’t key any other factor such as environment. Lerenzo (1952) influenced this study through his experiment with the ducks. The ducks imprinted on him as he was the 1st thing they saw. Even when mixed with other ducks they would
The learning theory by Dollard & Miller (1950) this is also known as the behaviourist theory this states that attachment is a learned behaviour. When a baby is born it is believed that they are all like a blank slate just waiting to be filled with knowledge and that all behaviours are learned rather that known. Through this the baby forms an attachment with the main caregiver …show more content…
Harlow's study only involved giving a baby monkey the choice of either food or comfort, the food was a wire body with a bottle attached no was comfort given, where the comfort was a soft body, but no food given. According to the learning theory of attachment the baby monkeys should have spent most their time on the food body. This however did not happen, the baby monkeys spent most of their time on the comfort body and only went to the food body when hunger was too much. This decreases the value of the learning theory of attachment as the results of Harlow's monkey study showed the opposite what it suggested. The monkey study was only conducted on monkeys and this could be argued that this is not a precise show of a human attachment as people are considered a lot more different than animals and so therefore research on animals to study behaviour cannot be compared to human behaviour. This study was unethical as it caused the monkeys to be socially excluded with no interaction with no other …show more content…
This theory believes that every baby is born with the ability to form an attachment with the main care giver which is mainly the mother and that the bond is formed almost immediately. Bowlby (1969) believed that through evolution that humans have developed a behaviour that is essential to the survival of infants. Babies are born helpless and totally dependent on the help of a caregiver for food, warmth, shelter and safety and survival. It is because of this it is believed that makes an adult have a natural instinct to want care for them, and if adults did not become attached to babies, then the infants would not survive. Bowlby believed attachment is a biological process that has to takes place during the most critical period. Attachment styles developed in infancy will play a major role in later attachment styles through life. Bowlby states the critical period is from birth to 2.5 years so that an attachment to form, and if it is not possible to form this attachment in this time then it is not possible to develop it at all after. This theory only believes that attachment is biological and doesn’t key any other factor such as environment. Lerenzo (1952) influenced this study through his experiment with the ducks. The ducks imprinted on him as he was the 1st thing they saw. Even when mixed with other ducks they would