Homework information Developmental Psychology
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) p.3 of booklet
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Studied 60 infants from Glasgow over 2 years, observing the infants every 4 weeks until they
were 1 year old. They looked at separation anxiety in everyday situations and stranger
anxiety by approaching the infants. They found that:
65% of the infants had their first attachment with their mother
However, 30 % had their first attachment joint between mother and father
3% of children had their first attachment with their father, and the rest with the
grandparents
This therefore shows that the first attachment doesn’t necessarily demonstrate monotropy
Learning Theory/Behaviourism p.4 of booklet
Operant Conditioning – Skinner
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An animal is placed in a cage where food will be delivered if it presses a lever. At first it
presses it accidentally and is rewarded by receiving food. The reward increases the
possibility that the behaviour (lever-pressing) will be repeated. The food (or reward) is
reinforcing. If the lever press results in an electric shock, this will decrease the possibility of
the behaviour being repeated. The shock acts as a punishment.
Classical Conditioning – Pavlov
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Dogs salivate when given food. Salivation is an unconditioned response (UCR) to an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the food. The stimulus and response are innately linked. If a
bell is rung every time food appears, the dog comes to associate bell and food so that the
bell alone produces the UCR. The bell was a neutral stimulus (NS) but now is a conditioned
stimulus (CS) and salivation is now a conditioned response (CR). Therefore, the animal has
learnt a new stimulus-response link.