Learning theories of attachment and O'Connor et al. (2013)

Attachment through classical and operant conditioning

Learning theory says attachment is learned, not innate.

• Classical conditioning: food (unconditioned stimulus) produces pleasure (unconditioned response). The caregiver is repeatedly paired with feeding, so the caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces pleasure on their own. The infant attaches to whoever feeds it.
• Operant conditioning: a hungry infant feels discomfort (a drive). Being fed reduces the drive, which is negatively reinforcing (removes something unpleasant). Food is a primary reinforcer; the caregiver who supplies it becomes a secondary reinforcer. The infant's crying is reinforced too, because it brings the caregiver.

This is sometimes called cupboard love: attachment is to the source of food.

Social learning and parenting

Social learning theory adds modelling and reinforcement within the relationship. Parents model affection and responsiveness; children imitate and are reinforced for social behaviour. Parenting style shapes the relationship, so changing parenting (through praise, attention and consistent boundaries) could change the quality of caregiving that attachment depends on.

O'Connor et al. (2013) tested this link in London:

• Design: randomised controlled trial (classrooms randomised). 174 children aged about 4 to 6 in a high-need inner-city area; 88 in the intervention group, 86 controls.
• Intervention: the *Incredible Years* parenting programme, which is based on social learning principles and does not target attachment directly, plus a short reading programme.
• Measures: observed parent-child play, coded blind for sensitive responding and mutuality; children's attachment stories (Manchester Child Attachment Story Task).
• Findings: parents in the programme showed more sensitive responding in two less structured tasks (free play and tidy-up). There was no significant change in mutuality and no significant change in the children's attachment stories.
• Conclusion: a social learning programme can improve attachment-related parental sensitivity, even though it was not designed to.

Evaluation

• Weakness: Harlow's monkeys clung to a soft cloth 'mother' rather than a wire one that gave milk, which suggests comfort, not food, drives attachment.
• Weakness: Schaffer and Emerson found many infants attached most strongly to people who were responsive, not those who fed them.
• Strength: conditioning principles are well supported in other behaviour (Unit 2), and O'Connor et al. show social learning parenting can change caregiving sensitivity, which has practical application.
• O'Connor et al.: a randomised design with blind coders gives good validity and objectivity; but attendance was low (median of two sessions) and the sample was high-risk and from one city, limiting generalisability; child attachment did not change.

Worked example

A baby cries and her father feeds her. Use operant conditioning to explain why she may become attached to him.

1. Hunger is an unpleasant drive; feeding reduces it.
2. Removing the discomfort is negative reinforcement, so food is a primary reinforcer.
3. The father is associated with food and becomes a secondary reinforcer, so she seeks him out: attachment.

Answer: Drive reduction by feeding makes the father a secondary reinforcer, so she attaches to him.

Check yourself

1. In the classical conditioning explanation of attachment, the caregiver becomes
   • an unconditioned stimulus
   • a primary reinforcer
   • a conditioned stimulus
   • an unconditioned response
   Show answer

   a conditioned stimulus. Paired with food (the UCS), the caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus producing pleasure.

2. In the operant explanation, the caregiver is described as
   • a secondary reinforcer
   • a primary reinforcer
   • a punisher
   • a neutral stimulus that stays neutral
   Show answer

   a secondary reinforcer. Food is primary; the person linked to food becomes a secondary reinforcer.

3. What design did O'Connor et al. (2013) use?
   • A cross-sectional survey of parents
   • A single case study
   • A randomised controlled trial with an intervention group and a control group
   • A naturalistic observation with no groups
   Show answer

   A randomised controlled trial with an intervention group and a control group. Classrooms were randomised to the Incredible Years programme or control.

4. Which result did O'Connor et al. (2013) report?
   • Children's attachment stories became significantly more secure
   • Parents in the programme showed more sensitive responding in free play and tidy-up
   • Mutuality improved in every task
   • The programme had no measurable effect on parents
   Show answer

   Parents in the programme showed more sensitive responding in free play and tidy-up. Sensitive responding improved in the two less structured tasks; mutuality and child attachment did not change significantly.

5. O'Connor et al. had 88 children in the intervention group and 86 in the control group. What percentage of the sample was in the intervention group? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
   Show answer

   50.6 %. 88 / 174 x 100 = 50.6%.

6. Which evidence most challenges 'cupboard love' theory?
   • Babies cry when hungry
   • Harlow's monkeys spent most time with a soft cloth mother rather than a wire mother giving milk
   • Babies are fed several times a day
   • Operant conditioning explains how rats learn to press levers
   Show answer

   Harlow's monkeys spent most time with a soft cloth mother rather than a wire mother giving milk. Comfort mattered more than food.

7. Explain one weakness of learning theory as an explanation of attachment.
   Show answer

   Research such as Harlow's monkeys shows infants attach to a source of comfort rather than food, so feeding cannot be the main cause of attachment as learning theory claims.. Name the counter-evidence and link it to food.

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Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Psychology specification, Issue 6 (November 2024, first assessment January 2026)
• Pearson IAL Psychology summary of studies: WPS03
• O'Connor, Matias, Futh, Tantam and Scott (2013), Social learning theory parenting intervention promotes attachment-based caregiving in young children: randomized clinical trial, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 42(3)

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.