... learnt, known as behaviourists. They assume that humans are conditioned to learn new responses, which over time become more and more complex. It has been suggested that when learning, the primary reinforcer for an infant would be the food whereas the person feeding, in which most circumstances is the mother, would be recognised as the secondary reinforcer. They therefore propose that attachment is learnt through either one of the two main types of conditioning; classical and operant. Classical conditioning entails learning by association and both primary and secondary reinforcers are used with this method. Food, which is an unconditioned stimulus, produces a sense of pleasure, which is an unconditioned response, so therefore it is believed that the person who feeds the infant, which is a conditioned stimulus, becomes associated with the food itself. The person who feeds is therefore thought to produce the conditioned response of pleasure for the ...

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