Bosmans Guy, Bakermans-Kranenburg Marian J, Vervliet Bram, Verhees Martine W F T, van IJzendoorn Marinus H
Clinical Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium.
Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 Jun;113:287-298. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.03.014. Epub 2020 Apr 8.
Attachment is an inborn behavioral system that is biologically driven and essential for survival. During child development, individual differences in (in)secure attachment emerge. The development of different attachment behaviors has been traditionally explained as a process during which experiences with (lack of) responsive and supportive care are internalized into working models of attachment. However, this idea has been criticized for being vague and even untestable. With the aim of unraveling this black box, we propose to integrate evidence from conditioning research with attachment theory to formulate a Learning Theory of Attachment. In this review, we explain how the development of individual differences in attachment security at least partly follows the principles of classical and operant conditioning. We combine observed associations between attachment and neurocognitive and endocrinological (cortisol, oxytocin, and dopamine) processes with insights in conditioning dynamics to explain the development of attachment. This may contribute to the explanation of empirical observations in attachment research that are insufficiently accounted for by traditional attachment theory.
依恋是一种由生物驱动的、对生存至关重要的先天行为系统。在儿童发育过程中，（不）安全依恋的个体差异会显现出来。传统上，不同依恋行为的发展被解释为一个过程，在此过程中，（缺乏）响应性和支持性照料的经历被内化为依恋的工作模型。然而，这一观点因模糊甚至无法验证而受到批评。为了揭开这个黑匣子，我们建议将条件作用研究的证据与依恋理论相结合，以形成一种依恋学习理论。在这篇综述中，我们解释了依恋安全性个体差异的发展至少部分遵循经典条件作用和操作性条件作用的原则。我们将观察到的依恋与神经认知和内分泌（皮质醇、催产素和多巴胺）过程之间的关联与条件作用动态的见解相结合，以解释依恋的发展。这可能有助于解释依恋研究中的实证观察结果，而传统依恋理论对此解释不足。
