Social- Condi tioning Theory Applied to Metaphors Like "Attachment": The Conditioning of Infant Separation Protests by Mothers*

The "attachment" metaphor has labeled a process, of which infant protests during maternal departures have served as a presumably.unlearned index. Within social-eonditioning theory, if. and how, such infant protests could be acquired was examined by (a) providing stimuli to the child via routine maternal behaviors (visual, verbal and movement orientations) during mothers' departures and (b) mothers' returns af~r brief separations. 18 6to II-mo. infant-mother dyads were studied in successive sessions. Two treatments were implemented in two orders: 1) CRF -infant protests to departure and separation cues were always followed by contingent maternal resporuesj 2) DRO-euedinfantprotests were never followed by contingent maternal responses. To control for general stimulation effects. the same number and content of maternal stimuli were provided in the two treatments. Individual infant cued-protest rates during both departures and brief separations increased under CRF and decreased under DRO, shifting doWll from contingent to noncontingent treatments and up from noncontingent to contingent treatments. Results support the assumption that infant protests to both maternal departure and brief-separation cues can be conditioned in everyday settings. trained inadvertently by the social contingencies the caregiver's behaviors provide in the departure and separation conte:;,;.in which the p!"ot~.~·~-.0" '.~,.J. DESCRIPTORS; s.::patation protest, attachment, social-conditioning theory, discriminated operant. CRF vs. DRO schedules. laboratory vs. life settings.