6 - Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
What was Bowlby’s general theory?
He proposed that children who suffer from prolonged emotional deprivation caused by the absence of their primary attachment figure would have long - term intellectual, social and emotional difficulties and even mental health issues.
He believed a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother figure was necessary.
What was the belief before Bowlby’s research?
It was assumed a good standard of physical care was all that was necessary for a child to be happy and healthy.
What was Bowlby’s belief about the critical period?
He believed a child would only become emotionally disturbed due to prolonged separations from their mother figure if these separations happened before the age of three.
This was the critical period
What research did Bowlby conduct to support his theory?
He analysed the case histories of a number of his patients in the Child Guidance Clinic, where all the children were emotionally maladjusted.
He studied 88 of these children, half of whom had been caught stealing (44 thieves ) and the other half were a control group.
He suggested that some of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths.
What were affectionless psychopaths according to Bowlby?
They lacked affection, shame and responsibility for their actions.
What were the results of Bowlby’s research?
He found that those diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers.
86% of the thieves experienced frequent separations from their mothers compared with only 17% of the thieves who were not classed as affectionless psychopaths.
Almost none of the group had experienced earlier separations from their mothers.
What are the advantages of Bowlby’s theory?
Before Bowlby’s theory hospitals would not allow parents to visit their children during stays in hospital (or would only allow infrequent visits –e.g. once a week). This often had a profound and damaging effect on the child. Nowadays parents are actively encouraged to stay in hospital with their children.
Children who lived in a poor quality orphanage in South America were examined. Staff were overworked and undertrained and rarely gave th children any attention or affection. Th children displayed anaclitic depression ( loss of appetite, sleeplessness and sadness ).
It was found that 100 normal children who were placed in an institution became severely depressed within a few months.
It was found that children placed in institutions that only looked after them physically scored poorly on intelligence tests. However the same children were transferred to a different institution which gave the children emotional care the IQ scores improved by almost 30 points.
What are the negatives of Bowlby’s theory?
The effects of maternal deprivation have been shown to be reversible. Children who had never formed attachments and were adopted after the age of four were still able to form attachments to their new parents.
He did not distinguish between deprivation ( attachment figure is lost ) and privation ( child has never formed an attachment ). It could be that privation is what causes the extreme negative effects observed in some research studies.
