attachment 9 - maternal deprivation (bowlby)

Question 1

what is maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother (or mother substitute)

Question 2

what did bowlby say was essential for normal psychological development?

Answer 2

continuous nurturing from a mother

Question 3

what is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Answer 3

separation is simply when a child is not in the presence of its primary care giver. babies are only deprived if they completely lose an element of their mothers care. they must be apart for a significant amount of time for the effects of deprivation to occur.

Question 4

when did bowlby say was the critical period for psychological development?

Answer 4

the first 30 months (2.5 years) of life

Question 5

what did bowlby say was inevitable if a child was deprived from their mother during the critical period and not cared for by a suitable substitute?

Answer 5

psychological harm

Question 6

name the two effects of maternal deprivation that bowlby identified

Answer 6

intellectual development (low iq) and emotional development (affectionless psychopathy)

Question 7

what did goldfarb find to prove bowlby’s theory that maternal deprivation leads to low iq?

Answer 7

babies who were fostered on average had higher iq’s to those who remained in institution care.

Question 8

how did bowlby describe affectionless psychopathy?

Answer 8

it prevents people from developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality. they tend to lack empathy and therefore do not feel remorse.

Question 9

how many teenagers accused of stealing did bowlby study?

Answer 9

44

Question 10

what did bowlby look for when interviewing the teenage thieves?

Answer 10

signs of affectionless psychopathy

Question 11

why did bowlby interview the family members of the teenage thieves?

Answer 11

to see if they had been deprived as children

Question 12

what was bowlby’s control group and why were they used?

Answer 12

non criminal disturbed teenagers, to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in children who were not criminals.

Question 13

how many of bowlby’s teenage thieves were described as affectionless psychopaths?

Answer 13

14 out of 44

Question 14

how many affectionless psychopath thieves had experienced maternal deprivation within the first two years of their lives? (bowlby)

Answer 14

12 out of 14

Question 15

out of bowlby’s control group of non criminal disturbed teenagers, how many had experienced maternal deprivation?

Answer 15

2 out of 44

Question 16

what sources did bowlby use as evidence for his theory on maternal deprivation? (3)

Answer 16

bowlby drew on a number of sources as evidence for maternal deprivation including studies of children orphaned during ww2, those growing up on poor quality orphanages and his own 44 thieves study.

Question 17

how were bowlby’s sources for his theory of maternal deprivation flawed in evidence?

Answer 17

war orphans were traumatised by the situation at the time, those orphaned at birth in poor quality orphanages were deprived of more than just maternal care (extraneous variables), bowlby’s own study was only conducted by himself therefore he could have misjudged those who were ‘affectionless psychopaths’

Question 18

what did hilda lewis do to disprove bowlby’s theory?

Answer 18

she partially replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale

Question 19

how many young people did hilda lewis study to disprove bowlby’s theory?

Answer 19

500

Question 20

what did hilda lewis find in her sample which disproved bowlby’s theory and why is this a problem for the theory?

Answer 20

a history of early prolonged separation from a mother did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships.

may be a problem because it suggests that other factors may affect the outcome of early maternal deprivation

Question 21

how has later research disproved bowlby’s theory about the inevitability of damage occuring from critical periods?

Answer 21

later research has shown that damage is not inevitable. some cases of severe deprivation have good outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare.

Question 22

who reported the care of twin boys from czechoslovakia who were isolated from the age of 18 months until they were seven years old (they were locked in a cupboard)?

Answer 22

koluchova

Question 23

how did koluchova use the czechoslovakian twins to show that the period identified by bowlby may be a sensitive one but not critical?

Answer 23

after being isolated from the age of 18 months to seven years, they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to recover fully.