Attachment – Bowlby maternal deprivation

Question 1

What is the term Monotropy?

Answer 1

A unique attachment bond between an infant and its mother the mother act as a secure base which the child uses to explore the world and return to for comfort and safety.

Question 2

What is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 2

Argues if the child’s montropic attachment is disrupted during the critical period, such as three prolong separation from the mother this deprivation will result in negative and irreversible consequences affecting the infants social emotional and intellectual skills.

Question 3

What are the consequences of deprivation?

Answer 3

Delinquency: due to disrupted social development behaviour is often outside acceptable norms such as petty crime.
Affection psychopathy: due to disrupted emotional development children are unable to show caring behaviour to others or empathy for other peoples feelings and have little guilt for their harmful actions.
Low IQ: due to the disrupted intellectual development, cognitive abilities are lower than peers.

Question 4

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 4

Suggest deprivation caused by prolong separation from the mother limits the ability of the infant to form an effective internal working model leading to unsuccessful childhood and adult relationships and issues with their parenting skills.

Question 5

What is the internal working model?

Answer 5

The idea that the relationship with the mother at first is most important for forming relationships in the future.