attachment: Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
What does Bowlby suggest is essential for normal psychological development?
The continual presence of nurture from a mother or mother-substitute > Bowlby’s theory emphasizes the importance of maternal care in early childhood.
What are the serious consequences of being separated from a mother in early childhood?
Maternal deprivation > it can lead to psychological issues
What is the difference between separation and deprivation?
Separation means not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure; deprivation occurs when this separation is for an extended period, leading to a loss of care.
What does deprivation cause?
Harm > Deprivation can lead to various negative outcomes in a child’s development.
What did Bowlby see as the critical period for psychological development?
The first 2 and a half years of life > separation from a mother during this period meant that psychological damage was inevitable
Extended separation without substitute care can lead to serious developmental issues.
What are the effects of maternal deprivation on intellectual development?
Delayed intellectual development characterized by abnormally low IQ
Studies have shown that children deprived of maternal care often score lower on IQ tests.
Who found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions compared to those who were fostered?
Goldfard > those who were fostered had a higher standard of emotional care and therefore a higher IQ
How does deprivation of a mother figure’s emotional care affect children?
It affects children’s emotional development and in some cases can lead to children being affectionless psychopaths
What is affectionless psychopathy according to Bowlby?
- Inability to experience guilt
- Prevents developing normal relationships
- Associated with criminality
- Lacks remorse for actions.
outline Bowlby’s 44 thieve’s study
Bowlby investigated 44 juvenile thieves. Bowlby selected another group of 44 children to act as controls, who were individuals with emotional problems, but had not yet committed any crimes.
All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers.
outline results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
Bowlby found that 14 out of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of this, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives.
Of the control group, only 2 out of 44 had experienced long separation
Bowlby concluded that maternal separation/deprivation in the child’s early life caused permanent emotional damage.
AO3: research to support
There is research to support Bowlby’s maternal
Bowlby investigated 44 juvenile thieves. All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. There families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers. He found that 14 out of
the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of this, **12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers **in the first two years of their lives. Of the control group, only 2 out of 44 had experienced long separation
STRENGTH as this supports the link between maternal deprivation and permenant emotional damage which can cause you do be an affectionless psychopath
AO3: flawed evidence
Evidence supporting Bowlby’s theory is flawed
E: He drew on a number of sources such as the 44 thieves study and studies of children orphaned during the second world war. He found these participants later had severe negative consequences
However, the evidence is flawed. War-orphans were traumatised and often had poor after-care, therefore these factors might have been the cause of later development difficulties rather than separation. Similarly, children growing up from birth in poor quality institutions were deprived of many aspects of care, not just maternal care
This is a weakness because we cannot definitively conclude that the separation was the cause. There may have been a third unidentified variable that accounted for the delinquency/ affectionless psychopathy. For example, the immediate cause of the separation (such as neglect or abuse) might have been the direct cause of problems experienced at adolescence rather than the separation itself.
So the theory lacks empirical evidence
AO3: oversimplified
Bowlby’s theory is oversimplified
the theory suggests maternal deprivation can have long term negative effects on development
But Rotter claimed that he has muddled two concepts together. Rotter drew a distinction between
deprivation which means loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed and privation is the failure to form any attachment in the first place. Rotter claimed that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be the result of privation
WEAKNESS because Bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in children’s development
AO3: critical period
A limitation of the theory is Bowlby’s idea of a critical period.
E: For Bowlby, damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first two years of life. Hence
the critical period.
But there is evidence to suggest that good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage. For example,
research into the case of Czech twins who experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from the age of
18 months up until the age of seven shows that by their teens they fully recovered due to excellent care after
being recused.
E: What does this suggest?
This suggests that lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation. This critical period is therefore more of a
sensitive period.
