Attachment - Disruption to Attachment Flashcards
Give an outline of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
If an infant was unable to form a ‘warm, intimate and continuous’ relationship with the mother/care-giver then the child would have difficulty forming relationships with others and be at risk of behavioural disorders
State the 3 main aspects to Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
- Looks at importance of continuous relationships
- Development during the critical period (2 1/2, after 5 children unable to cope with separation)
- Used term ‘maternal’ not mother, monotropy does not have to be the mother.
What are the 3 stages to short term separation and who came up with it?
PDD model, Robertson & Robertson:
- Protest (clinging to parents and fighting others, crying and screaming)
- Despair (clamer but still upset, may appear withdrawn)
- Detachment (may engage with others although be wary. Likely to reject care-giver upon return and show anger)
Describe the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
Selected an opportunity sample of children from the clinic where he worked, 44 being thieves and 44 for other issues. A social worker interviewed a parent to find out about the children’s early experiences
What was the IV and DV in Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
IV: separation / non-separation
DV: thieves / non thieves
What kind of experiment was Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
a natural experiment
What were the results from Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
SEPARATED:
90% were thieves
67% were psychopathic
NOT SEPARATED:
37% were thieves
3% were psychopathic
Explain why Bowlby’s 44 thieves study was not a true experiment
He didn’t have full control
He didn’t randomly select his participants
What are methodological issues of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
- Interview based on self-report
- Extraneous variables due to natural experiment
- Correlational; cannot confirm cause and effect
- Interviewer bias (his theory & experiment, likely to bias results)
What is a problem with Bowlby’s 44 thieves study being retrospective?
Unreliable because of memory (e.g might not remember how long they were separated for)
Researcher doesn’t know of other factors that could have contributed to psychopathy
What is a positive implication of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?
Prior to Bowlby’s work no attention was payed to children’s emotional needs. His theories changed attitudes and promoted mental well-being as well as physical well-being
What is a problem with the support for MDH coming from children in institutions?
May not be maternal deprivation, but other forms of deprivation which effected subsequent development.
Same types of children in institutions; low population validity
What did Rutter conclude led to emotional maladjustment in his Isle of Wight study?
Found delinquency was most common in cases where boys had experienced separations due to discord in their families. This showed that family discord rather than separation on its own cause delinquency
State a weakness with Bowlby’s MDH?
He didn’t distinguish between deprivation and privation
State 2 pieces of research into privation
Genie (Curtiss) Czech twins (Koluchova)
Describe the background of Genie
History of severe isolation, neglect and physical restraint. Kept strapped to a potty and punished if she made a sound by her father
In what condition was Genie found?
Found at 13
Appearance of a 6/7 year old
Unsocialised, primitive, hardly human
Didn’t speak and could hardly walk
What was Genie’s result after intervention
Never achieved good social adjustments or language
What was the background of the Czech twins?
Mother died after giving birth to twin boys. They went to a children’s home for 11 months and stayed with their aunt for 6 months, then their father and stepmother. Here, they were never allowed out the house and were kept in a small, unheated closet. They were discovered at 7
In what condition were the Czech twins found?
Could hardly walk and had severe rickets
Fearful of spontaneous speech
What was the Czech twin’s result after intervention?
Gains made after hospital and further care. Now adults, well adjusted and cognitively able
What were the differences between Genie and the Czech twins?
Background: Genie was kept at the same place for the entirety of her privation, whereas the Czech twins moved to different locations with different carers.
Outcome: The twins finally adjusted in society, but Genie never did
Give 3 evaluative points on case studies as a method of investigation
- Ethical issue: Ongoing follow up could be seen as intrusive and some have claimed they are permanently damaged in later life
- Methodological issues: hard to generalise as its based on an individual case
- Useful: In depth studies looking at human behaviour that would otherwise be inaccessible
What was the procedure of Hodges and Tizard’s study into long-term effects of privation?
Studied 65 children brought up in a children’s home until they were 4 where they were unable to form attachment with their carers. At 4, 25 of the children were restored to their biological parents, 33 were adopted and 7 returned to children’s home. They were re-visited at 8 and 16, observed through interviews and talking to carers/teachers to assess their attachment behaviours
