Attachment - Maternal deprivation & Institutionalisation effects

Question 1

What is monotropy ?

Answer 1

Unique attachment bond that develops between an infant and mother. Needed for healthy psychological developments of infants.

Question 2

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 2

Not receiving suitable emotional care from a maternal figure.

Question 3

What is the critical period for attachment?

Answer 3

If adequate attachment is disrupted/not formed within 30 months of birth, negative intellectual and emotional consequences due to deprivation.

Question 4

What is delinquency?

Answer 4

Due to delayed social development behaviour is often outside acceptable norms, ie petty crime

Question 5

What is affectionless psychopathy?

Answer 5

Due to delayed emotional development children are unable to show caring behaviour or empathy = little guilt for harmful actions

Question 6

What does a Low IQ mean?

Answer 6

Due to delayed intellectual development, general cognitive abilities are lower than peers.

Question 7

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 7

A lack of internal working model/template for relationship leads to unsuccessful childhood , adults relationships and issues with their own parenting skills. `

Question 8

What was the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

Answer 8

Interviewed 44 older children accused of theft and a control group of 44 emotionally disturbed non thieves

Affectionless psychopathy assessed, and parents contacted to identify periods of separation from mothers

Question 9

What were the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves experiment?

Answer 9

=> Found in the 44 thieves group 14 matched the criteria for affectionless psychopathy, none of the control group.

=> 12 of the 14 affectionless psychopathy experienced prolonged separation compared to 2 of the control group

Question 10

What do the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study suggest?

Answer 10

Suggests affectionless psychopathy that led to criminal/delinquent behaviour is linked to maternal deprivation.

Question 11

What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

Answer 11

Inaccurate results - 44 thieves’ study is purely correlational, there could be a third factor such as extreme poverty, family history of poor mental health.

Contradictory research - has shown that children with severe deprivation can have good outcomes.

Question 12

What are the strengths of Bowlby’s 44 thieves ?

Answer 12

Led to changes to child welfare policies of many institutions such as visiting times for mother in hospitals (real world application)

Question 13

What can extended stays at institutions alter?

Answer 13

The normal functioning such as adopting rules and norms (institutionalisation)

Question 14

What can institutionalisation result in?

Answer 14

Loss of personal identity, deindividuation, and factors identified by Bowlby: affectionless psychopathy, delinquency and low IQ.

Question 15

What is deprivation?

Answer 15

Loss or damage to an attachment, so not receiving suitable emotional care from the primary caregiver,

Question 16

What is Privation?

Answer 16

The total lack of an attachment bond

Question 17

What event revealed the condition of the Romanian Orphans? How were they treated?

Answer 17

The fall of communist government in 1989 revealed conditions of 300,000 Romanian Orphans suffering from Privation. They lacked any physical and emotional care from staff, many of the children were malnourished or abused.

Question 18

What was Rutter(2011) procedure?

Answer 18

He did a longitudinal study of 165 Romanian Orphans adopted into U.K families - adopted under 6 months, 6 to 24 months or over 24 months and compared to a group of British adoptees.
- Assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years old

Question 19

What were Rutter’s findings?

Answer 19

Age 11: If adopted after 6 months showed significant delayed development (intellectual)

Age 6: If adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment and was over friendly towards strangers.

Average IQ if adopted after 24 months was 77. Some cases of quasi-autism, problems understanding the meaning of context.

Question 20

What does Rutter’s findings suggest?

Answer 20

Suggests adoption within 6 months avoids effects of privation. But recovery suggests a sensitive period not critical period.

Question 21

What are the strengths of Rutter’s study?

Answer 21

Research resulted in changed policies around adoption and care in orphanages and other institutional settings (real world application)

Question 22

What was Rutter’s aim?

Answer 22

To assess whether loving and nurturing care could overturn the effects of privation that the children has suffered in Romanian Orphanages

Question 23

What were the weaknesses of Rutter’s study?

Answer 23

Only some of the children received detailed clinical investigations. So it is difficult to generalise the findings

Because the children were not studied while in the remaining orphanages, it is not possible to state which aspects of privation were most influential.