Bowlby

Question 1

separation vs deprivation according to Bowlby

Answer 1

Deprivation according to Bowlby means not having formed an attachment in the first place, whereas separation means physically being separated from the caregiver for a long/short period of time (Separation leads to deprivation)

Question 2

what does Bowlby suggest the critical period is?

Answer 2

The critical period→ important time between 6 months -2years during which the mother-child bond should continue unbroken to allow the child to form relationships throughout adulthood

Question 3

what could deprivation in critical period cause?

Answer 3

Deprivation during the critical period can lead to problems in adulthood that are irreversible and permanent. (such as delinquency, and affectionless psychopathy)

Deprivation could result in problems forming relationships during adulthood (intellectual and emotional problems develop together)

Question 4

5 parts of bowlby’s theory

Answer 4

adaptive
social releasers
critical period
monotropy
internal working model

Question 5

what does adaptive mean in bowlby’s theory?

Answer 5

Adaptive→ suggests that attachment is adaptive, and infant have an innate drive to attach

Question 6

what does social releasers mean in bowlby’s theory?

Answer 6

Social releasers→ important during the critical period→ a set of behaviours that infants are born with to provoke a response from the caregivers

Question 7

what does monotropy mean in bowlby’s theory?

Answer 7

Monotropy→ infants attach to 1 caregiver (mother)

Question 8

44 thieves:
Aim

Answer 8

Aimed to investigate long term effects of maternal deprivation

Question 9

44 thieves
sample

Answer 9

88children
44 juvenile thieves
44 controls

Question 10

44 thieves:
what did the children have tested upon arrival (what design was the study)

Answer 10

IQ
matched pairs as matched for sex + age

Question 11

44 thieves:
how was data recorded?

Answer 11

Children and their parents were interviewed to record details of child’s early life (e.g. periods of separation)
Details recorded by a psychiatrist (Bowlby), psychologist and a social worker
they made separate reports

Question 12

44 thieves
findings juvenile thieves

Answer 12

14 from thief group identified as affectionless psychopaths
12 experienced prolonged separation 6+ months
In contrast 5/30 of children not diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths + had experienced separation

Question 13

44 thieves
findings controls

Answer 13

2/44 prolonged separation → none affectionless psychopaths

Question 14

affectionless psychopath meaning

Answer 14

Diagnosed this as affectionless psychopathy→ lack emotional dev, lack of concern for others, lack of guilt…(permanent emotional damage)

Question 15

44 thieves
conclusion

Answer 15

Bowlby concluded that maternal deprivation in child’s early life caused permanent emotional damage

Question 16

44 thieves
generalisability

Question 17

44 thieves
reliability

Answer 17

Psychologist, psychiatrist (Bowlby) and social worker came to conclusions separately : Inter-rater reliability→ made conclusions collectively but made separate decisions. means their diagnosis was not affected by normative social influence, more reliable

however, vulnerable to researcher bias → Bowlby diagnosed and assessed the pps → also knew if children were part of theft group of control group → findings may have been unconsciously influenced by own expectations

Question 18

44 thieves
applicability

Question 19

44 thieves
validity

Answer 19

interviews: Relied on self-report data → social desirability seeing as no one wants to admit to leaving child for long periods of time → reducing validity of the findings

however, means detailed and rich sources of info obtained from both parent and juvenile, makes assessment a valid form of measurement.

Question 20

44 thieves
ethics