Bowlby Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
Maternal Deprivation
The poor emotional and intellectual development as a result of continuous separation during the critical period of 30 months between mother and infant. Poor intellectual development as a result of this separation can result in abnormally low IQ. Poor emotional development as a result of this separation can result in affectionless psychopathy.
What did Bowlby investigate?
the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
What was the 44 thieves study?
included 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing and were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy such as lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims as well as the families interviewed to investigate whether there was prolonged early separation from their mothers
In the 44 thieves study the control group were?
group of emotionally disturbed non-criminals’ young people were compared to them
What did bowlby find in their study of 44 thieves?
that 14 out of 44 thieves were described as affectionless psychopaths and out of those 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers. By contrast, of the control group only 2 out of 44 had experienced long separations
What was the conclusion of 44 thieves?
that prolonged early separation or deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.
Why is Bowlby’s theory a strength?
it has highlighted the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a mono tropic bond which has had significant real world applications
Where has Bowlby theory had real world applications?
- in childcare in hospitals, visiting hours have been reviewed so that children can maintain their contact with their parents.
- some governments offer more support for young families in terms of maternity and paternity leave such as Sweden which offer 480 days parental leave
What does Bowlby theory real life applications show?
the commitment to support children’s early attachment experiences
Why is Bowlby’s theory important / strength?
. Bowlby’s theory is therefore important as it has real-life applications and improved our understanding which has resulted useful in the real world.
Why has Bowlby’s theory been criticised?
Although Bowlby found a relationship between early separation and affectionless psychopathy, some have criticised this study as psychologists cannot definitively conclude that the separation was the cause
Why can psychologists not be sure of the cause of the relationship between early separation and affection less psychopathy?
This is because there may have been a third unidentified variable that accounted for the delinquency or affectionless psychopathy
What did Lewis do and find?
replicated Bowlby’s 44 thieves study on a larger scale and found that a history of early prolonged separation from the mother did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships
Why are Lewis findings an issue for Bowlby?
This is an issue for the theory of maternal deprivation because it suggests that other factors may affect the outcome of early maternal deprivation
