Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis and the Romanian Oprhan studies

Question 1

What is the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 1

This explains what happens when the primary caregiver attachment is broken

Question 2

What is separation?

Answer 2

Short-term disruption of an attachment bond

Question 3

Which type of attachment disruption uses the PDD model?

Answer 3

Separation

Question 4

What is the PDD model?

Answer 4

Protest (outward, direct protest such as crying), despair (calmer, apathetic behaviour that masks internal anger), and detachment (child responds to people but treats them warily and rejection of the caregiver on their return is not uncommon)

Question 5

What did Robertson and Robertson document?

Answer 5

Children such as John going through the PDD model

Question 6

How did Robertson and Robertson do to prevent psychological damage caused by separation?

Answer 6

Took children into their own home to provide them with an alternative attachment and routine, suggesting negative outcomes are not inevitable

Question 7

What is deprivation?

Answer 7

Long-term disruption of an attachment bond that may be permanent

Question 8

What percentage of children lose contact with one of their parents in a divorce?

Answer 8

50%

Question 9

What did Rodgers and Pryor find?

Answer 9

Children experiencing two or more divorces have the lowest adjustment rates and the most behavioural problems, suggesting that continual broken attachments increases the chance of negative outcomes

Question 10

What is privation?

Answer 10

This is never forming an attachment bond

Question 11

Which type of maternal deprivation is most likely to cause lasting damage?

Answer 11

Privation

Question 12

Who did Freud and Dann perform a case study on?

Answer 12

Six children from a Nazi concentration camp

Question 13

What did Freud and Dann’s study conclude?

Answer 13

It is possible to make good recoveries from privation, as all traceable children made rapid physical and intellectual developments

Question 14

What did Freud and Dann record about the children?

Answer 14

They had no caregiver attachments but were strongly attached to each other and refused to be separated

Question 15

What had happened to Genie that resulted in her privation?

Answer 15

She had been denied human interaction, beaten and strapped into a potty seat until she was found aged 13

Question 16

What was the result of Genie’s initial privation?

Answer 16

She couldn’t speak or stand and spent most of her time spitting

Question 17

How did Genie improve?

Answer 17

After intensive therapy Genie improved her IQ from 38 to 74 in six years

Question 18

What happened to Genie?

Answer 18

She was returned to her mother at 18 for a few months and then to six different foster homes where she was furthered abused and her condition deteriorated, resulting in her living in a home for people with learning difficulties

Question 19

Does Bowlby believe the negative effects of maternal deprivation can be undone?

Answer 19

No; they are irreversible

Question 20

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 20

Childcare is provided by orphanages and children’s homes

Question 21

What is disinhibited attachment and which group of children does this apply to?

Answer 21

A distinctive attachment behaviour characterised by clingy, attention-seeking behaviour and indiscriminate sociability to adults; institutionalised children

Question 22

Who did Bowlby study and what phenomenon did he discover?

Answer 22

44 juvenile thieves; affectionless psychopathy

Question 23

What is affectionless psychopathy?

Answer 23

An inability to show affection or concern for others

Question 24

How many of the thieves exhibited affectionless psychopathy?

Answer 24

32%

Question 25

How many of the thieves with affectionless psychopathy had experienced maternal deprivation?

Answer 25

86%

Question 26

What did Tizard and Hodges find?

Answer 26

Children who had been in institutional care but were adopted formed close relationships with their adopted parents and were able to reverse the effects of privation

Question 27

What was Rutter’s aim?

Answer 27

To assess whether loving care and nurture could overcome the effects of privation suffered by the Romanian orphans

Question 28

What did Rutter find?

Answer 28

Around 50% of the orphans were retarded in cognitive function and underweight initially, but in a follow up at four years old the orphans showed great improvements - particularly those adopted before six months old

Question 29

What were Rutter’s three conditions?

Answer 29

Children adopted before six months old
Children adopted between six months and two years
Children adopted after two years

Question 30

What practical applications did Bowlby’s research have?

Answer 30

Hospital visiting hours were not considered enough to maintain attachments, so living conditions for parents were made. Especially with premature babies (skin-to-skin contact helps the child)

Question 31

Who did Oksana form attachments with?

Answer 31

Dogs/wolves

Question 32

What do case studies suggest about Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 32

The assumption that the effects of privation cannot be reversed is invalid

Question 33

What are the effects of long-term deprivation?

Answer 33

Delinquency, low intelligence, increased aggression, depression and affectionless psychopathy

Question 34

Whose theories do the Romanian Orphan studies disprove? Name a theory specifically

Answer 34

Bowlby’s - the critical period

Question 35

What are the effects of maternal deprivation?

Answer 35

• Low IQ
• Delinquency
• Affectionless psychopathy (lacking empathy)

These can all be seen in Bowlby’s 44 thieves study

Question 36

What reduces the objectiveness of Bowlby and Ainsworth’s research?

Answer 36

They both had problems with their own families

Question 37

Give one problem with Rutter’s study

Answer 37

Participants were not randomly assigned to be adopted, so those adopted earlier may have been able to socialise and connect better than other children, meaning those adopted before six months may have had less problems than those adopted later - cause and effect issues