Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory Flashcards
What does this theory state?
That an attachment is essential for healthy psychological and emotional development. It states that there will be many negative consequences of maternal deprivation
What did Bowlby say are consequences of maternal deprivation?
An inability to form attachments in the future
Affectionless psychopathy
Delinquency
Problems with cognitive development
What situations are attachments commonly disrupted?
When a child is put in day care
Has prolonged stays in hospital care
Put in institutional care
What is privation?
When a child fails to form any attachments at all
What study did Bowlby conduct to assess the effects of maternal deprivation? What did he find and conclude?
Bowlby conducted his 44 juvenile thieves study. He found that out of 44 thieves, 14 displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy and 12 of these had suffered from maternal deprivation during the critical period of attachment formation. This was compared to only 5 affectionless psychopaths in the remaining 30 thieves. Therefore he believed that early maternal deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
What is a weakness of Bowlbys study? (Incorrect conclusions)
Lewis et al disagreed with bowlbys conclusion that affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation caused criminality. Through collecting qualitative data from interviews conducted with 500 juveniles, the researchers found no link between maternal deprivation and a difficulty in forming relationships in later life. This suggests that Bowlby may have made incorrect casual conclusions
What is a weakness of Bowlbys study ? (Methodological limitations)
Bowlbys study suffers from several methodological limitations. One of these includes researcher bias - Bowlby was aware of what he wanted to find and so may have phrased the interview questions in a way which influenced the respondents to reply in a certain way ie. Leading questions. Secondly, Bowlby also based his theory from interviews collected from war orphans. This does not control for the confounding variable of poor quality care in orphanages or ptsd which may have had a larger influence non the children’s development rather than simply maternal deprivation.
What is a weakness of Bowlbys study? (Effects may not be as concrete as he believed)
The effects of the critical period may not be as concrete as Bowlby originally believed. For example, the case of two twins locked away in cupboards in czechoslovakia for the first 7 years of their lives was reported by koluchova. Despite the obvious trauma and maternal deprivation which occurred for an extended period of time, even exceeding the critical period, the researchers found that with appropriate fostering, the twins made a full psychological recovery. Therefore, the effects of maternal deprivation are not always so clear cut.
