Bowlby's Theory of Materal Deprivation Flashcards
What is the difference between separation and deprivation?
Separation means the child isn’t in the presence of the PAF. This becomes an issue when the child becomes deprived of emotional care. Brief separations are not significant for development but extended separations can lead to deprivation, which causes harm.
What is the critical period for MD?
The first 2.5 years - if a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived of the emotional care for an extended duration, then psychological damage was inevitable.
What is the effect of MD on intellectual development?
He believed that they would have delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ. This has been demonstrated by adoption studies - Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions.
What is the effect of MD on emotional development?
Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt of strong emotion towards others. This prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality. They cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and lack remorse.
What was Bowlby’s procedure for his 44 thieves study?
Consisted of 44 teenagers accused of stealing. They were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy.Their families were also interviewed to establish whether or not they experienced prolonged early separation. This was compared to a sample of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people.
What were the findings from the 44 thieves study?
14 of the 44 could be described as affectionless psychopaths, and 12 of the 14 had experiences prolonged early separation. Only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had separation, and only 2 of the control 44 had separation.
What is the limitation - Flawed evidence?
The poor quality of evidence it is based on is a limitation. Bowlby himself carried out both the family interviews and the interviews for affectionless psychopathy, leaving him open to researcher bias. Other sources were equally flawed, for example he was influenced by Goldfarb’s findings, which has confounding variables of the children experiencing early trauma in the war. This means that his original sources of evidence had serious flaws and shouldn’t be taken seriously as evidence nowadays
What is the counterpoint for - Flawed evidence?
A new line of research has provided support for the idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects. Levy (2003) shoed that separating rats from their mother for a day had a permanent effect on their social development though not other aspects of development.
What is the limitation - Deprivation and privation?
Bowlby seemed confused between different types of early experience - deprivation and privation. Rutter drew an important distinction between them, with Deprivation referring to the loss of the PAF after the attachment had developed, and privation being the inability to form an attachment in the first place. Much of the damage Bowlby pointed out was a result of privation rather than deprivation. This means that Bowlby may have overstated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in a child’s development.
What is the limitation - critical vs sensitive periods?
Bowlby said damage was inevitable if they hadn’t formed an attachment in the first 2.5 years. However, there is evidence that quality aftercare can prevent this damage - the Czech Twins experienced severe physical and emotional abuse from 18 months - 7 years of age. Although they were severely emotionally damaged, with quality care they had recovered by their teens. This means that lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe de/privation. The critical period is better seen as a sensitive period.
