bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

Question 1

bowlby

Answer 1

proposed prolonged emotional deprivation would have long term consequences in terms of emotional development

deprivation refers to loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver

Question 2

long term consequences

Answer 2

child who is denied care because of frequent and or prolonged separations may become emotionally disturbed. separation only has this effect if it happens before critical period of two and a half years old and if there is no mother substitute. there’s a continuing risk up to 5 years old.

Question 3

44 thieves study

Answer 3

studied 44 children that were caught stealing and other half were control group. bowlby suggested that some of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths - lacked normal signs of affection, shame or sense of responsibility - enabled them to be thieves as it didn’t matter to them

86% of affectionless thieves experienced frequent early separations from mothers
39% of all thieves experienced early separations - suggest that early separations are linked to affectionless psychopathy

Question 4

evaluation - deprivation or privation

Answer 4

rutter - bowlby didn’t make clear whether child’s attachment bond had been formed but broke, or never formed in first place

rutters view - lack of attachment bond would have potentially far more serious consequences for child than loss of attachment bond - uses term privation to refer to situations where child fails to develop an attachment bond - lack of clarity in bowlby’s definitions of deprivation affects validity

Question 5

evaluation - real world application

Answer 5

before the research children were separated from parents when they spent time in hospital. visiting was discouraged or forbidden.

robertson - filmed a two year old girl called Laura who is seen to be frequently distressed and begs to go home.

bowlby and robertson’s work led to major social changes in the way that children were cared for.

Question 6

evaluation - physical and emotional separation

Answer 6

emotional separation can also lead to deprivation - mother who is depressed may be physically present, yet unable to provide suitable emotional care thus depriving child of that care.

radke yarrow et al - studied severely depressed mothers - 55% of their children were insecurely attached, compared with 29% in control group