Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
What does Bowlby’s theory of monotropy suggest?
That psychological development is dependent on attachment between caregiver and infant.
What are the two consequences of maternal deprivation?
Delayed intellectual development and delayed emotional development.
How is delayed intellectual development characterised in Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Low IQ.
How is delayed emotional development characterised in Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Affectionless psychopathy- can not experience strong emotions and guilt.
What study did Bowlby do to examine the link between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy?
44 thieves study.
What was the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
Sample of 44 delinquents accused of stealing. They were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewed to establish if there was prolonged early separation from their mother. A control group of 44 non- criminal teenagers with emotional problems were all assessed to see how often maternal deprivation occurred to children who were not thieves.
What were the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths and 17/44 had maternal separation. The 14 that were affectionless, 12 of them had experienced prolonged separation in their first 2 years of life (86%). In the control group, 2/44 had maternal separation and 0/44 were categorised as affectionless psychopaths.
Positive evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
It has supporting research. Goldfarb found a lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions opposed to those who were fostered and thus had a higher standard of emotional care. However, the children were deprived of many things and not just maternal care.
- Had a large impact on postwar thinking about childrearing and hospital care e.g. child has specific caseworker in nursery.
Negative evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
- The study cannot establish a causal relationship as the relationships were correlational. This may mean there was another factor involved- cannot say separation definitely leads to affectionless psychopathy.
- The study uses retrospective data which is problematic as it relies on people being honest about sensitive topics and remembering things correctly from a long time ago.
- Koluchova (1976) reported case of twin boys in Czechoslovakia who were isolated from 18 months until 7 (locked in a cupboard). Subsequently they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to make a full recovery.
