Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
What did Bowlby propose about prolonged emotional deprivation?
It would have long-term consequences in terms of emotional development.
What did Bowlby believe was required of a mother to continue normal mental health and development?
‘Warm, intimate and continuous’ relationship with mother. Famously said that mother-love is as important to mental health as vitamins are important to physical health.
What specific conditions were required for emotional deprivation to have an impact?
Infant denied care due to frequent or prolonged separations before age of 2.5 years. Risk up to 5 years. Substitute-mother person can prevent deprivation.
What did he claim were the long-term consequences of deprivation?
Emotional maladjustment, mental health problems such as depression.
Outline the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study.
44 thieves, 44 control group (not thieves). Some thieves described as ‘affectionless psychopaths’ (could steal as it didn’t matter to them). He analysed the case histories to determine whether participants had been deprived.
What percentages of each group experienced frequent early separations from their mothers in the 44 thieves study?
88% ‘affectionless thieves’. 17% other thieves. 0% control group.
(AO3) How can the theory of physical separation be extended?
Emotional separation. Severely depressed mothers struggle to provide emotional care. Leads to weak attachments - emotional separation - deprivation.
(AO3) Why was Bowlby’s research and theory so impactful.
Norm was to provide children in hospitals with basic physical needs - food, bed etc. No emotional care - footage showed distressed babies due to deprivation. By describing emotional care as just important, more emotional care was introduced in hospitals.Major social change for better.
(AO3) How can Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation be furthered with more detail?
Important distinction between deprivation and privation. Attachment formed & broken = deprivation, never formed = privation. Privation much more serious consequences. Lack of clarity/detail by Bowlby may reduce validity.
(AO3) Why was the Juvenile Thieves study’s methodology biased?
Researcher bias - conducted interviews himself. Aware of what he wanted to find to support hypothesis and theory - leading questions. Not objective - internal validity.
