Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
Define ‘maternal deprivation’
The emotional & intellectual consequences of separation between a child & his/her mother or mother subsitute
What is the difference between separation and deprivation?
Separation- Simply means child not being in prescence of primary attachment figure
Only becomes a problem if child becomes deprived of emotional care
Extended separations can lead to deprivation, which can cause harm
What is the ‘critical period’ that Bowlby suggested?
B saw the first two & a half years (30 months) of life as a critical period for psychological development
If a child is separated from mother without a substitue carer & so deprived of emotional care for extended amount of time during this critical period
Bowlby belived psychological damage was inevitable
(He also believe there was a continuing risk up to the age of 5)
What are the two types of development that maternal deprivation can affect?
Intellectual development
Emotional development
How does maternal deprivation affect childrens intellectual development?
B believed of children were deprived of maternal care for too long during critical period they would experience delayed Int Dev characterised by an abnormally low IQ
What studies have demonstrated children who have experienced maternal deprivation having abnormally low IQ’s?
Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered & had a higher standard of emotional care
How does maternal deprivation effect a childs emotional development?
B identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others
Prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships & is associated with crimanality
What was the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
- Sample of study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
- All ‘thieves’ interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy - characterised as a lack of guilt about their actions etc
- Their families also interviewed to establish whether thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
- Sample was compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
What were the findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
Found that 14/44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths & 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from thier mothers in first 2 years of their lives
In contrast only 5 of remaining theives had experience separations
Only 2 ppts in control group of 44 experienced long separations
What did Bowlby conclude from his experiment?
Concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
What is one limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
The poor quality the evidence is based on
44 thieves study is flawed as it was B himslef who carried out both family interviews & assestments for affectionless psychopathy
This left him open to bias as he knew in advance which teenagers are expected to show signs of psychopathy
What is another limitation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory?
His idea of critical period:
For B damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the forst 2& a half years of life hence critical period
However there is evidence to suggest in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage
e.g. the Czech twins experienced v severe physcial harm & abuse until they were 7
Although severly damaged emotionally they recieved excellent care & by their teens had recovered fully
Means lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation
