Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards

1
Q

Did Bowlby’s material deprivation theory come before or after his theory of attachment?

A

before

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2
Q

What is maternal deprivation?

A
  • The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother/substitute
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3
Q

What is separation?

A
  • Child is not in presence of PAF
  • Brief separations, where child is left with substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care & is not significant for development
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4
Q

What is deprivation?

A
  • loss of emotional care from a PAF or substitute caregiver
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5
Q

What is privation?

A
  • Failure to form an attachment in the first place
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6
Q

What did Bowlby say the critical period was for psychological development?

A
  • 2 and a half years
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7
Q

What happens if child is separated from their mother for an extended duration during the critical period?

A
  • deprived of emotional care so psychological damage is inevitable
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8
Q

What two effects does extended deprivation have on a child?

A
  • Effects their intellectual development and emotional development
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9
Q

What effects does extended deprivation have on child’s intellectual development?

A
  • abnormally low IQ
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10
Q

Whose adoption study supports low IQ because of maternal deprivation and what did they find?

A

Goldfarb (1947) - found low IQ in children who had remained in institutions compared to those who were fostered

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11
Q

What effects does extended deprivation have on a child’s emotional development?

A
  • affectionless psychopathy >inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others
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12
Q

What did Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944) examine?

A

the link between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy

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13
Q

Who were the two groups in Bowlby’s study?

A
  • 44 teens referred for stealing
  • compared to a control group of non criminal emotionally disturbed teen
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14
Q

What did Bowlby find about the thieves?

A

14/44 thieves - affectionless psychopaths
12/14 had experienced prolonged separation

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15
Q

What did Bowlby find about the control group?

A

2/44 experienced long separations
0/44 were affectionless psychopaths

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16
Q

What can be concluded from Bowlby’s thieves study?

A
  • Prolonged early separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy
17
Q

What is a limitation of Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis to do with eveidence?

A
  • based on flawed evidence
  • 44 thieves study is flawed because Bowlby carried out both family interviews & assessments for affectionless psychopathy
  • open to bias as he knew what to expect/ had preconceived ideas which may have influence questions asked & his interpretations of answers
  • Goldfarb -problems of CV’s> children in study had experienced early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from PAF
  • evidence cannot be taken seriously
18
Q

What is another limitation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation to do with his distinction of early experiences?

A
  • confusion between two types of early negative experience.
  • Rutter draws a distinction between the two types of early negative experience
  • Deprivation strictly refers to loss of PAF after attachment has developed
  • Privation is failure to form attachment in the first place
  • severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation > more likely to be a result of privation (e.g. 44 thieves had disrupted early lives so may never have formed attachment)
  • overestimated seriousness of the effects of deprivation on development
19
Q

What is a further limitation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A
  • Bowlby idea of the critical period > damage inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in first 2.5 years of their life
  • However, Koluchova reported case of Czech twins who experienced severe emotional & psychological abuse from the age of 18 months up until they were 7
  • experienced excellent quality aftercare and fully recovered by the time they were teens
  • lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation > CP better seen as SP
20
Q

What research support is there for Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A
  • supported by Harlow’s (1958) research with monkeys
  • showed that monkeys reared in isolation from their mother suffered emotional and social problems in older age
  • monkey’s never formed an attachment (privation) and, as such, grew up to be aggressive and had problems interacting with other monkeys.
  • increased validity