Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Question 1

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

Answer 1

before

Question 2

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What is separation?

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

What is deprivation?

Answer 4

• loss of emotional care from a PAF or substitute caregiver

Question 5

What is privation?

Answer 5

• Failure to form an attachment in the first place

Question 6

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

Answer 6

• 2 and a half years

Question 7

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

Answer 7

• deprived of emotional care so psychological damage is inevitable

Question 8

What two effects does extended deprivation have on a child?

Answer 8

• Effects their intellectual development and emotional development

Question 9

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

Answer 9

• abnormally low IQ

Question 10

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

Answer 10

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

Question 11

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

Answer 11

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

Question 12

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

Answer 12

the link between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy

Question 13

Who were the two groups in Bowlby’s study?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What did Bowlby find about the thieves?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What did Bowlby find about the control group?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What can be concluded from Bowlby’s thieves study?

Answer 16

• Prolonged early separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy

Question 17

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis to do with evidence?

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

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

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

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

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

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

Answer 20

• 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 deprived of emotional care from mother and, as such, grew up to be aggressive and had problems interacting with other monkeys.
• increased validity