Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

Question 1

State Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

Bowlby argues that disruption of the attachment bond results in serious and permanent damage to a child’s emotional, social and intellectual development

Question 2

What does Bowlby argue ?

Answer 2

• the first 30 months of a child’s life are crycialnfor their development
• disruption during the critical period will have serious affects on intellevtual, social and emotional development
• bowlby later proposed a sensitive period (up to 5 years )

Question 3

What are the effect of maternal deprivation?

Answer 3

• poor intellectual development results in a low IQ
• poor social development results in problems forming friendships and relationships
• poor emotional development results in affectionless psychopathy

Question 4

What is meany by affectionless psychopathy?

Answer 4

Thi is an inability to experience guilt or feel strong emotions for people

Question 5

What did the 44 theives study provide evidence for ?

Answer 5

The research provided evidence as it showed that the reason for anti-social behaviour was due to the maternal deprivatiojthat caused serious disruption in the adolescent development

Question 6

What is meant by separation?

Answer 6

Refers to the short term disruption of an attachment bond

Question 7

Does the evidence for separation support Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 7

Ther is a lack of evidence from seperation studies to support Bowlby’s mdh as negative outcomes are not inevitable

Question 8

What is meant by deprivation?

Answer 8

This refers to teh long term disruption of an attachment bond

Question 9

What did Rogers and pryor find ?

Answer 9

They found that children experiencing 2 or more divorces have the lowest adjustments rates and the most behavioural problems suggesting that continual broken attachments increase the chances of negative outcomes for children , supporting Bowlby’s mdh

Question 10

What does schafter and heatherington and stanley suggest ?

Answer 10

They suggest that the negative outcomes to children development are more short term than long term
So long term separation has greater negative effects

Question 11

What did richards find ?

Answer 11

He found that attachment disruption through divorce leads to resentment and stress but death of an attachment figure most likely results to depression and delinquency
- this implies that separation through different causes produces different outcomes

Question 12

What did demo and acock find ?

Answer 12

They found that children vary widely in reactions to divorce , with some children developing better attachments to their parents after divorce
So divorce does not neccessarily bring negative effects

Question 12

What has research into the effects of deprivation allowed psychologists to do ?

Answer 12

It has allowed psychologists to create strateggies to help children cope with divorce

Question 13

What is meant by privation ?

Answer 13

This refers to never having formed an attachment

Question 14

Examples of privation are…

Answer 14

Rare and most research is based on case studies

Question 15

Freud and dan
Privation case study

Answer 15

Reported on 6 children placed in a nazi concentration camp, who were orphaned at a few months of age and had formed no maternal attachments
They were taken at age 3-4 to the bulldog bank centre in west sussex
They had little language, did not know what to do with toys and were hostile to adults
They were however devoted to eachother and refused to be separated
Very gradually they became attached to their carers and made rapid developments in physical and intellectual capabilities
- those that were traceable made good recoveries and had successful adult relationships

Question 19

Do the bulldog bank children support bowlby ?

Answer 19

No

Question 19

Koluchova case study

Answer 19

Reported on identical twins whose mother died soon after birth. When their father remarried , the step mother locked them in a cellar for 5 and a half years , giving them regular beatings.
The father was mainly absent from the home due to jobs
Discovered at age 7, the twins were underdeveloped physically, lacked speech and did not understand the meaning of pictures.
Doctors predicted permanent, physical and mental damage
The boys were given physical therapy and were put into special needs school and were adopted by 2 child-centred sisters
At age 14 their intellectual , social, emotional and behavioural functioning was near normal
As adults they both married and had children and successful jobs

Question 20

Do the koluchova twins support bowlby?

Answer 20

No

Question 21

Curtiss and Genie case study

Answer 21

Reported on Genie, a girl denied human interaction, beaten and strapped into a potty seat until discovered at age 13
She could not stand or speak , spending most of her time spitting
She received years of therapy and was tested constantly, developing some language abilities and improving her IQ 38 to 74
At age 18 she returned to her mother, staying for only a few months before moving to a succession of 6 differnt foster homes, where she was further abused
Genie then deteriorated physically and mentally , before going to live in a home for people with learning difficulties

Question 22

Does Genie support Bowlby ?

Answer 22

Yes
She was never able to make a full recovery so permanent damage was made

Question 23

Privation AO3
Main difference between czech and bulldog bank children and Genie

Answer 23

The Czech twins and bulldog bank children had eachother whilst Genie was all by herself so the other children were able to create some kind of attachments with the other but Genie had no form of attachment

Question 24

Privation AO3
Use of case studies

Answer 24

All case studies are so unique and usually only happen in 1 or 2 cases therefore they cannot be used to generalise the results to a whole population