Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What did Bowlby propose was necessary for healthy psychological/ emotional development?

Answer 1

“warm, intimate & continuous relationship with a mother (figure)”

Question 2

What is the significance of a warm continuous relationship with a mother figure?

Answer 2

-healthy for psychological/emotional development
-‘as important for mental health as are vitamins & proteins for physical health.’

Question 3

What is deprivation?

Answer 3

-Loss of an existing attachment figure
-The idea of “loved then lost”

Question 4

How does deprivation occur?

Answer 4

-only occurs if the child is separated from the person they have made a primary attachment to for a long time without a substitute care-giver.

Question 5

What can the consequences be of deprivation?

Answer 5

-could result in serious and long-lasting emotional, cognitive and physical problems such as affectionless psychopathy.

Question 6

What is separation?

Answer 6

-being apart from the mother figure for a short period of time

Question 7

What are the effects of separation?

Answer 7

-Does not have any long-lasting effects.

Question 8

What is privation?

Answer 8

-never having a primary attachment to lose in the first place.

Question 9

Who conducted the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 9

Bowlby

Question 10

What study did Bowlby conduct to investigate the effects of maternal deprivation?

Answer 10

44 Thieves study

Question 11

What were the aims of the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 11

Examine the links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

Question 12

What sample was used in the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 12

-44 teenage ‘delinquents’ accused of stealing

Question 13

What was the procedure of the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 13

-participants were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy.
-families were also interviewed to establish if there was prolonged early separation from their mothers
-a control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers with emotional problems were also assessed to see how often maternal deprivation occurred to the children who were not thieves.

Question 14

What was the control group in the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 14

-a control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers with emotional problems

Question 15

Why was a control group used in the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 15

-to see how often maternal deprivation occurred to the children who were not thieves

Question 16

What were the findings of the 44 Thieves study?

Answer 16

-17/44 experienced maternal separation
-14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths
-12/14 had experienced prolonged separation in the first two years of life.
-In the control group 2/44 had maternal separation but 0/44 were categorized as affectionless
psychopaths.

Question 17

How man of the 44 Thieves experienced maternal deprivation?

Answer 17

-17/44

Question 18

How many of the 44 Thieves were affectionless psychopaths?

Answer 18

-14/44

Question 19

Of the number of affectionless psychopaths, how many had also experienced maternal deprivation within the first 2 years of life?

Answer 19

-12/14

Question 20

Of the control group, how many had maternal separation? How many were affectionless psychopaths?

Answer 20

-In the control group 2/44 had maternal separation
-0/44 were categorized as affectionless
psychopaths.

Question 21

What was the conclusion of the 44 Thieves Study?

Answer 21

-Prolonged separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy.

Question 22

What are the strengths of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 22

-there is research support from animal studies
-has real world applications

Question 23

What are the limitations of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 23

-potential for results from 44 Thieves Study to have been skewed by investigator effects
-evidence contradicting Bowlby’s idea of a critical period.

Question 24

Explain the strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation that there is research support from animal studies ?

Answer 24

-Harlow’s research supports the theory
-it found the monkeys that experienced maternal deprivation grew up to have stunted social development and became bad mothers themselves.
-The monkeys that were reared with plain wire and cloth wire ‘mothers’ both had no social skills so struggled to mate, and if they did, they would abandon, neglect and in some cases attack and kill their young.
-This supports Bowlby’s theory because it shows that maternal deprivation can cause long-lasting effects for the rest of the infants’ life.

Question 25

Explain the strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation that it has real world applications ?

Answer 25

-highlights the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a monotropic bond in the first five years, which have been instrumental in the development of good childcare practices.
- day care centres assign caregivers to children
-hospital visiting hours have been reviewed so that children can maintain contact with their parents
-Some countries offer more financial support for young families in terms of maternity and paternity leave. E.g Sweden offers 480 days parental leave, highlighting its commitment to supporting children’s early attachment experiences.

Question 26

Explain the limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation that there is potential for results from 44 Thieves Study to have been skewed by investigator effects?

Answer 26

-Bowlby’s 44 thieves study is flawed because it was Bowlby himself who carried out both the family interviews and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy.
-This left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy.
-Other sources of evidence were equally flawed. For example, Bowlby was also influenced by the findings of Goldfarb’s (1943) research on the development of deprived children in wartime orphanages which had problems of confounding variables
-This means that Bowlby’s original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays.

Question 27

Explain the limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation that there is evidence contradicting Bowlby’s idea of a critical period ?

Answer 27

-Bowlby believed that damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first two-and-a-half years of life, therefore called it the ‘critical period’.
-However, there is evidence to suggest that in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage. For example Koluchová (1976) reported the case of the Czech Twins: twins that experienced severe physical and emotional abuse between the ages of 18 months up until 7 years old, leaving them stunted emotionally, socially and cognitively.
-However after being adopted and receiving excellent care, they recovered fully.
-This means that lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation therefore the ‘critical period’ is better seen as a ‘sensitive period’.