Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

The emotional and physical consequences of separation between a child and their mother or mother substitute.

Question 2

What did Bowlby propose?

Answer 2

Prolonged separation from the mother causes serious damage to emotional, social, and intellectual development. This can lead to affectionless psychopathy, delinquency, and low IQ.

Question 3

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Answer 3

Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. This only becomes a problem if the child becomes deprived of emotional care (eg if the mother is present but depressed).

Question 4

Does separation always lead to deprivation?

Answer 4

Brief separations, particularly where the child is with a substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care, are not significant for development, but extended separations can lead to deprivation, which may cause harm.

Question 5

What did Bowlby believe to be the critical period?

Answer 5

The first two and a half years, although there is still a risk of damage to the child’s development until they turn five.

Question 6

What did Bowlby believe would be the result of prolonged separation during the critical period?

Answer 6

Long separation from a mother without proper emotional support can cause lasting harm to the child, including damaging their emotional and intellectual development.

Question 7

What is the internal working model?

Answer 7

Bowlby suggested that a child develops an internal wokring model based on their relationship with their main caregiver. This model helps the child understand what relationships are like. It also influences how the child will be able to form relationships and parent their own children in the future.

Question 8

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 8

The idea that early experiences, especially with caregivers, affect how a person feels and acts later in life. If there are prolonged separations then there may be issues into adulthood.

Question 9

How did Bowlby suggest maternal deprivation would affect intellectual development?

Answer 9

Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would experience delayed intellectual development, characterised by an abnormally low IQ.

Question 10

How did Goldfarb support Bowlby’s views about the effect on intellectual development?

Answer 10

William Goldfarb (1947) found that children who stayed in institutions had lower IQs compared to those who were placed in foster care, where they received better emotional support.

Question 11

How did Bowlby suggest maternal deprivation would affect emotional development?

Answer 11

Bowlby described affectionless psychopathy as the inability to feel guilt or strong emotions for others. This makes it hard for a person to form normal relationships and is linked to criminal behaviour. Affectionless psychopaths don’t understand how their actions hurt others, and don’t feel sorry for what they’ve done.

Question 12

What was Bowlby’s 1944 research?

Answer 12

The 44 thieves study examined the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

Question 13

Who were the participants in the study?

Answer 13

The study involved 44 children who were accused of stealing.
The results were compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal, emotionally disturbed children.

Question 14

What was the procedure for the children?

Answer 14

They were interviewed to check for signs of affectionless psychopathy, which includes not feeling affection, guily or empathy for others.

Question 15

What was the procedures for the families?

Answer 15

Researchers also interviewed their families to see if the children had long periods of separation from their mother when they were young.

Question 16

What were the results for the experimental group?

Answer 16

• 14 (36%) were found to be affectionless psychopaths, and 12 of them had been separated from their months for a long period in their first two years.
• Only 5 of the other 30 thieves had ecperienced separation.

Question 17

What were the results for the control group?

Answer 17

• none of the children in the control group were found to be affectionless psychopaths.
• only 2 out of 44 had long separations.

Question 18

What did Bowlby conclude from the results of his 1944 research?

Answer 18

Bowlby concluded that long term separation from a mother in early childhood caused affectionless psychopathy.

Question 19

Why is practical application a strength of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 19

The theory has led to significant changes in how children are cared for in hospitals, such as allowing parents to stay with their hospitalised children. This minimises the risk of separation and its potential impact on emotional development.

Question 20

How can animal studies be a strength of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 20

Bowlby drew on animal studies, such as Harlow’s research on rhesus monkeys, to support his ideas about attachment. Harlow’s findings showed the importance of emotional care, not just physical needs.

Question 21

How can animal studies be a limitation of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 21

Generalising findings from animals to humans is problematic, due to differences in complexity between species. This limits the validity of Bowlby’s claims.

Question 22

How did Schaffer and Emerson’s research challenge Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 22

Schaffer and Emerson found that infants form multiple attachments, not just to their mother. This challenges Bowlby’s idea of monotropy, by showing that other caregivers also play key roles in emotional development.

Question 23

What was the results when Lewis replicated Bowlby’s study in 1954 with a larger sample of 500 young people?

Answer 23

Found no significant link between early separation and later criminality, or difficulties forming close relationships.

Question 24

What were the results of Koluchova’s study of the czech twins in 1976?

Answer 24

Showed that despite experiencing severe abuse and neglect until the age of seven, the twins made a fulll recovery after receiving high quality care. This suggests that the effects of early deprivation can be reversible with the appropriate intervention.

Question 25

How do the finding of the czech twin study undermine Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 25

The findings undermine the idea of a rigid critical period and instead support the notion of a sensitive period, where attachment is optimal but not exclusive to early development.

Question 26

How could Bowlby’s 44 thieves study have been influenced by bias?

Answer 26

He conducted both the family interviews amd assessments for affectionless psychopathy himself, leading to possible bias. He already knew which teenagers he expected to show psychopathy, which could hace influenced his findings.

Question 27

What is the issue with Bowlby’s reliance on Goldfarb’s 1943 study on war time orphans?

Answer 27

The study is flawed due to confounding factors like trauma and institutional care, making it unclear if maternal deprivation was the cause of the effects. This suggests that Bowlby’s evidence would not be considered reliable by today’s standards.