Bowlby’s theory of Maternal Deprivation Hypotheis Flashcards
What did bowlby believe? (emotional care is as important as physical care)
idea that if an infant is unable to develop a warm intimate continuous relationship with its mother (or permanent mother substitute), then they would have difficulty forming relationships with other people and be at risk of behavioural disorders.
What did bowlby use the term deprivation to do?
to mean the attachment between the infant and caregiver is disrupted or broken
What did bowlby see the first 2 and a half years of life as?
a critical period for psychological development.
-Bowlby believed that if a child is deprived of emotional care because of frequent or prolonged separation from their mother in the absence of suitable
substitute care then psychological damage is inevitable.
What did bowlby feel?
also felt there was a continuing risk up until the age of five years, known as the sensitive period.
What did bowlby believe even short term disruption of attachment resulted in?
serious and long-term effects on a child’s intellectual and emotional developmen
How does deprivation affect intellectual development?
–B believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would suffer intellectual delay,characterised by abnormally low IQ.
- has been demonstrated in studies of adoption.
What did bowlby identify affectionless psychopathy as? (emotional development)
the inability to
experience guilt or strong emotions for others
What is affectionless psychopathy characterised as and what does it prevent?
-as a lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims.
-prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality (delinquency).
What can’t affectionless psychopaths do?
appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions
What is supporting evidence that Maternal deprivation and Affectionless psychopathy are linked?
Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study – Emotional Developmen
What was Bowlby’s aim?
Bowlby investigated the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal
deprivation
What was bowlby’s procedure?
-conducted a natural experiment which involved analysing the case histories
of 88 patients in the Child Guidance Clinic in London.
All the children attending the clinic
were emotionally maladjusted, 44 had been accused of stealing (the ’44 thieves’) and the other 44 formed a control group of non-criminals but emotionally disturbed young people.
All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: characterised as a lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims. Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early
separation from their mothers
What did bowlby find?
-14 (32%) of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. -Of this 14, 12 (86%) had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. These early separations often consisted of continual or repeated stays in foster homes or hospitals, when the children were rarely visited by families
-in contrast only 5 (17%) of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced long separation.
Of the control group, only 2 (4%) out of 44 had experienced long separations.
What was bowlby’s conclusion?
-was concluded that prolonged maternal deprivation caused affectionless
psychopathy.
-therefore a lack of continuous care may cause emotional maladjustment or
even a psychological disorder.
