Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What’s is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

This argues that if a child is deprived of appropriate maternal care during the critical period then emotional problems will develop in later life- deprivation not separation
But- if separation is ongoing and has no appropriate substitute, it causes deprivation

Question 2

What is the 44 juvenile thieves study?

Answer 2

Bowlby (1944) looked at 44 children in the child guidance clinic where he worked who had been in trouble for stealing. He made a note of whether these thieves had experienced prolonged separation from their mother when young and looked to see if they were classed as ‘affectionless psychopaths’ through interviews. They were then compared to a control group of 44 non-criminals.

Question 3

What were the findings of the 44 juvenile thieves study?

Answer 3

-17/44 thieves had been separated from their mother during childhood for a prolonged period of time
-15/17 were classified as affectionless psychopaths
-only 2/44 non-criminals had experienced separation from their mothers

So Bowlby concluded that deprivation was causing affectionless psychopathy

Question 4

What are the 4 limitations of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 4

1.validity of the evidence can be questioned- self-report technique- demand characteristics- lower validity- conducted interviews himself- investigator effects- style/interpretation may have changed to it his hypothesis- lacks scientific quality which questions the validity
2. Emphasis of maternal are- father is equally as important- Gottman and Katz (1995)- limits the theory- those with involved fathers may not suffer the consequences
3. Too vague- a big difference between deprivation and privation- Bowlby should have specified- Rutter (1981)- issues are often to do with privation not deprivation- may have been incorrectly classified as deprived- question the validity
4. Cause and effect are difficult to determine- retrospective recall was used so any not have been entirely accurate- was a correlation but can’t say for certain that it was a cause- may have been other factors