Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
What was the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?
-The belief that if an infant was unable to develop a “warm intimate continuous relationship with mother” then the child would have difficulty forming relationships
-Bowlby claimed that a strong attachment to mother was essential for child’s psychological health in infancy and later life
What did Bowlby believe the effects could be reduced by
-He believed that the effects could be serious
-But could be reduced by the return of the absent mother or a mother substitute
-Fostering or adoption may provide an adequate substitute of care
-institutional care would be unlikely to provide any replacement care
What are 3 main important points of the hypothesis to note?
1) The relationship between mother and infant has to be continuous and if they become discontinuous then they will become unstable and less predictable and disrupts development
2) Development of continuous relationships should occur within the critical period. If child experiences multiple separations before age 2-3 then they might become emotionally disturbed. But after the age of 5 they would handle it better
3) Bowlby does not specify whether or not the primary caregiver has to be the mother. The term maternal means that’s how they must act but it could be the father. He is more focused on the child having a mono-tropic attachment ( single attachment)
What are the effects of Maternal Deprivation (intellectually) ?
-Maternal Deprivation can effect kids intellectually
-Bowlby believed children would become mentally retarded if deprived long enough specifically low IQ
-A study found a lower IQ in kids who remained in institutions opposed to fostered kids
What are the effects of Maternal Deprivation (emotionally) ?
-Bowlby recognised ‘affectionless psychopathy’ as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others
-Preventing the person from developing normal relationships and lack remorse for anyone they hurt
What are 2 strengths of the hypothesis?
Bowlbys Hypothesis has had positive, practical implications
-Had a major impact on postwar children care in hospitals
-Before Bowlby, when kids were in hospital visiting was discouraged or forbidden
-A study filmed a 2 year old girl show signs of distress and begging to go home after just 8 days without mother
Bowlby’s work led to major positive change across the board for child care in hospitals
Bowlby’s hypothesis is supported by the 44 thieves study
-Bowlby selected 44 thieves and compared them to 44 no crim boys
-Classed 14 of the thieves as affectionless psychopaths
-APsychos act impulsively and don’t care about consequences, show no remorse
-12/14 boys who were APsychos had early prolonged separation from other and spent time in homes or hospitals
-The remaining 74 only 7 had experienced early separation
Evidence appears to support Bowlby’s claim that maternal deprivation causes psychological and behaviour problems in later life
What are 2 weaknesses of the hypothesis?
Maternal Deprivation is based on flawed research
-The info found in the 44 thieves study was collected from the past, parents were asked to recall events from 14 years ago
-Likely the recall was not 100% accurate and subject to error
-The data collected also may have been unreliable because people don’t always answer questions truthfully to show themselves as better
-Bowlby also carried out assessments himself so knew what to look for and knew what he wanted to find
These problems reduce the validity of the findings so we do not truly have a accurate account of the kids early experience
Sensitive period not a critical one
-Bowlby said if separation happens a lot before age 2-3 then a kid would be permanently harmed
-However, a study of 2 Czech twin boys showed good recovery
-2 lads were isolated from age of 18 months up to age 7 years
-They were then looked after by loving adults and showed a full recovery
Cases like these show that the period of attachment and harm is sensitive not critical and can change
