bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation evaluation Flashcards
(p) one limitation is that sources of evidence for maternal deprivation are flawed
(e)
● for example, the 44 thieves study was flawed because it was open to researcher bias
● bowlby himself assessed both deprivation and affectionless psychopathy, knowing what he hoped to find
● also, social desirability bias may have occurred
● as the families may have modified their answers and not mentioned prolonged separation to seem like better parents
(c)
● this suggests that bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation may lack internal validity
● due to the problems with the evidence in which he based his theory on
(p) a strength of the research is that there is supporting evidence from animals to support maternal deprivation
(e)
● for example, levy separated baby rats from their mothers and found it had permanent effects on their social development
● also, harlow found that when monkeys were separated from their mothers at birth, this lead to long term effects
● for example, they were more aggressive and struggled to mate
(c)
● this matters because there is evidence that maternal deprivation leads to negative outcomes, at least in animals
● which bowlby’s theory suggest
(p) however, we could question the generalisability of the above research to humans, as human attachment is likely to be very different. research with humans on this topic find very different results
(e)
● for example, lewis looked at a larger sample (500 young people)
● and found little to no evidence of early prolonged separations predicting criminality or relationship problems
(c)
● therefore, this suggests that the link between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy / criminal behaviour is unclear in humans
(p) a further limitation is that bowlby’s idea of the critical period may be over exaggerated
(e)
● researchers conducted a case study of czech twin boys isolated from age 18 months and severely deprived
● later, they were looked after by two loving adults (at 7 years old) and appeared to recover normally
(c)
● this goes against bowlby’s theory that children can not form attachments after the critical period
● because social interaction and good aftercare can help children overcome severe deprivation
● therefore, this period may be seen as ‘sensitive’ rather than critical
