Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
What did Bowlby aim to achieve through his study on maternal deprivation?
Bowlby aimed to investigate the effects of early experiences and how they may interfere with the usual processes of attachment formation.
What is maternal deprivation?
Maternal deprivation refers to the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother or mother substitute. Bowlby proposed that continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development, and that prolonged separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development.
When did John Bowlby propose his theory of maternal deprivation?
Bowlby proposed his theory of maternal deprivation in 1951 (prior to his development of monotropy).
Bowlby proposed that the continuous presence of a mother, or mother-substitute, is essential for normal psychological development. Why is this essential?
Bowlby proposed that the continuous presence of nurture from a mother or mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers, both emotionally and intellectually. Being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences.
What did Bowlby famously say regarding a ‘mother’s love’?
Bowlby famously said that ‘mother-love’ in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health.
What important distinction did Bowlby make within his theory?
Bowlby made an important distinction between ‘separation’ and ‘deprivation’.
Within his theory, Bowlby distinguished between separation and derivation. What is separation?
Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. This only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived.
Within his theory, Bowlby distinguished between separation and derivation. What is deprivation?
Deprivation occurs when an element of care is lost. Extended separations can lead to deprivation, which by definition causes harm.
According to Bowlby, are brief separations problematic for a child’s later psychological development?
Brief separations, particularly where the child is with a substitute caregiver, are not significant for development.
What was the critical period identified by Bowlby?
Bowlby saw the first 30 months of life as a critical period for psychological development.
What would happen if a child was deprived of a mother’s emotional care during the critical period?
If a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended period during this critical period them Bowlby believed psychological damage was inevitable.
Which two types of development are affected by maternal deprivation?
Maternal deprivation can negatively impact intellectual and emotional development.
How does maternal deprivation affect a child’s intellectual development?
Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would suffer delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ.
Studies of adoption support the view that maternal deprivation can delay a child’s intellectual development. Whose study supports this?
Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and thus had a higher standard of emotional care.
How does maternal deprivation affect a child’s emotional development?
Bowlby identified affection less psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality. Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions.
Which study was conducted by Bowlby to examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation?
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study was used to examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.
What was Bowlby’s sample for his ‘44 thieves’ study?
The sample in this study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing.
How did Bowlby investigate whether or not the 44 criminal teenagers were affectionless psychopaths?
Bowlby interviewed all ‘thieves’ for signs of affectionless psychopathy.
How are affectionless psychopaths characterised?
Affectionless psychopaths can be characterised in the following ways:
-They lack affection
-Show a lack of guilt about
their actions
-Have a lack of empathy for
their victims
Why were family members of the ‘thieves’ also interviewed?
Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the ‘thieves’ had prolonged early separations from their mothers.
Who made up Bowlby’s control group in his ‘44 thieves’ study?
Bowlby’s control group consisted of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people.
What was the purpose of Bowlby’s control group?
Bowlby’s control group was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves.
How many of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths?
Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths.
14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of these 14, how many had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives?
12 out of the 14 affectionless psychopaths had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives.
