bowlbys maternal deprivation Flashcards
what is Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
the theory claims that the continual presence of care from a mother/mothers substitute is fundamentally important if the child is going to experience normal psychological development, both emotionally and intellectually
what did Bowlby say about a mothers love?
Bowlby said that ‘Mothers-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health
what does Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory suggest about breaking the maternal bond?
by breaking the maternal bond (and thus depriving the child of emotional care) with the child during the early years of its life (the critical period) is likely have serious effects
how does maternal deprivation negatively effect the child’s intellectual development?
Bowlby believed that if children were deprived from maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development (low IQ).
William Goldfarb (1947) found that lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those fostered and thus had a higher standard of emotional care.
how does maternal deprivation negatively effect the child’s emotional development?
Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others. this prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships as is associated with criminality. affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions.
what did Bowlby suggest about many of the effects of maternal deprivation?
many effects are permanent and irreversible
AO3: how is ‘supporting evidence’ a strength to Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
bowlby based his theory on research he carried out on 44 thieves. he interviewed the thieves for a lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and a lack of empathy towards their victims.families were also interviewed to see if they had any prolonged early situations. he also had a control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in children who were not thieves.
he found that 14/44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. 12/14 had experienced prolonged separation from their mother. of the other 30, only 5 suffered from separations. 2/44 of the control group suffered from the separation.
in conclusion, Bowlby suggested that separation from the mum caused affectionless psychopathy.
AO3: how is ‘real life application’ a strength to Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
bowlbys work on the distribution of attachment has had a profound impact on many childcare practices.
for example, he had an important impact on post war hospital care for children. before Bowlby, children were seperated from parents when in hospital and visiting was discouraged or even forbidden.
Robertson (1952) filmed a 2 year old girl for the 8 day hospital stay. she was frequently distressed and begged to go home.
AO3: how is ‘flawed evidence’ a limitation to bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
the research of maternal deprivation is based on evidence of poor quality.
one problem is that Bowlby himself carried out the research. this is a problem because it left him open for bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy. he was also influenced by Goldfarbs study on the development of deprived children in wartime orphanages. this study has confounding variables as they also had early trauma and institutionalised care.
this means that Bowlbys original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously today
AO3: how is ‘sensitive rather than critical period’ a limitation to Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
some research has shown that damage is not inevitable and irreversible, even in some cases of severe deprivation.
for example, in Koluchovas case study of the Czech twins who were physically and emotionally abused from the ages 18 months-7 years. although they were damaged emotionally quite severely by their experience. they experienced excellent care and by their teens they were fully recovered.
this means that lasting harm is not inevitable, even in cases of severe privation. the ‘critical period’ is therefore better seen as a ‘sensitive period’.
