Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory

Question 1

what is maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and the caregiver. Bowlby suggested 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.

Question 2

what did Bowlby say about the negative effects of maternal deprivation were?

Answer 2

permanent and irreversible.

Question 3

what is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Answer 3

separation simply means the child not being in the presence of a primary attachment figure and only occurs when the child is deprived of emotional care.

Question 4

what did bowlby suggest about the critical period?

Answer 4

Bowlby considered tht there was a critical period from about 6 months to 3 years when infants have continuous, unbroken relationship with one person. if separated from the mother with no suitable substitute care, psychological damage was inevitable.

Question 5

what did bowlby suggest about intellectual development?

Answer 5

Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period then they would experience delayed intellectual development.

Question 6

what is emotional development according to the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 6

a second major way in which being deprived of the mothers emotional care and can affect child’s development which presents as normal for forming relationships and associates with criminals.

Question 7

Bowlby - 44 Juvenile thieves - aim

Answer 7

examining the link between affection-less psychopathy and maternal deprivation

Question 8

Bowlby - 44 Juvenile thieves - procedure

Answer 8

the sample in this study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. they were interviewed for signs of affection-less psychopathy. their families were also interviewed in order to distinguish whether the thieves had prolonged early separation from their mothers.

Question 9

Bowlby - 44 Juvenile thieves - results

Answer 9

Bowlby found that 14/44 of the thieves could be described as affectionless-psychopaths. 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation for the first 2 years of their life, only 5 of the remaining thieves had experienced separation. only 2 participants had experienced long separation

Question 10

Bowlby - 44 Juvenile thieves - conclusion

Answer 10

Bowlby concluded that prolonged early deprivation caused affection-less psychopathy

Question 11

evaluation of the 44 juvenile study

Answer 11

-flawed because it was Bowlby himslef who conducted the study which left him open to bias
-Bowlby was influenced by Goldfard (1943) research on children in the war time oprhanage
-this means that Bowlbys original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation were serious and would not take account today

Question 12

evidence by Goldfarb (1943)

Answer 12

compared an institutionalised group of children with a fostered group. 30 children aged between 10-14 where half had been in an institution until 3, and the other half spent the first 3 years in a foster home. the institutionalised group scored lower on intelligence tests (68 IQ) compared to fostered (96). Goldfarb suggested that this was beacuse the fostered children had the opportunity to form attachments during their very early years which is why they had more favourable outcomes.

Question 13

what is wrong with the evidence by Goldfarb?

Answer 13

it could be flawed as in the study, the children had experienced early trauma as well as prolonged trauma.

Question 14

Levy et al (2003) supporting study?

Answer 14

found that separating baby rats from their mothers from as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development.

Question 15

what is wrong with the evidence of Levy et al?

Answer 15

However, this may be problematic or inapplicable to support Bowlbys theory as they are baby rats, humans are far more complex in terms of development.

Question 16

evidence against the study Koluchova (1976)

Answer 16

reported the case of twin boys from czechoslovakia who were isolated from the age of 18 months until they were 7 years old (as they were left in a cupboard.) they appeared to recover fully after being looked after by 2 loving adults. This suggests that severe deprivation can be overcome by good aftercare

Question 17

what is wrong with the evidence of Koluchova?

Answer 17

the twin boys were not fully deprived as they still had each other in the cupboard, so the trauma was not permanent or irreversible (against bowlby)

Question 18

evidence against bowlby - Lewis (1954)

Answer 18

partially replicated Bowlbys study where she looked at 500 young people who had a history of prolonged early maternal separation, and it did not predict criminality or difficulty in forming close relationships. this refutes his theory as bowlby believes they will be more deviant and become permanent psychopaths.

Question 19

evidence against Bowlby (Suomi & Harlow 1972)

Answer 19

deprivation effects in 6 month old isolated monkeys can be overcome by placing them with 3 month old normally reared monkeys.

Question 20

evidence against bowlby - Rutter (1981)

Answer 20

there is no straightforward relationship between early separation experiences and adolescent delinquency.