bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
what does the term maternal deprivation refer to
the long term separation or loss of emotional care from the mother or mother-substitute
what will happed if attachment is broken or disturbed during the critical period in the absence of substitute care
child will suffer irreversible long-term psychological consequences
what does prolonged separation from the mother cause
serious damage to emotional and intellectual development.
Being deprived of the mothers care can affect the childs emotional development
what are the intellectual affects on development
Bowlby believes if children are deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would suffer delayed intellectual development. Leads to abnormally low IQ and intellectual disability
what are the emotional effects on development
Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others. This prevents a person from forming normal relationships and is associated with criminality
Support for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation (Harlow)
In Harlow’s study he found that monkeys who grew up in isolation from their mother suffered social and emotional problems in older age. Monkeys never formed attachments and grew up to be aggressive and had problems interacitn with other monkeys
bowlby’s 44 theives study - procedure
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
Interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Families interviewed for prolonged early deprivation from their mothers.
Control group of 44 non criminal teenagers also assessed.
44 thieves results
14 of 44 were affectionless psychopaths and 17 of 44 had maternal separation
Of the 14, 12 had prolonged separation
In the control group 2 of 44 had maternal separation but 0 were affectionless psychopaths.
what is the difference between deprivation and privation
deprivation is when an attachment bond is formed but later broken
privation is when a child does not form any attachment
limitation of 44 thieves study
bowlby himself carried out the assessments for affectionless psychopathy and the family interviews so there may be researcher bias as he was hoping to find results
counter-evidence for 44 thieves study
A researcher later replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale and found that those with early prolonged separation from mother did not predict criminality or diffuclty forming close relationships
limitation - (difference between deprivation and privation)
Psychologists have later pointed out that Bowlby failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation. They said that what Bowlby was studying was not deprivation - as this is when an attachment is formed and later broken . Bowlby was studying privation - no attachment formed. SO the long term damage is actually a result of privation.
