Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
theory of maternal deprivation
focused on the idea that the continual presence of care from a mother or mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers both emotional and intellectually
bowlby - mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health
being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences (maternal deprivation)
separation versus deprivation
important distinction to be made between separation and deprivation
separation simply means the child not being in the presence of primary attachment figure
this only becomes a problem is the child becomes deprived of emotional care
brief separations particularly where the child is with a substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care are not significant for development
but extended separations can lead to deprivation which by definition causes harm
the critical period
bowlby saw the first two and a half years of life as a critical period for psychological development
if a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended duration during this critical period then psychological damage was inevitable
also believed there was a continuing risk up tot the age of five
effects on development - intellectual development
one way in which maternal deprivation affects a children’s development is their intellectual development
bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development characterised by abnormally low IQ
been demonstrated in studies of adoption
example - Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered showing that they had a higher standard of emotional care
effects on development - emotional devleopment
a second major way in which being deprived of a mother figures emional care affect children us their emotional devleopmeny
bowlby identified affection less psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or a strong emotion towards others
prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality
affectionless psychopthas cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions
bowlbys research - procedure
examined the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
sample consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
all were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy , characterised as a lack of affection , lack of guilt about their action and lack of emothay for their victims
their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
sample was compared to a control group of 44 non criminals but emotionally disturbed young people
bowlbys research - findings
found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives
in contrast only five of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations
only 2 participants in the control group of 44 had experienced long separations
bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
limitation
flawed evidence
poor quality of the evidence its based on
bowlbys 44 thieves study is flawed because it was bowlby himself who carried out both the family interviewed and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy
this left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy
other sources of evidence were equally flawed
example - bowlby was also influenced by the findings of goldfarbs research on the development of deprived children in wartime orphanages
this study has problems with confounding variables because the children in goldfarbs study had experienced early trauma and instituonal care as well as prolonged separation from their primary caregivers
means that bowlbys original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays
limitation
deprivation and privation
his confusion between different types of early experience
Rutter - drew an important distinction between two types of early negative experience
deprivation strictly refers to the loss of the primary attachment figure after the attachment has developed
privation is the failure to form any attachment in the first place - this may take place when children are brought up in institutional care
Rutter pointed out that severe long-term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be a result of privation
so the children studied in Goldfarbs may actually have been prived rather that deprived
many of the children in the 44 thieves study had disrupted early lives eg spells in hospital and ,may never have formed strong attachments
means that bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in children’s devleopment
limitation
critical versus sensitive periods
for bowlby damage was inevitable if a child has not formed an attachment in the first two and a half years of life
hence this is a critical period
however there is evidence to suggest that in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage
example - Koluchova reported the case of the Czech Twins
the twins experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from the age of 18. months up until they were seven years old
although they were severely damaged emotionally by their experience they received excellent care and by their tennis they had recovered fully
means that lasting harm is not inevitable even in the cases of severe privation
the critical period is therefore better seen as a sentive period
