Breaking attachments Flashcards
what is maternal deprivation
not receiving suitable emotional development from a maternal figure
what is a critical period
if attachment is disrupted/not formed with a mother figure who provides adequate care within 30 months of birth it is too late
what is irreversibility
negative intellectual and emotional consequences due to deprivation are permanent
what are the consequences of maternal deprivation
- delinquency
- affectionless psychopathy
- low IQ
- continuity hypothesis
what is delinquency
due to delayed social development behaviour is often outside acceptable norms such as petty crimes
what is affectionless psychopathy
due to delayed emotional development children are unable to show caring behaviour to others or empathy for others feelings and have little guilt to their own harmful actions
what is a low IQ
due to delayed intellectual development general cognitive abilities are lower than peers
what is continuity hypothesis
prolonged separations/deprivation from mother limits the development of an effective template for later relationships (internal working model) and if this fails to develop properly it will lead to unsuccessful childhood and adult relationships as well as issues with their own parenting skills
what are the three parts of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory
- separation vs deprivation
- critical period
- long-term consequences/ effects on development
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory- AO1- separation vs deprivation
- separation means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure
- only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived i.e. they lose an element of care
- brief separations where the child is with another caregiver are not significant but extended separations can lead to deprivation which causes harm
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory- AO1- critical period
- the first 30 months of life are a critical period for psychological development
- 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 the critical period then psychological damage was inevitable
what are the two effects on development Bowlby believed
- intellectual
- emotional
what are the effects on intellectual development if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period
- mental retardation characterized by abnormally low IQ
- demonstrated in studies for adoption that found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and had higher level of emotional care
what are the effects on emotional development if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period
- identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others
- prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality
- affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate feelings of victims so lack remorse for their actions
what was the aim of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
to examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
what was the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
- 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: lack of affection, lack of guilt for their actions and lack of empathy for their victims
- their families were interviewed to see whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
- a control group of non thieves but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occured in the children who were not thieves
what were the findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
- 17/44 thieves experienced prolonged separation from their mothers before 5 years
- 15/17 were classed as affectionless psychopaths
- only 2/44 non thieves had experienced such separation
what was the conclusion made for Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
- findings support MDH as there appears to be a link between disruption to attachments in the first 5 years and later maladjustment
- concluded prolonged early separation caused affectionless psychopathy
- findings indicate experiencing disrupted attachments early in life is linked to crime, emotional maladjustment and lower academic achievement, lending strong support for the MDH
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- generalisability
low generalizability as the sample was pre-selected from Bowlby’s own clinic and he ignored confounding variables like reasoning for separation
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- reliability
- unreliable as Bowlby saw a correlation and assumed that one thing caused the other, this might not be true- retrospective recall could be inaccurate and therefore not reliable as ppts had to recall separations they had experienced previously
- their responses would be subject to inaccuracies and deprivation cannot be manipulated as an independent variable and so cause and affect can’t be identified
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- application (strength)
- thieves study backs up earlier conclusions of maternal deprivation hypothesis
- research has significant real world application as it highlights the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a monotropic bond in the first 5 years- has been instrumental in the development of good childcare practices
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- application (weakness)
-alternative explanation- Rutter argued it may not be due to maternal deprivation as other factors can affect such as lack of stimulation attachments some children may be more resilient
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- validity
- low temporal validity- research and theory set in different time
- low validity- retrospective recall could be inaccurate and therefore not reliable as ppts had to recall separations they experienced previously, their responses would be subject to inaccuracies
Bowlby’s 44 thieves study AO3 evaluation- ethics
ethical issues- labelling people as ‘affectionless psychopath’s may negatively effect the ppts mental health as they may feel discriminated against and demoralised- not inspired to change their actions or steal in the future so it is unethical
what is an institution
this is a place where people will live for a long, continuous period of time, they don’t go home e.g. hospital, orphanage
what is institutionalisation
the effect of institutional care- it focuses on how time spent in an institution can affect the development of children. The effects could be social, mental or physical.
what is disinhibited attachment
- an attachment disorder in which a child may actively approach and interact with unfamiliar adults- children are at risk of developing this if they receive inconsistent or insufficient care from a primary caregiver
- they are equally friendly to people they know well or who are strangers they have just met
what are the symptoms of disinhibited behaviour
attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar
what is the aim of Rutters ERA study
to test to what extent good care could make up for poorly early experiences in institutions
what is the procedure of Rutters ERA study
- Michael Rutter and colleagues have followed a group of Romanian orphans adopted in Britain
- development was assessed through the years
- group of 52 british children adopted around the same time were used as a control group
what is Rutters ERA study
Rutters English and Romanian adoptee study
what were the findings of Rutters ERA study
-when adoptees first arrived in the UK
what development was assessed in Rutters ERA study
physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed
at what ages were the adoptees assessed
at ages 4,16,11 and 15
how many Romanian orphanages were followed and assessed
165
what were the findings of Rutters ERA study
- when they first arrived in the UK half showed signs of mental retardation and majority were severely undernourished
- at 11, adoptees showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their ages of adoption
what did Rutter find out about the different rates of intelligence for adoptees
- the mean IQ for those adopted before sixth months was 102, compared with 86 for those adopted between sixth months and two years and 77 for those after two years
- these differences remained at 16
what was the conclusion of Rutters ERA study
- there was a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after sixth months
- those adopted after sixth months showed signs of disinhibited attachment whereas those adopted before sixth months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment
who studied the Bucharest Early Intervention project
Zenah et al
what was the aim of the Bucharest Early Intervention project
to determine the long term effects of early intervention on physical, cognitive, social and brain development
what was the procedure of the Bucharest Early Intervention project
- Zenah et al assessed attachment in children ages 12-31 months who had spent most their life in institutional care (90% on average)
- compared to a control group of 50 children who has never lived in an institution
- attachment type measured using Strange Situation
- carers were asked about any unusual behaviour including clingy, attention-seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at all adults i.e disinhibited attachment
how many children did the Bucharest Early Intervention project assess
95
what were the findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention project
- 75% of control group were securely attached
- 19% of institutionalized group were securely attached
- 65% of institutionalized group were classified with disorganised attachment
- description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalized children compared to less than 20% of the control group
what does research tell us about disinhibited attachment
- Rutter says disinhibited attachment is an adaption to living multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation
- in poor quality institutions like Romania a child might have 50 carers none of whom they see enough to form a secure attachment
what does research tell us about mental retardation/intellectual disability
- in Rutters study most children showed signs of mental retardation when coming into Britain but most adopted before sixth months caught up with the control group by age 4
- damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered if adoption takes place before sixth months- the age at which attachments form
what is the context for Romanian orphan studies
- in the 1990s the president of Romania said that Romanian women must have five children
- many parents could not afford to keep their children and many chilren ended up in huge orphanages with very poor conditiions
- after the 1989 revloution many were adopted, some by British parents
evaluation points for romanian orphan studies- generalisability
low generalisability
- Rutters and the Bucharest study were based on extremely poor conditions of care so results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better quality institutional care or any situation where children experience deprivation
- as a result unusual situational variables of these studies weaken how well the findings can be applied to all forms of deprivation
evaluation points for romanian orphan studies- application
high levels of practical application
- enhanced our understanding of effects of institutionalisation and results lead to improvements in care in institutions
- e.g. orphanages and children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of key workers to look after a child and therefore children have the chance to develop normal attachments to avoid disinhibited attachment
- romanian studies have been immensely valuable in practical terms
evaluation points for romanian orphan studies- validity
high internal validity
- in other studies children had experience loss or trauma such as neglect, abuse or bereavement so it is hard to observe effects of institutionalisation because of multiple factors which were confounding participant variables
- with romanian studies it is possible to study institutionalisation without confounding variables which increases internal validity
