C1: Psychodynamic Approach - Bowlby AO1 Flashcards
Classic study
Methodology: Type of sampling technique?
Opportunity sample.
Methodology: Details of gender and numbers in control group and thieves.
- 44 thieves and 44 non-stealing children.
- 31 boys and 13 girls in each group.
- 5-17 in age range.
- average intelligence: 85-114IQ
Methodology: Location of case study.
Tavistock clinic in London
Methodology: Research method?
Case study.
Methodology: Details on the control group.
- A further 44 children, who also attended the clinic.
- These group were similar in age, sex and IQ to the thieves.
Therefore, all together, 88 children, all of whom had been referred to the clinic for emotional problems.
Methodology: Details on the mothers and the part they played.
Mothers of both groups were involved in the study; They were interviewed in order to assess the case histories of the children.
Methodology: What did the final analysis look at?
It looked at an association between the two groups of participants and experiences of separation.
Procedures: Initial examination - what happened to the participants on arrival to the clinic?
Each child was given mental tests by a psychologist to assess their intelligence (The Binet scale was used)
Procedures: Initial examination - what scale was used to assess the participants’ intelligence?
The Binet scale.
Procedures: Initial examination - What did the psychologist also take note of during the mental tests
The child’s emotional attitude.
Procedures: Initial examination - What happened at the same time while the child was having the mental tests?
A social worker interviewed the child’s mother and recorded preliminary details of the child’s early psychiatric history.
Procedures: Initial examination - How long did the mother’s analyses with the social worker last?
One hour
Procedures: Initial examination - Who did the psychologist and social worker report the information to after the interviews and tests?
The psychiatrist, John Bowlby.
Procedures: Initial examination - After the psychologist and social worker fed back to the psychiatrist (Bowlby), what did he do?
He then interviewed the child, and then the mother.
Procedures: Initial examination - What happened after Bowlby interviewed the child and the mother separately?
The team considered school and other reports and discussed their conclusions.
Procedures: Therapy - What did many of the children continue to do over a 6 month period or more?
Many of the children continued to meet with the psychiatrist weekly over a period of 6 months or more.
Procedures: Therapy - Who could the mother talk over their problems with?
The mother talked over their problems with a social worker.
Procedures: Therapy - What did these meetings and discussions enable?
These meetings and discussions enabled a detailed case history to be recorded and also enabled the psychiatrist to diagnose the child’s emotional problems.
Findings - Diagnosis: In order to determine what previous experiences may have caused the 44 thieves to turn to stealing, it was necessary to distinguish between certain personality types: (6)
- Normal
- Depressed
- Circular
- Hyperthymic
- Affectionless
- Schizoid.
Personality type: Normal
Appear fairly stable/normal
Personality type: Depressed
Unstable and now are more or less in a depressed state of mind
Personality type: Circular
Unstable children who are showing alternating depression and over-activity.
Personality type: Hyperthymic
Child tends to be constantly over-active
Personality type: Affectionless
Children characterised by lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility.
Personality type: Schizoid
Marked schizoid or schizophrenic symptoms
Findings: How many of the 14 thieves were seen to be the affectionless character? And how many of these had experienced frequent separation from their mother.
14 out of the 44. 12 of these had experienced frequent separation from their mothers.
Findings: Affectionless character example, Betty I
- Placed in a foster home, aged 7 months when her parents split up
- She moved from one foster home to another and spent a year in a convent school
- Returned home aged 5.
Findings: Such separations seen in the affectionless characters were very rare amongst the other thieves, there were 30 non-affectionless thieves and how many had experienced prolonged separations?
2
