Institutionalism EVAL Flashcards
one strength is that the IV of the study is high as the orphans were abandoned into the institutions when they were born, and so could not have experienced any trauma that could be a confounding variable
This INCREASES the IV as we dont have any trauma that could be a CONFOUNDING VARIABLE.
Therfore we can be SURE we are measuring the LINK between insti and development
However this DECREASES the ecological validity as we’re only looking at the SEVERELY neglected and can’t generalise the results to BETTER quality insti’s
one strength is that there are practical applications. e.g. lead to improvements in the way children are cared for in orphanages
They do this by allocating KEY carers to specific children who play a key role in providing sensitive and responsive CARE to the infants.
This helps give the child the CHANCE to develop normal attachments and AVOID disinhibited attachments. This is important for the orphans to develop a POSITIVE iwm of attachments to enable them to have GOOD future relationships.
One weakness is that the findings from the study are DETERMINISITC and suggest that children who fail to form an attachment by 6 months will develop an attachment disorder.
This is an issue as this is NOT the case in some studies who had prolonged insit care, and showed NO abnormal functioning.
This can be explained by INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. emotional deprivation may be devastating for SOME children, and minimal for others.
Therefore, Rutlers experiment only PARTIALLY explains the impacts on insitutionalism, and NEGLECTS accounting for individual differences.
one weakness is that the LONG-TERM effects of institutionalism are not clear as the adopted orphans have only been followed into their mid-teens so may not show TRUE l.t effects.
this is a problem as the children who were in insti’s may yet catch up developmentally to their peers, and those who seemed unscathed by their experience may find themselves having emotional issues as ADULTS.
Therefore, to overcome this issue these individuals need to be MONITORED into adulthood, to understand the full IMPACT of institutionalism. However, this may be difficult as they may want to put the past behind them.
