Maternal Deprivation and Institutionalisation*

Question 1

Define ‘affectionless psychopathy’.

Answer 1

Where people lack feelings of remorse from their actions.

Question 2

What is the sample of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

Answer 2

88, (44 non-criminals (control) and 44 criminals)).

Question 3

What percentage of the affectionless psychopaths experienced prolonged maternal separation?

Answer 3

86%

Question 4

What did Bowlby conclude?

Answer 4

Prolonged maternal deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy.

Question 5

Give a strength of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study.

Answer 5

High practical validity - Robertson found that maternal substitution could prevent the harmful effects that come as a result of maternal separation - led to more carers for children in hospitals - high practical value o this study.

Question 6

Give a limitation to Bowlby’s 44 thieves study.

Answer 6

• Contradictory findings - Lewis repeated the study with a larger sample (500 people) - found that prolonged maternal separation didn’t predict future criminality - suggests other factors may cause a person to resort to criminality - Lewis’ study more representative - therefore more valid than Bowlby’s.
• Individual differences of children must be considered - Barrett - securely attached children coped well with separation - Bowlby’s also claimed that those who had securely attached were more resilient to separation - individual differences must be considered.
• Bowlby suggested that the affects were irreversible - Hodges and Tizard - With good quality, continuous care, the effects of affectionless psychopathy can be reversed.

Question 7

Define ‘institutionalisation’.

Answer 7

Living outside the family/family home in an institution setting (i.e orphanage, hospital, asylum).

Question 8

Describe the procedure of Rutter’s Romanian Orphanage study.

Answer 8

Longitudinal study.
Following 165 infants as they are adopted in Britain.
Assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old. 
Adopted between:
- 0-6 months.
- 6 months - 2 years.
- 2+ years.

Question 9

What was the average IQ of participants adopted before 6 months, at the age of 11?

Answer 9

102

Question 10

What was the IQ of participanats adopted after two years, at the age of 11?

Answer 10

77

Question 11

What is a disinhibited attachment?

Answer 11

Forming poor quality attachments with anyone (very clingy and not secure).

Question 12

Symptoms of a disinhibited attachment include…

Answer 12

Going off with strangers, attention seeking, very clingy, not secure.

Question 13

Can the affects of disinhibited attachment be overcome?

Answer 13

Those adopted before 6 months can recover from disinhibited attachment with good quality care from a loving caregiver.

Question 14

What did La Mare and Audet propose?

Answer 14

Institutionalisation causes physical growth deficits.

Those who were institutionalised were physically smaller than the control group at 4.5 years old, but this difference had been reduced by age 11.

Question 15

Give an advantage of Rutter’s study.

Answer 15

• High practical validity - led to changes globally - fewer caregivers per child to reduce the effects of a disinhibited attachment - key workers for individual children - able to securely attach.
• Reliable methodology - longitudinal study - able to show the effects over time - e.g. Rutter and La Mare have found the effects of institutionalisation to be reversible - snapshot studies would purport it to be irreversible - allows for more insight into the condition.

Question 16

Give a limitation of Rutter’s study.

Answer 16

• Romanian orphans are an extreme example - it is possible the conditions were so poor the findings are ungeneralisable to institutions that provide a better quality of care - the unusual situational variables give the study low ecological validity.
• Flawed methodology - children were not randomly allocated to the conditions - it may be possible that those adopted early were more sociable (a confounding variable) - however it would have been hugely unethical to do this - a quasi-experiment is the most ethical method to use.

Question 17

What was the IQ of children adopted before 6 months?

Answer 17

102

Question 18

What was the IQ of children adopted between 6 months and 2 years?

Answer 18

86.

Question 19

Give details of the procedure of La Mare and Audet’s study.

Answer 19

A longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted by families in Canada.

Used 3 groups:

1) 36 Romanian orphans adopted by Canadians.
2) Non-adopted Canadians.
3) Adopted Romanian children, not institutionalised.