Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis

Question 1

Who created the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 1

Bowlby

Question 2

What does the maternal deprivation hypothesis suggest?

Answer 2

It explains what happens if attachments are broken and argues that the disruption of the attachment bond will result in serious and permanent damage to a child’s emotional, social and intellectual development

Question 3

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Answer 3

Separation means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure and it only becomes an issue for the development of the child of deprived, which is when they lose an element of care. Separation is brief whereas deprivation is extended periods of separation

Question 4

What are the three important features of Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 4

1. There must be a continuous relationship. Discontinuous relationships are unstable and disrupt the development of a stable relationship
2. The relationship must develop before the age of two and a half years otherwise there is a risk of emotional disturbance. This is known as the critical period
3. The relationship doesn’t have to be with the mother, a maternal substitute is sufficient

Question 5

How does maternal deprivation affect intellectual development?

Answer 5

If children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would suffer mental retardation which is characterised by an abnormally low IQ

Question 6

How does maternal deprivation affect emotional development?

Answer 6

He identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or emotion for others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships as is associated with criminality. Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions

Question 7

What study was conducted onto the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 7

Bowlbys 44 thieves study

Question 8

What was the method of the 44 thieves study’s?

Answer 8

Bowlby interviewed the children and their families who attended a clinic where he worked. They were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy, lack of guilt and empathy for their victims. He compared the backgrounds of 44 juvenile thieves with the background of 44 other non delinquent children

Question 9

What were the findings of the 44 thieves study?

Answer 9

32% of the thieves were diagnosed by Bowlby as having affectionless psychopathy, the maim symptom was lack of moral conscience. Most of these had experienced separation for at least one week before the age of 15. This shows that prolonged separation in early life led to long term illness

Question 10

Who created the first piece of evidence to support the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 10

Robertson and Robertson

Question 11

What did Robertson and Robertson study?

Answer 11

Johnny aged 17 months had experienced extreme distress while spending 9 days in a residential nursery while his mum was in hospital having a baby. Staff at the nursery were extremely busy and had little time to care for his personal needs other than to feed him and dress him. The staff regularly changed shifts and John would see several different careers every day

Question 12

What did Robertson and Robertson find?

Answer 12

He became progressively withdrawn to the point of despair and when he was reunited with his mother, John rejected her and continued to punish her with outbursts of anger for several months. This supports the maternal deprivation hypothesis as it shows that experiencing deprivation can have negative effects

Question 13

Who conducted the second research to support the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 13

Goldfrab

Question 14

What did Goldfrab do and find?

Answer 14

30 war orphaned children were followed to the age of 12. Half had been fostered by four months whilst the other half remained in an orphanage. It was found that the fostered group had an average IQ of 96 whereas the group that remained in the orphanage only averaged 68. This shows that being separated from a mother figure can have a negative emotional and intellectual effect on development

Question 15

Who conducted the first piece of research to criticise the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 15

Robertson and Robertson

Question 16

What did Robertson and Robertson do in their study to criticise the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 16

They looked after Jane, Lucy, Thomas, Kate and John and all of the children were under 3 and were looked after for a few weeks while their mothers were in hospital. They gave substitute emotional care and kept routines similar to those at home and the fathers visits were arranged regularly

Question 17

What did Robertson and Robertson find in their second study?

Answer 17

1. Kate was taken to see her mother in hospital and was more settled after this
2. The children settled well but did show signs of distress and didn’t reject mum of reunion
3. Some were reluctant to separate with their foster mothers demonstrating the formation of good notional bonds
   This shows that deprivation can be prevented by providing his gah quality emotional care with a substitute

Question 18

How can Goldfrabs study be used to criticise maternal deprivation?

Answer 18

The participants were war orphans who were traumatised and often had poor after care therefore these factors might have been the causes of later developmental difficulties rather than separation

Question 19

How can Bowlbys 44 thieves study be used to criticise maternal deprivation?

Answer 19

Bowlby himself carried out the assessments knowing what he hoped to find. Therefore the study’s could be affected by researcher bias

Question 20

Who conducted the second study to criticise the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 20

Koluchova

Question 21

What did Koluchova do and find?

Answer 21

He reported the case the Czech twins who were isolated fro, the age of 18 months until they were found when they were 7 years old because they had been locked in a cupboard by theirs step mother. When they were found they were looked after by two loving adults and they appeared to fully recover. This shows that the period identified by Bowlby may be a sensitive period but not a critical period

Question 22

What did Rutter say to criticise the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 22

He said that when referring to deprivation he was muddling two concepts together. He drew a distinction between deprivation, which really means the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed whereas privation is the failure to form any attachment in the first place. He claimed that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be the result of privation