maternal drive hypothesis

Question 1

what is deprivation

Answer 1

Deprivation is when a child’s attachment to its mother or other caregiver is significantly broken due to no or poor-quality care being given to the child.

Question 2

what is privation

Answer 2

Privation is the complete absence of the primary caregiver. This means that
the child could not make an attachment with a primary caregiver. Genie is
one case of privation as her development was greatly affected.

Question 4

what is the role of the critical period

Answer 4

Bowlby suggests that there is a critical period for developing an attachment (2.5 years). If an attachment has not developed during this time period, then it may well not happen at all. Bowlby later proposed a sensitive period of up to 5 years. If an attachment is not formed during this critical period, the child would be damaged for life, socially, intellectually and physically.

Question 5

What are the four developmental issues bowlby believed can be caused by maternal deprivation

Answer 5

attachment disorders - later in life (iwm)
emotional instability (affectionless psychopathy) -no remorse
cognitive delays
anti social

Question 6

what was bolwbys aim for the 44 thieves study

Answer 6

Aims: To determine whether there is a correlation between maternal deprivation in infancy and adolescent delinquency.

Question 7

Procedure

Answer 7

Procedure: Bowlby studied a group of 44adolescent thieves who attended a child guidance clinic and some of them suffered deprivation, and compared them with a control group of 44 adolescents “who though emotionally disturbed, did not steal”

Question 8

Findings and conclusion

Answer 8

14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths. (32%)
12 of these suffered prolonged separation from the mother before 2 years of age. (86%)
17% of the remaining thieves who were not affectionless psychopaths suffered prolonged separation.

4% of the control group experienced prolonged separation.

Conclusion: Bowlby concluded that there is a correlation between maternal deprivation in infancy and subsequent criminal behaviour in adolescence.

Question 9

evaluation of maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 9

real life application
highlights importance of attachment in first 5 years
has led to development of childcare services
assigning specific caregivers to children

Question 10

limitation of maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 10

lack of evidence in 44 thieves study
27/44 thieves did not suffer maternal deprivation
shows there are other causes for stealing tendencies than the dependent variable of maternal deprivation
reduces validity

Question 11

another limitation

Answer 11

methodological errors
self report = investigator effects
diagnosis of affectionless psychopathy may have been distorted due to bias
reduces validity