psychodynamic approach - research Flashcards
what was the aim of Bowlby’s 1944 research? - 44 juvenile thieves : their character and home-life
- Bowlby noted that 9/10 criminal cases, the crime is theft
- a large amount of convicted thieves are young people, theft is seen as a ‘disease of childhood’ and episodes in life are recurrences
- Bowlby argued that the cause of this delinquent behaviour was separation from the mother, so he aimed to investigate this by conducting case studies on 44 thieves
- a large amount of convicted thieves are young people, theft is seen as a ‘disease of childhood’ and episodes in life are recurrences
what was the methodology of this research?
- case study of 44 thieves which he compared to a control group of 44 children that were not thieves, but had emotional problems
- the control group were similar in age, sex and IQ; they were emotionally disturbed but didn’t steal
- all participants attended Bowlby’s child guidance clinic
- the sample consisted of 31 boys and 13 girls aged 5-17
- he graded the thieves according to how often they stole
- the thieves were of average intelligence, but 15 of them had above average IQ
- the mothers were also involved in this study and were interviewed in order to assess the case histories of the children
what was the procedure of this research?
- on arrival to the clinic, the children were given mental tests by a psychologist to assess their intelligence
- the psychologist also noted the emotional attitude of the children
- a social worker interviewed the mothers and recorded details about the children’s early psychiatric history
- the psychologist and social worker reported to Bowlby (the psychiatrist)
- Bowlby then interviewed the child and the mother
- after a 2-hour examination, the team reviewed school and other reports, discussing their conclusions
- most of the children continued to meet with the psychiatrist on a weekly basis for 6 months or more
- the mothers talked about their problems with the social worker
what were the findings of this research?
Bowlby recognised there were 6 main personality types in his sample; normal (2), depressed (9), circular (2), hyperthymic (13), affectionless (14), schizoid (4)
- Bowlby found that of the 14 thieves classed as affectionless, 12 had frequent separations from their mothers
- there were 30 non-affectionless thieves and only 3 had been separated
- 17 thieves experienced early separation
- of the 27 who were not separated, 17 had mothers that were ‘anxious, fussy, rigid or domineering’
- 5 had fathers who openly hated them
~ these experiences were also reported in the control group so early experiences may explain emotional problems but not delinquency
what were the conclusions of this research?
- factors that inhibit the ability to form relationships affect the likelihood of offending
- juvenile crime isn’t only attributed to psychological factors, but social and economic factors too, holistic approach should be taken
- treatment should be offered to delinquents, prevention is better than a cure
what is the first evaluation point of the methodology and procedures?
no casual findings :
- the variable was not manipulated
- all that’s shown is that there’s a relationship between the variables and there may be other variables that cause the emotional problems
~ however, it can be argued that the data has high ecological validity as it was a thorough investigation of real life with minimal manipulation from the researcher
what is the second evaluation point of the methodology and procedures?
biased data :
- the data is limited as it is based on the view of one person, his perceptions might be biased by subjective interpretation, so his findings may have been unconsciously influenced by his own expectations
- as case histories were largely based on recollections by the parents, they’re likely to be inaccurate and told in a social desirable way
what is the third evaluation point of the methodology and procedures?
the sample :
- all 88 children in the study were emotionally disturbed, therefore it isn’t appropriate to generalise this sample to all children
- Bowlby suggests it would be useful to examine a sample of children appearing in court for stealing to determine whether all cases of delinquency have a similar explanation
what is the evaluation point of alternative research?
other research is in agreement of Bowlby’s ideas that lack of good emotional care in a child’s first years can lead to long term physical, intellectual, emotional and social problems later in life
- e.g. Rutter’s study of Romanian orphans showed that those who were adopted when they were older than 6 months old lagged behind a control group in terms of their physical, cognitive and social development
what is the ethical issue of confidentiality and privacy in this research?
the participants were not offered confidentiality
- the report gives their first names and the initial of their last name
- the case histories made it easy to find out who they were
- it’s not clear to what extent the families were aware their responses would be published
what is the ethical issue of valid consent in this research?
the data was gained between 1936 and 1939 but wasn’t published until 1946
- this raises the question of whether the participants knew their responses would be published
- however, attitudes towards ethics were much more relaxed then than they are today
what are the social implications of this research?
highlighted the importance of maternal care :
- laws have been put in place to allow maternity leave and pay so mothers can stay home for at least the first 6 months after giving birth
- however, it could make the mother feel blame for any psychological/emotional problems in their child
healthcare :
- hospital policies have changed to allow parents to remain in the hospital with their children
social care :
- children will stay with their biological parents if possible
- if children are put in care, arrangements are set up so children can build alternative attachments
