PSYCHODYNAMIC: Bowlby’s 44 Thieves

Question 1

methodology: what type of experiment was Bowlby’s?

Answer 1

A series of case studies

Question 2

What did Bowlby’s study look at?

Answer 2

An association between 2 groups of Ps (thieves & control and experiences of separation)
— control group but it is not an experiment

Question 3

Describe the methodology of the thieves

Answer 3

• 44 children (31 boys, 13 girls) attending Child Guidance Clinic in London for emotional problems
• aged 5-17 with over half under age 11
• average IQ higher than the average for the population - used Binet scale to measure
• graded in terms of seriousness of stealing with grade 4 being serious and chronic, and grade 1 being one theft
  — 22, 8, 10, 4 from grade 4 through 1
• also had emotional attitude recorded

Question 4

Describe the methodology of the control Ps

Answer 4

• 44 children all attending the same clinic for emotional problems but had not stolen
• similar age, intelligence and economic status as the thieves

Question 5

What were the mothers of both groups used for in the methodology?

Answer 5

Interviewed to access case histories of children

Question 6

What type of sampling did Bowlby use?

Answer 6

Opportunity

Question 7

Outline the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves

Answer 7

• on arrival at the clinic a psychologist assessed their intelligence wiht the Binet scale and noted their emotional attitude
• whilst the child was being tested, a social worker recorded details of the child’s early psychiatric history
• the psychologist and social worker reported to the psychiatrist, Bowlby, who then interviewed mother and child
• all this info ( including school & other reports) was pooled together for a case conference
• the team discussed it and a provisional diagnosis was made

Question 8

How many of the thieves were
- ‘normal’
- ‘depressed’
- ‘circular’
- ‘hyperthymic’
- ‘affectionless’
-‘schizoid’

Answer 8

• 2
• 9
• 2
• 13
• 14
• 4

Question 9

There was a stark difference found between the types of characters in the criminal and control group. Outline one

Answer 9

• no affectionless characters amongst the controls
• statistically signif as demonstrates strong association between the affectionless and thieving

Question 10

What is the link between stealing and character type?

Answer 10

• thieves in affectionless group steal more persistently and more seriously than any other group
• 13/14 affectionless characters were grade 4 thieves

Question 11

Outline the link between affectionless character and separation

Answer 11

• regarding causal factors of the personality types, the incidence of prolonged separation from the mother was significantly higher in the affectionless characters (12 of 14) than in any other group
• clear link between thieving and affectionless type - 13/14 grade 4
• in total, 40% of the thieves had experienced prolonged separation

Question 12

What % of the control group had prolonged separation?

Answer 12

5%

Question 13

what did the remaining 60% of thieves experience that could explain their behaviour?

Answer 13

• 17 out of 27 had poor relationships with their mothers - had traits which mask unconscious hostility
• 6 had issues with fathers who openly hated them

Question 14

Outline the overall findings

Answer 14

• more than one factor present in majority of thieves
• most common were genetics, separation from mother or ambivalent mother

Question 15

What were Bowlby’s conclusions

Answer 15

• findings agree with psychodynamic assumption that early years are important to character development
• had it not been for separation of mother and child, it is possible they may not have become offenders
• crime is a social problem not just psych. Young criminal behaviour is an outcome of many complex factors that should be studied together
• children would not have become offenders if they had not had experiences that harm development
• • study emphasises psychoanalytic factors

Question 16

what assumption did Bowlby link his study to in his conclusion?

Answer 16

• early experiences vital to psychological development
• damage to mother and child relationship affects development of the superego, lading to a reduced sense of right and wrong

Question 17

What are the implications of Bowlby’s study?

Answer 17

• if findings are correct, treatment should be offered to delinquents
• slow and difficult
• prevention is preferable

Question 18

Evaluation (m+p): causal conclusions

Answer 18

• weakness
• causal conclusions like prolonged separation causing affectionless personality cannot be drawn from research as it was not an experiment
• no control of variables and therefore only a relationship can be suggested
• other variables could have caused emotional problems ie affectionless character cause separations - cannot be clearly distinguished
• lack internal validity

Question 19

Evaluation (m+p): rich data

Answer 19

• strength
• Bowlby’s interviews on Ps and mothers produced rich detailed, qualitative data. This is strength as provides info into events which preceded childrens problems
• Bowlby was a very experienced psychiatrist
• 25 out of 56 pages of final report detailed case histories of 44 thieves
• has internal validity

Question 20

Evaluation (m+p): bias data

Answer 20

• weakness
• Bowlby’s recording of interviews and conclusions may have been biased by his own beliefs (ie importance of early experiences)
• further bias arose with interviews as parents supply case histories - social desirability bias and inaccurate memory
• lacks scientific validity

Question 21

Evaluation (m+p): the sample

Answer 21

• weakness
• all 88 children were emotionally disturbed therefore cannot generalise findings to all children
• only shows caught thieves - G1 could easily be G4, control could easily be thieves
• control weren’t ‘normal’ to compare to
• lacks population validity

Question 22

Evaluation (e+i): confidentiality and privacy

Answer 22

• weakness
• report gives first names and initial of last name & case histories have lots of detail about lives - easy to identify
• not clear if Ps knew their info would be published
• breaks integrity

Question 23

Evaluation (e+i): valid consent

Answer 23

• weakness
• initial data collect during treatment of patients and as info published approx 5 years later, it was probably the case that researchers did not decide to use data till later
• hard to gain valid consent at that point
• break responsibility and respect

Question 24

Evaluation (e+i): social implications

Answer 24

• treatment could be offered to delinquents - earlier diagnosed the better
• prevention focused on so help such as substitute care should be rapidly provided - foster care not orphanage, qualified child minders or nursery workers
• juvenile crime not just psychological problem, also social and economic one
  —> poverty, bad housing, lack of recreational facilities, etc lead to criminal behaviour
• criminal behaviour outcome of many complex factors
• blame put on mothers who feel guilty to leave children

Question 25

How many of each thief grade is there?

Answer 25

1: 4
2: 8
3: 10
4: 22