Psychodynamic Classic research

Question 1

What is meant by Bowlby’s theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 1

If an infant has a continous relationship with their mother, the child will have no emotional or intellectual difficulties. However if the child is separated for long periods of time during the infant’s early years, the child will be emotionally and/or intellectually disturbed

Question 2

What type of study was Bowlby’s Research?

Answer 2

A Case Study

Question 3

What are the key features of a case study?

Answer 3

• A detailed study of one person or a group of people over a long period of time (longitudinal)
• Often involves detailed reports of behaviour and thoughts
• Often involves other research methods eg. interviews, tests, observations
• Focus on qualitative data
• Non-experimental method

Question 4

What was Bowlby’s study?

Answer 4

A collection of case studies on 44 children he called the “44 thieves”. He also had a control group of 44 non-delinquent children to compare. He aimed to see if there was an association between delinquent behaviour and separation from their mother

Question 5

Who were the “44 thieves”?

Answer 5

44 children aged between 5-17 for which stealing was a problemand had been referred to a Child Guidance Clinic. There were 31 boys and 13 girls

Question 6

How were the children’s intelligence measured?

Answer 6

The Binet Scale was used to assess their intelligence

Question 7

What were the results of the Binet Scale IQ test?

Answer 7

The children were generally of average or slightly above average intelligence. 50% had an IQ between 85 and 114. 15 children had 115 or higher, and two scored lower than 85

Question 8

How serious were the stealing charges?

Answer 8

Half of the cases were instances of chronic and serious thieving lasting a long time. 10 cases were of persistent but irregular thieving and in 8 cases there had been a few thefts only and in 4 cases only one theft

Question 9

What were the control group?

Answer 9

44 children for the same Child Guidance Clinic who had not stolen. They were of similiar age, intelligence and economic status. They had also been admitted into the clinic for emotional disturbance, but no thieving

Question 10

Why were the mothers involved in the case study?

Answer 10

They were involved in the study in order to give background information on the children and their case histories

Question 11

What sampling method did Bowlby use?

Answer 11

Opportunity Sampling

Question 12

What is the step by step description of what was done in the study?

Answer 12

1. Child takes the Binet IQ test
2. Child meets Psychologist and is noted on emotional attitude
3. Social worker interviews the mother and records the child’s early psychiatric history
4. Psychologist and social worker report to Bowlby
5. Bowlby interviews the mother and child together
6. A group of people read through the child’s report card and other information over 2 hours
7. Bowlby meets the child every week over a period of months
8. The mother talks with a social worker every week over a period of months

Question 13

What character type did Bowlby discover was common in the Thieves?

Answer 13

The Affectionless Character

Question 14

What was statistically significant about the Affectionless Character type?

Answer 14

There were no Affectionless characters in the control group whereas there were 14 in the 44 Thieves

Question 15

How many of the 14 Affectionless Characters had frequent separation from their mother?

Answer 15

12

Question 16

How many of the 30 non-affectionless thieves had prolonged separation from their mother?

Answer 16

3

Question 17

What are Bowlby’s conclusions about the Affectionless Character?

Answer 17

• He is doubtful a law-abiding Affectionless exists
• Affectionless people have a “distinctive early history - prolonged separation from their mother

Question 18

What are Bowlby’s conclusions about a child’s development?

Answer 18

• Children would not have become offenders if they didn’t have experiences that were harmful to to healthy development
• Damage to the emotional development would affect the development of the personality
• Younger children (0-2.5 years) can’t handle the emotional disturbance as well as on older child (5 years)

Question 19

What were Bowlby’s suggestions to avoid juvenile delinquency?

Answer 19

• The Affectionless character needs to be identified as early as possible to avoid delinquency
• Need to look out for signs of affectionless characters in early life
• Awareness should be raised of the damage maternal deprivation can cause

Question 20

Does Bowlby’s study have causal findings?

Answer 20

No, we cannot do reverse causation. We cannot be sure if the separations from the mother causes delinquent behaviour or if the delinquent behaviour caused the mother to leave for long periods of time

Question 21

What third factor could have an effect on causal findings?

Answer 21

The home situation. If the mother feels unsafe at home she may leave for a long time

Question 22

What are the strengths of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study?

Answer 22

• Lots of in-depth and qualitative data
• High ecological validity since it was a thorough investigation into real life with minimal manipulation from the researcher

Question 23

What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study?

Answer 23

• Lack of validity, no inter-rater reliability
• No double blind procedure
• Data was collected retrospectively so social desirability may have took place
• Study cannot be replicated so it lacks reliability
• Sample isn’t representative - only used children who were emotionally disturbed

Question 24

What was Rutter’s Romanian orphan study about?

Answer 24

• Quasi longitudinal (from adoption to age 16)
• A dictator put laws in place meaning each woman had to have 5 kids. After the dictatorship fell, 100,000 kids were institutionalized in horrible conditions

Question 25

What was the procedure of Rutter’s study?

Answer 25

• The adoptees arrived in the UK
• Their IQ was assessed at age 4, 6, 11 and 15

Question 26

How many of the Romanian adoptees showed signs of mental disability?

Answer 26

Half of the total

Question 27

How did the mean IQ scores change with the age of the Romanian orphan when they were adopted?

Answer 27

• Before 6 months - 102
• Between 6 months to 2 years - 86
• After 2 years - 77

Question 28

What can be concluded in Rutter’s study?

Answer 28

• Rate of recovery is related to the age from when they were adopted
• Children adopted before 6 months developed normally
• Children adopted after 6 months had permanent problems forming attachments
• Critical period may be shorter than Bowlby suggests

Question 29

What are ethical issues in Bowlby’s study?

Answer 29

• Privacy was not given - Bowlby used the child’s first name and initial of last name, as well as lots of information about their lives
• Children and parents were not given informed consent
• Mothers feel guilty and regretful