The Psychodynamic Approach: John Bowlby FINDINGS

Question 1

How could it be determined what previous experiences might have caused the 44 thieves to turn to stealing?

Answer 1

it was first necessary to distinguish between different possible personality types

Question 2

Why did Bowlby recognise that it would be difficult to distinguish between different possible personality types?

Answer 2

it was difficult to do this with children whose whole personalities are not yet formed

Question 3

What was Bowlby’s overall view on the personality types?

Answer 3

his overall view was that there were 6 main personality types in his sample

Question 4

What are the 6 main personality types in Bowlby’s sample?

Answer 4

normal
depressed
circular
hyperthymic
affectionless
schizoid

Question 5

What are the characteristics of someone with a ‘normal’ personality?

Answer 5

children whose character appears fairly normal and stable

Question 6

What are the characteristics of someone with a ‘depressed’ personality?

Answer 6

children who have been unstable and are now in a more or less depressed state of mind

Question 7

What are the characteristics of someone with a ‘circular’ personality?

Answer 7

unstable children who show alternating depression and over-activity

Question 8

What are the characteristics of someone with a ‘hyperthymic’ personality?

Answer 8

children who tend to be constantly over-active

Question 9

What are the characteristics of someone with an ‘affectionless’ personalit?

Answer 9

children characterised by lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility

Question 10

What are the characteristics of someone with a ‘schizoid’ personality?

Answer 10

children who show marked schizoid or schizophrenic symptoms

Question 11

Which personality type emerged a clear pattern?
What was the pattern?

Answer 11

having identified one group of children as affectionless, a very clear pattern emerged in relation to delinquency

Question 12

How many thieves were classified as affectionless?

Answer 12

looking at all 44 thieves, Bowlby found that 14 were classified as ‘affectionless’

Question 13

What had 12 of the 14 ‘affectionless’ children experienced?

Answer 13

12 had experienced frequent separations from their mothers

Question 14

Who was Betty I?
Describe her separations

Answer 14

one of the 12 thieves who had experienced frequent separations from their mothers
- foster home at 7 months old when her parents split up
- moved from one foster home to another
- spent a year in convent school
- returned home at 5 years old

Question 15

Who was Derek B?
Describe his separations

Answer 15

one of the 12 thieves who had experienced frequent separations from their mothers
- hospitalised at 18 months old after developing diptheria (can kill you)
- stayed there for 9 months
- during time in hospital, was not visited by parents

Question 16

Who was Kenneth W?
Describe his separations

Answer 16

one of the 12 thieves who had experienced frequent separations from their mothers
- primarily cared for by grandfather between ages of 3 and 9
- grandfather had no control over him (no boundaries, control etc.)

Question 17

How many of the non-affectionless thieves had experienced separations?

Answer 17

there were 30 non-affectionless thieves, only 3 of whom had experienced separations

Question 18

How many people in the control group had experienced separations?

Answer 18

out of 44, only 2 had experienced prolonged separations

Question 19

How many thieves altogether experienced early separation?

Answer 19

altogether, 17 of the thieves experienced early separation

Question 20

What did Bowlby report about the remaining 27 thieves who did not experience early separation?

Answer 20

when considering the remaining 27 thieves Bowlby reported that 17 had mothers who were
‘either externally anxious, irritable or fussy or else were rigid, domineering and oppressive… these are traits that mask unconscious hostility’

Question 21

What did 5 of the 27 thieves who did not experience early separation experience?
Who else reported these experience?

Answer 21

5 of the 27 had fathers who hated them and expressed their hatred openly
however, these experiences were also reported by the non-delinquent group

Question 22

Looking at the experiences of 5 of the 27 thieves and the non-delinquents (both groups who had fathers that openly hated them), what might early experiences explain?

Answer 22

such early experiences might explain emotional problems but not delinquency