Attachment - Bowlbys Theory Of Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
What is maternal deprivation
Maternal deprivation is the prolonged separation between a child and its mother without a substitute carer which severely limits a childs intellectual and emotional development.
When did Bowlby propose theory of maternal deprivation
1951
What did Bowlby say about the critical period when it comes to maternal deprivation.
The first 30 days of life are classed as the critical period for psychological development.
If a child is separated from its mother and deprived of emotional care without substitute carer for extended period during critical period
Psychological damage likely to occur
What is the effect of maternal deprivation on intellectual development
If children deprived of maternal care for too long during critical period they would suffer delayed intellectual development
In form of abnormally low IQ
Goldfarb 1947 found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions opposed to those fostered
What is the effect of maternal deprivation on emotional development
Bowlby identified developing emotionless psychopathy due to maternal deprivation
What is affectionless psychopathy
Inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others.
Lack remorse
Cant form normal relationships and is associated with criminality
How did Bowlby asses the effects of maternal deprivation
Bowbly conducted his 44 juvenile thieves study.
He interviewed 44 thieves for affection less psychopathy and their family for prolonged separation found that out of 44 thieves, 14 displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy and 12 of these had suffered from maternal deprivation during the critical period of attachment formation This was compared to only thieves remaining 30 thieves, had experienced separation
Therefore, on this basis, Bowlby believed that early maternal deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy and consequently, criminality
What is a limitation of bowlbys theory (methodological)
There are methodological issues of bowlbys research on maternal deprivation.
Eg in the 44 thieves study Bowlby carried out assessments for affection-less psychopathy and the family interviews himself he then established a correlation between deprivation and affectionless psychopathy in his 44 thieves study.
This implies that there may be an element of researcher bias as Bowlby carried the assessments out knowing what he hoped to find therefore decreasing the internal validity of results.
Correlation is just association not a cause
What is another limitation of bowlbys theory
Counter evidence
There is research that does not support the effects of bowlbys maternal deprivation
Eg Lewis 1954 replicated bowlbys 44 thieves study with larger sample
History of prolonged and early separation does not predict criminality or difficulty preforming relationships
This suggest that there may be other factors may affect the outcome of early maternal deprivation
What is a limitation of bowlbys theory (more sensitive period)
The critical period could be more of a sensitive period.
For example there is research to suggest that due to social interactions and good aftercare, even sever case of maternal deprivation can have good outcomes
Koluchova 1979 reported 2 boys who were isolated from 18 months till 7 years appeared to recover fully after being looked after two loving adults.
Bowlby may be wrong about the irreversible damage produced in critical period.
May be more sensitive one
What is another limitation of bowlbys theory (deprivation and privation)
Failure to distinguish between deprivation and privation.
For eg Rutter claimed that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is more likely to be as result of privation.
Privation is failure to form any attachment in first pace and deprivation is loss of primary attachment figure after attachment developed.
Even in 44 thieves study he failed to distinguish between children who had never formed attachments and children who became separated
We are not sure that the consequences Bowlby proposed such as affectionless psychopathy are due to deprivation or privation
