Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory

Question 1

Maternal deprivation

Answer 1

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother/mother-substitute

Question 2

Separation vs deprivation

Answer 2

Separation = the child not being in the presence of the PAF - only becomes a problem is child is deprived of emotional care
- extended separations can lead to deprivation which causes harm

Question 3

Critical period for MD

Answer 3

• First 2 1/2 years of life is a critical period for psychological development
• If child is separated from mother/mother-substitute and so deprived of emotional care for an extended duration of this critical period then psychological damage is inevitable
• Bowlby believed it is a continuing risk up to age of 5

Question 4

Effects on development - Intellectual development

Answer 4

Intellectual development - if children are deprived of maternal care for too long during critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development - characterised by low IQ - has been demonstrated in studies of adoption - found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who had been fostered

Question 5

Effects on development - Emotional development

Answer 5

Emotional development - Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others - prevents a person developing normal relationships and is associated with crime

Question 6

Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study

Answer 6

• Examined link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
  Procedure:
• 44 juvenile thieves
• Interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy - characterised as a lack of affection, lack of guilt and lack of empathy
• Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
• Sample was compared to a control group of 44 non-criminals but emotionally disturbed young people
  Findings:
• 14 out of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths
• 12 of these had experienced early prolonged separation from their mothers
• Only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations
• Only 2 in the control group had experienced separations
• Conducted prolonged early separation causes affectionless psychopathy

Question 7

BMDT - Evaluation - Strength

Answer 7

• Some support that MD causes long term effects
• Research showed separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development but not other aspects of development
• Although Bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory there are other sources of evidence for his ideas

Question 8

BMDT - Evaluation - Limitation

Answer 8

• Poor quality evidence it is based on
• Bowlby himself interviewed the thieves and their families - left him open to bias as he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of affectionless psychopathy
• Also the theory was influenced by results of another study that contained confounding variables
• Means Bowlby’s original sources of evidence of MD had serious flaws and wouldn’t be taken seriously nowadays