Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory

Question 1

what was Bowlbys 44 thieves study?

Answer 1

used a sample of 44 teenage thieves
interviewed them and their families to establish if there was prolonged separation in the critical period

control group of 44 teenage non thieves with emotional problems

Question 2

what did Bowlbys study find?

Answer 2

14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths
12/14 had prolonged separation

2/44 non thieves had maternal separation, 0/44 were affactionless psychopaths

Question 3

what are weaknesses of bowlbys study?

Answer 3

correlational, not causal

retrospective self report data

Koluchova (1976) twins from slovakia

evidence may be poor - sources included children from ww2 and in orphanages

Lewis (1954) looked at 500 young people, did not find separation caused crime

Question 4

what are strengths of Bowlbys study?

Answer 4

Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in children in institutions compared to foster kids

animal studies - Levy et al (2003) found separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had permanent effects

real life applications - in hospital