Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is maternal deprivation?
Emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother or mother-substiute.
What does Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation say?
Continual presence of care from a mother/mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers
Emotionally and intellectually
Being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences
What is separation?
Child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure
What is deprivation?
Loosing emotional care as a result of extended periods of separation
What is the critical period?
First 2 and a half years
If child is separated from mother in the absence of suitable substitute care
And inturn deprived of emotional care for an extended duration during this critical period
Psychological damage is inevitable
Continuing risk up to age of 5
What are effects on emotional development?
Affectionless psychopathy
Inability to experience guilt or strong emotion to others.
Preventing a person developing fulfilling relationships
Associated with criminality
Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions
What are effects on intellectual development?
Delayed intellectual development
Abnormally low IQ
What was Bolwbys procedure?
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
Interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
Characterises - lack of affection, lack of guilt, lack of empathy
Families also interviewed - to astablish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
Sample compared to control group of 44 non criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
What did Bolwby find?
14/44 thieves described as affectionless psychopaths
12 of these - experienced prolong seperation from their mothers in the first two years of their libes
5/30 remaining thieves - had experienced seperations
2 in control group / 44 - experienced long separations
Concluded prolonged early seperation caused affectionless psychopathy
What are evaluations of maternal deprivation?
Counterpoint for flawed evidence
New research
Maternal deprivation can have long term effects
Levy et al
Separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development through not other aspects of development
Meaning there are other sources of evidence for bowlbys ideas
What are evaluations of maternal deprivation?
Flawed evidence
Only bowlby himself carried out both the family interviews and assesments
Leaving him open to bias - he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show sign of psychopathy.
Also influenced by findings of Goldfarbs research
Confounding variables
Children had experienced early trauma and institutional care
Prolonged separations from primary caregivers
Meaning original sources of evidence had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays
What are evaluations of maternal deprivation?
Deprivations and privation
confusion between different types of early experience
Rutter
Two types of early negative experiences
Deprivation - loss of primary attachment figure after attachment has developed
Privation - failure to form any attachment in the first place
Severe long term damage associated with deprivation is actually more likely yo be the result of privation
Children studied by Goldfarb
Many actually have been prived rather than deprived.
Many of the children in 44 thieves
Disrupted early lives and may never have formed strong attachments
Meaning he may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in childrens development
What are evaluations of maternal deprivation?
Critical vs sensitive periods
Bolwby - damage is inevitable if child not formed an attachment in first two and a half years of life
Evidence to say good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage
Koluchova
Czech twins
Twins experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from age of 18 months up until 7
Severely damaged emotionally by their experience they received excellent care and by their teens they had recovered fully
Meaning lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation
The critical period is better seen as a sensitive period
