Classical Evidence - Bowlby Flashcards
(10 cards)
Methodology
- series of case studies
- looked at an association between two groups of participants
FOCUS of the study -
* 44 children - child guidance clinic in London (described as ‘thieves’, ‘stealing’ was one of their symptoms)
* 31 boys, 13 girls, 5-17yo
* graded in terms of seriousness - Grade IV stealing for a long time (22), more than 3 yrs, Grade I only one theft (4)
* IQ - 50% average, 15 high, 2 under 85
CONTROL GROUP -
* Attended the clinic
* Similar in age, sex, IQ
* emotionally disturbed (like the thieves)
* didn’t steal
MOTHERS -
* involved
* interviewed to assess the case histories
Procedures
Initial examination
* sample obtained through opportunity sampling
* on arrival - mental tests, assess intelligence (Binet scale was used), look at emotional attitude, interview mothers for early psychiatric history
* After 2 hour examination they considered school reports and discussed conclusions
Therapy
* continued to meet psychiatrists weekly for 6 months or more
* Mothers talked over their problems with the social worker
* this enabled detailed case history to be recorded, and diagnose children’s emotional problems
Findings
- distinguished between personality types to determine what previous experiences might have caused them to steal.
6 main types :
normal
depressed
circular
hyperthymic
AFFECTIONLESS
schizoid
The affectionless character
- very clear pattern emerged in relation to delinquency
- 14 affectionless, 12 had experienced frequent seperations from their mothers
- Betty I. - placed in a foster home at 7 months, moved a lot, spent a year in convent school before returning home at 5yo.
- Control group - only 2 experienced seperation
- 17 experienced early seperation
- 27 left - 17 had mothers who were anxious, irritable, fussy. 5 had fathers who hated them.
This was reported in non-deliquent group so might explain emotional problems but not delinquency
Conclusions
- early experiences are of vital importance in later development
- Children wouldn’t have become thieves if they hadn’t had experiences that were harmful to their development
- relationship between a mother and child is important in emotional development - damage would affect the development of the superego leading to reduced sense of right and wrong.
methodology and procedures - weakness
No causal findings
- Variable not manipulated so not possible to conclude that seperations caused the emotional problems
- only thing that is demonstrated is a relationship between prolonged separation and emotional problems,
- no causal conclusions can be drawn.
Evaluation - ethical issues
Confidentiality and privacy
* no confidentiality
* report gives first name + initial letter of last name
* case histories provide details of their lives,
* easy to identify them or their family
* not clear if they were aware it would be published.
Valid Consent
* data was collected as a part of treating them
* report published 5 years later - not sure if clinid wouldn’t have decided to use the data at the time the children were studied, difficult to obtain consent 5 years later
Methodology and procedures - weakness
Biased Data
- Even though through qualitative data was recorded
- Data is limited as it is based on the view of one person (psychiatrist) ,
- his perceptions may be biased by his own beliefs,
- case histories based on the recollections of the parents - could be inaccurate, want to portray the events more positively
Methodology and procedures -
The sample
- all children in the study were emotionally disturbed
- not appropriate to generalise from this sample to all children
- maybe there are some thieves who had no emotional disturbance
- Bowlby suggests - more useful to examine sample of children who appear in court
- Contol and focus group
- Matched
Evaluate Methodology and Procedures
- No causal findings
- Biased data
- The Sample
