Evaluation Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis Flashcards
(10 cards)
Hilda Lewis: weakness?
Replication of the 44 thieves using 500 young people
Found early prolonged separations didnt predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships
This poses a problem for the theory as it suggests other factors may affect MDH outcomes
Poor evidence: weaknes?
Studies that formed the basis of the theory included those who had been orphaned during the war and grown up in poor quality orphanages
This evidence is therefore flawed and factors including trauma and poor aftercare may have resulted in developmental difficulties rather than separations
Weaknes: Bowlby’s involvement>
Bowlby carried out the assessments (researcher bias)
Interviews with family members may have lacked reliability- social desirability bias
Critical period: weakness?
Irreversible damage is not caused from separation during the critical period
Kulchova twins- many documented cases of positive outcomes following severe deprivation when the child has good aftercare and the chance for social interaction
BUT the twins were not in complete isolation
Levy et al (2003): strength?
Separated baby rats from their mothers for as little as a day and it had permanent effects on their social development although not on other aspects
HOWEVER: rats are not humans so can’t generalise
What did Ritter (1981) claim?
Claimed Bowlby muddled concepts together when talking about deprivation
Said the damage Bowlby talked about from deprivation was more reminiscent of the damage caused from privation.
What did Rutter propose?
Deprivation is the loss of an attachment figure after its development
What is privation?
The failure to form an attachment at all
When does privation occur?
When children are brought up in institutional care
What were many of the children in the 44 thieves experiment like?
They had disrupted early lives and may never had formed strong attachments in the first place
