Maternal deprivation

Question 1

What is deprivation

Answer 1

Lack of something considered to be a basic need

Question 2

What did Bowlby claim in his maternal deprivation theory

Answer 2

2 1/2 year critical period
Continuous unbroken and intimate relationship with a mother figure is needed for healthy psychological/emotional development

Question 3

What are the consequences of deprivation

Answer 3

Increases aggression
Decreases intelligence
Future relationship difficulties
Affectionless psychopathy - Lack of empathy, shame and guilt

Question 4

What is Bowlby’s aim

Answer 4

Study the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation

Question 5

What is Bowlby’s procedure

Answer 5

44 children (31 boys/13 girls of average intelligence)
Graded 1-4 based on severity of theft

Control group had 44 children of similar age/gender/IQ
Control group was emotionally disturbed but didn’t steal

Question 6

Bowlby’s procedure continued/How did Bowlby collect his data

Answer 6

Interviewed thieves to see signs of affectionless psychopathy
Interviewed family to identify past relationships/maternal deprivation

Question 7

Bowlby’s findings

Answer 7

14/44 diagnosed as affectionless psychopathy
12 out of the 14 experienced maternal deprivation within the critical period
No affectionless psychopaths in the control group/ 2 out of 44 experienced deprivation

Question 8

Bowlby’s conclusion

Answer 8

Link between deprivation and affectionless psychopathy

Continuous unbroken intimate relationship is needed for development

Question 9

What methodological issues are there with Bowlby’s research(A03)

Answer 9

Investigator bias/retrospective bias
Bowlby carried out the interviews himself and could have interpreted data in a biased way
Recollection of children’s past relationships may be wrong

Question 10

What research is there to support Bowlby’s maternal deprivation research/counter to the supporting research(A03)

Answer 10

Goldfarb followed up 30 children until age 12
Half had been fostered/other half were orphaned
Fostered group had a higher IQ than orphaned group
Supports the link between maternal deprivation and low IQ

Orphaned group may have low IQ due to WW2(counter)

Question 11

What does Bowlby’s inability to provide a cause and effect between maternal deprivation and criminal behaviour suggest(A03)

Answer 11

Lewis replicated Bowlby’s study with a larger sample size
No evidence that early deprivation causes criminal behaviour
Suggests other factors e.g dispositional factors can cause criminal behaviour
Decreases internal validity

Question 12

Issues and debates for maternal deprivation

Answer 12

Nature vs Nurture
Supports both sides through the critical period
Critical period is an innate mechanism that is also reliant on outside interaction