Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What is separation versus deprivation?

Answer 1

• separation involves not being in the presence of primary attachment figure
• deprivation is extended separation which causes harm

Question 2

What is the critical period?

Answer 2

• Bowlby saw the first 2 1/2 years of life as the critical period for psychological development
• if child was separated from mother and deprived of emotional care then psychological damage is inevitable
• continuing risk up to the age of 5

Question 3

What are the effects on development due to maternal deprivation?

Answer 3

• intellectual development = delayed intellectual development characterised by abnormally low IQ
• emotional development = affectionless psychopathy involving the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion which prevents them from forming normal relationships and is associated with crime

Question 4

What was Bowlby’s research into maternal deprivation?

Answer 4

• (1944) 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing (thieves) were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
• their families were also questioned to see if there had been any prolonged separation from their mothers and the results were compared to a control group of 44 non-criminals but emotionally disturbed young people

Question 5

What was the results of Bowlby’s research?

Answer 5

• 14 out of the 44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these 14 had had prolonged separation from mothers in the first 2 years of life
• 5 of remaining 30 had experienced prolonged separation

Question 6

What are 3 limitations of Bowlby’s research into maternal deprivation?

Answer 6

• limitation of flawed evidence as it was Bowlby himself who carried out both assessments which left him open to bias as he knew what results to expect - evidence would not be taken seriously these days
• limitation of confusion between deprivation and privation as deprivation is loss of primary attachment figure whereas privation is the failure to form any attachment in the first place, Rutter pointed out that most of the cases observed by Bowlby was most likely privation not deprivation
• limitation of critical versus sensitive period as Czech twins were emotionally and physically abused for first 7 years of their life yet they were able to recover fully and make attachments - high reliability