Maternal deprivation (booklet 5)

Question 1

Maternal deprivation

Answer 1

Loss of an attachment figure
Bowlby believed would cause negative developmental effects- his maternal deprivation hypothesis
Formed his opinion after observing results of several studies of children who lost their attachment figure

Question 2

Critical period

Answer 2

Bowlby said critical period was 2.5 years
Said if child was separated from mother without adequate substitute care during critical period then psychological damage is inevitable
-> intellectual damage (IQ)
-> emotional damage (affectionless psychopathy)

Question 3

Intellectual development

Answer 3

Goldfarb (1955)
Followed 30 orphaned children to age 12
Half had been fostered by age 12, other half remained in orphanage
At 12 IQ assessed using Stanford-Binet test
Fostered group average IQ= 96
Orphanage group= 68 (below cut off point used to define intellectual disability)

Question 4

Emotional development

Answer 4

Bowlby (1944)- 44 thieves study
One group of 44 children referred for thieving, control group of 44 children experiencing emotional problems
Interviewed for affectionless psychopathy + families interviewed (had they experienced prolonged early separation from mother)
14/44 thieves affectionless psychopaths- 12/14 prolonged separation (only 5 of remaining 30 thieves had separations, and only 2 of control group had separations)
Correlation between prolonged separation and affectionless psychopathy

Question 5

Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation - flawed evidence

Answer 5

In Bowlby’s 44 thieves study, he carried out both the family interviews and assessments for affectionless psychopathy
Therefore open to bias as Bowlby knew the teenagers expected to show signs of psychopathy
Additionally Goldfarb’s study was impacted by confounding variables eg trauma and institutional care
Therefore Bowlby’s theory lacks credible evidence

Question 6

Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation- deprivation vs privation

Answer 6

Limited by Bowlby’s confusion between privation and deprivation
Deprivation is loss of PAF after attachment has developed, privation is failure to form an attachment at all
Rutter (1981) pointed out severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually due to privation
Bowlby may have overestimated severity of effects of deprivation on children’s development

Question 7

Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation - critical vs sensitive periods

Answer 7

Limited by Bowlby’s idea of a critical period
Evidence good quality after care after critical period (2.5 years) can prevent most or all of damage
Koluchovà (1976) reported case of Czech twins who were abused 18 monotheism - 7 years old
Received excellent care and by teens had both recovered fully
Shows lasting harm isn’t inevitable and critical period is better seen as sensitive period