Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is separation?
Child not being in the presence of primary attachment figure
Extended separations can lead to deprivation- which leads to harm
Brief separations are not significant for development
What effects does deprivation have on development?
Intellectual development
Emotional development
Intellectual development??
Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long, they would experience delayed intellectual development (low IQ)
Intellectual development: Goldfarb?
Lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and had a high standard of emotional care
Emotional development?
Affectionless psychopathy- inability to experience guilt/strong emotions towards others
Prevents a person developing normal relationships- associated with criminality
44 thieves study?
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
Thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
Families were also interviewed to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mother
Compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
How did Bowlby see the signs of affectionless psychopathy?
He interviewed them
And the families were also interviewed a
What were the 44 thieves compared to?
A control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
Findings-14/44?
14/33 were described as affectionless psychopaths and 12 had experienced prolonged separations from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives
Findings- 5/30?
Only 5/30 remaining thieves had experienced separations
What did Bowlby conclude?
Early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
Control group findings?
Only 2/44 in control group had experienced long separations
