Psychodynamic Research Flashcards
(8 cards)
Methodology
Series of case studies
Opportunity Sampling
Thieves: 44, 31 boys, 13 girls. Graded in terms of seriousness of stealing, mainly average intelligence
Control: Matched pairs, emotionally disturbed but didn’t steal, from same clinic
Mothers: Interviewed to assess histories of children
Procedures
Initial examination:
Psychiatrist gave children intelligence tests (Binet scale). Emotional attitudes recorded. Social worker interviewed mothers. Both reported to Bowlby.
Therapy:
P’s met with Bowlby every week over 6 months, psychiatrist diagnosed problems, detailed case studies made
Findings
Diagnosis: Distinguished 6 personality types
2 = Normal
2 = Circular (Switching)
4 = Schizoid (SZ symptoms)
9 = Depressed
13 = Hyperthermic (Overactivity)
14 = Affectionless (No empathy)
Affectionless character: This personality was caused by maternal deprivation. Derek B 18 months hospital, Betty I 7 months foster care
Other factors:
17 = irritable, anxious, fussy mothers
5 = fathers openly hate them
Conclusions
Experiencing factors harmful to development made children more likely to offend (Supports childhood influences)
Maternal deprivation damages the superego making children likely to offend, but also due to env factors e.g. poor housing
Preventing maternal dep better than ‘curing’ delinquency as it is long + hard process
When it’s unavoidable to separate child from mother a substitute caregiver should be provided
Ethics Evaluation
Low confidentiality, used first name + surname initial + detail about lives, makes Ps easily identifyable, should have used pseudonym e.g. number to make less identifyable
Questions around valid consent, participants vulnerable children aged 5-17, however, consent by proxy was gained, and in 1944 guidelines not as strict so common practice, and children still informed their data would be kept + used in research
Social implications
Emphasised importance of strong child + caregiver bond, led to both parents able to share maternity leave (2015), father able to have time off and mother work, shifts traditional ideas about ‘stay at home moms’
Financial implications, cost arounf £300 per week for nursery, gov now allow claim tax relief on costs, encourages parent return to work, although initial high costs, benefit long term as more working = more tax + productivity
Methodology evaluation
Case studies based on parent recollection, asked to discuss events happened many years ago, memories may be distorted over time/ subject to social desirability, so low internal validity as biased results
Procedures evaluation
Lacks population validity, experimental and control were emotionally disturbed, cannot be generalised to all juvenile delinquents as not all emotionally disturbed, lowers external validity
Cause effect cannot be established, used case studies and interviews so no variable manipulation, could have been intervening variables
