Psychology (Bowlby - Attachment)

Question 1

What is the Period where attachment is important and must be formed when is this happening?

Answer 1

The critical period, is the time where the mother has to form an attachment with the infant, which will not be possible otherwise perhaps. Lasts till 2.5 years where it is critical to form an attachment with the child.

Question 2

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study AIM

Answer 2

To test his theory of maternal deprivation and its long term effects

Question 3

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study SAMPLE

Answer 3

44 juvenile thieves and 44 normal inpatients acting as control group, all from the same clinic that Bowlby works at.

Question 4

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study PROCEDURE

Answer 4

1. They conducted IQ tests and tested every child
2. The Researcher (Bowlby) interviewed parents + child and a social worker interviewed the parent to gather information about the childs early life (before Bowlby).

Question 5

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study FINDINGS

Answer 5

32% of the Juvenile thieves were diagnosed with affectionless psychopathy, and 86% of these experienced an early seperation before the age of 5 and had maternal deprivation.

Question 6

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study CONCLUSIONS

Answer 6

Concluded that children who experienced seperation before the age of 5, were maternally deprived and had some of the accompanying side effects.

Question 7

What is Maternal deprivation?

Answer 7

Is when the child has experienced seperation of the primary caregiver the mother, and is exhibiting side effects such as lower intelligence, affectionless psychopathy (unable to love others or experience love in general, not being able to form proper relationships that have longevity) and not engage socially very often.

Question 8

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study STRENGTHS

Answer 8

Real Life Applications - Changes in hospitalisation have been carried out, such as increased visiting hours in hospitals to reduce the negative effects of maternal deprivation.

The study is ecologically valid because it is conducted in a naturalistic setting with natural occurring variables for the 44 thieves and the 44 participants in the control group (individuals referred to the clinic because of emotional problems, but not yet committed any crimes).

Question 9

Bowlby Juvenile thieves study WEAKNESSES

Answer 9

Low temporal validity / time locked

Using interviews - using retrospective data (is not replicable), answers may be given due to impact of social desirability and memory may not be accurate. May also not know if

Not generalisable = 88 pps, same clinic, American, reductionistic as it excludes fathers or other primary caregivers and 75% in the study were male.

Experimenter/researcher bias due to Bowlby conducting the study on his own and making the assignsments and diagnosis himself. This will lead to a very subjective interpretation in what the attachment of the child and their mothers is and if they are really affectionless psychopaths suffering from maternal deprivation. However there is more objectivity due to the social worker gathering data and analysing it.

Question 10

How can Bowlbys Juvenile thieves study be improved?

Answer 10

Make it more generalisable by adding more participants from different clinics and either have another control group with normal, non hospitalised children or make that the original control group.