Maternal deprivation

Question 1

What does Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation focus on?

Answer 1

The idea that continuous emotional (maternal) care from a mother (or mother-substitute) is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development

Question 2

What is the difference between ‘separation’ and ‘deprivation’?

Answer 2

Separation = the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure

Deprivation = losing emotional care as a result of the separation

Question 3

How does separation turn into deprivation?

Answer 3

Brief separation, especially when the child is with a substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care, are not significant for development but extended separation can lead to deprivation, which can cause harm

Question 4

Describe the critical period

Answer 4

Bowlby saw that the first two and a half years as a critical period for psychological development
If a child was separated from their mother in the absence of suitable care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended duration during this critical time, Bowlby believed psychological damage was inevitable
Bowlby believed the risk continued up until the age of 5

Question 5

What are the 2 ways maternal deprivation effects development?

Answer 5

Intellectual development and emotional development

Question 6

How does maternal deprivation affect intellectual development?

Answer 6

If a child is deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development and abnormally low IQ
This has been demonstrated in studies of adoption
Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered (in a higher standard of emotional care)

Question 7

How does maternal deprivation affect emotional development?

Answer 7

Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others
This prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminalilty
Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions

Question 8

What did Bowlby’s research ‘44 thieves’ look at?

Answer 8

The link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation

Question 9

Describe Bowlby’s 44 thieves procedure

Answer 9

44 criminal teenagers all accused of stealing
‘Thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy (lack of affection, guilt and empathy)
Families were interviewed to establish whether the ‘thieves’ had prolonged separation from their mothers
Sample was compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people

Question 10

What were the findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

Answer 10

14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths
12 of these had prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of life
Only 5 of the remaining 30 ‘thieves’ had experienced separations
Bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation/ deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy

Question 11

Give a strength of maternal deprivation

Answer 11

Animal studies - Levy et al showed that separating baby rats from their mothers for as little as a day has permanent effect on their social development
(Limitation) - however, can animal studies be generalised to human behaviour?

Question 12

Give 2 limitations of maternal deprivation?

Answer 12

1. Poor quality of evidence - Bowlby himself carried out the thieves study - conducting the family interviews and assessments, knowing what he hoped to find. Goldfarb’s study was also flawed as there were many confounding variables - the children had experienced early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from their primary caregiver. This means that Bowlby’s original sources for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and may have produced biased results
2. Confusion between different types of early experience - Rutter (1981) made an important distinction between 2 types of early negative experience:
   Deprivation: the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed
   Privation: the failure to form an attachment at all
   Rutter argues that the majority of Bowbly’s cases were more likely to be ‘prived’. Many of the 44 thieves had a disrupted early life so may never have formed attachments in the first place. This means that Bowlby may have overstimulated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in children’s development

Question 13

How many thieves out of the “44 thieves” can be described as affectionless psychopaths?

Answer 13

14

Question 14

How many thieves out of the 14 that were described as affectionless psychopaths had prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their life?

Answer 14

12

Question 15

How many out of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separation?

Answer 15

5