bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

• Maternal deprivation

  • The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his/her mother or mother-substitute
  • Bowlby proposed that continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development, and that prolonged separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development
• Separation vs deprivation

  • Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure
  • This only becomes a problem if the child becomes deprived of emotional care (which can happen even if a mother is present but depressed)
  • Brief separations, particularly where the child is with a substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care, are not significant for development but extended separations can lead to deprivation, which by definition causes harm
• The critical period

  • Bowlby saw the first two and a half years of life as a critical period for psychological development
  • If a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended duration during this critical period then psychological damage was inevitable
  • He also believed there was a continuing risk up to the age of five
• What is one way maternal deprivation affects children's development?

  It affects their intellectual development.
• According to Bowlby, what happens if children are deprived of maternal care during the critical period?

  They experience delayed intellectual development, characterized by abnormally low IQ.
• What are the effects of maternal deprivation on emotional development according to Bowlby?

  • Leads to affectionless psychopathy
  • Inability to experience guilt or strong emotions
  • Prevents development of fulfilling relationships
  • Associated with criminality
• What is affectionless psychopathy?

  It is the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others.
• How does affectionless psychopathy affect relationships?

  It prevents a person from developing fulfilling relationships.
• What is the relationship between affectionless psychopathy and criminality?

  Affectionless psychopaths are associated with criminality.
• Why do affectionless psychopaths lack remorse for their actions?

  They cannot appreciate the feelings of their victims.
• What is the critical period in relation to maternal care?

  It is the time frame during which maternal care is essential for proper development.
• What are the implications of delayed intellectual development?

  It is characterized by abnormally low IQ and affects learning abilities.
• How do the studies of adoption relate to Bowlby's theories?

  They provide evidence for the impact of maternal deprivation on intellectual development.
• Consequences of deprivation:

  • Delinquency: Due to disrupted social development, behaviour is often outside acceptable norms, such as petty crime
  • Affectionless psychopathy: Due to disrupted emotional development, children are unable to show caring behaviour to others or empathy for other people's feelings and have little guilt for their harmful actions
  • Low IQ: Due to disrupted intellectual development, cognitive abilities are lower than peers
• As the monotropic relationship with the mother is the first and most important relationship the infant has, it forms a template (schema) for future relationships called an internal working model.
• The continuity hypothesis suggests deprivation caused by prolonged separations from the mother limits the ability of the infant to form an effective internal working model, leading to unsuccessful childhood and adult relationships and issues with their parenting skills.