maternal deprivation

• In bowlby’s 44 thieves study, 14 if the thieves showed traits of affectionless psychopathy, of these, 12 had experiences maternal separation in the first 5 years
• maternal deprivation can be described as the loss of emotional and intellectual care that is normally provided by the primary caregiver
• bowlby believes that infants require continuous care for healthy development - long term emotional deprivation would have long-term consequences in terms of emotional development
• infants must form attachments in the first 2yrs of life - if there is deprivation from primary caregiver there are irreversible negative consequences
• consequences of maternal deprivation:

  negative internal working model

  lower IQ

  delinquency

  emotionless maladjustment - inability to have emotions towards others
• limitation - opposing evidence for critical period:

  case study of Czech twins who suffered deprivation & abuse until 7yrs old - but then received excellent care + had no negative consequences in adolescence.
• real life application - bowlbys research has shown the importance of preventing separation - children and parents are now often hospitalised together to prevent this prolonged separation
• bowlby's 44 thieves study interviewed adolescents who had delinquency problems and their parents (also interviewed a control group). found that 14 of the thieves showed traits of affectionless psychopathy, of these, 12 had experiences maternal separation in the first 5 years - bowlbly concluded maternal deprivation in early childhood caused permanent emotional damage
• affectionless psychopathy is a persons inability to experience guilt or any other deep emotions towards others