Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

• What is Monotropy?

  Monotropy is the term Bowlby gives for the unique attachment bond between an infant and its mother -The mother acts as a secure base, which the child uses to explore the world and return to for comfort and safety
• What does Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation argue?

  -Bowlby argues that is the child's monotropic attachment is disrupted during the critical period, such as through prolonged separation from the mother, this deprivation will result in negative and irreversible consequences, affecting the infant's social, emotional and intellectual skills
• What is the Critical period for infants?

  -The critical period is an infant's first 30 months (two and a half years). -However, there is a risk of up to five years
• Consequence of deprivation - Delinquency

  Delinquency: Due to disrupted social development, behaviour is often outside acceptable norms, such as petty crime
• Consequence of deprivation - Affectionless psychopathy

  Affectionless psychopathy: Due to disrupted social 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
• Consequence of deprivation - Low IQ

  Due to disrupted intellectual development cognitive abilities are lower than peers
• What does Bowlby underline about the initial bond with the mother?

  -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
• What does the continuity hypothesis suggest?

  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 parenting skills
• Evaluation - Bowlby's 44 thieves study (1944)


  -Evidence to support the maternal deprivation theory comes from Bowlby's 44 thieves study (1944). -He interviewed 44 teenagers accused of stealing and their families and compared them to a control group of non-criminal young people. -It was found that 14 out of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and out of this 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives (compared to none of the control group). -This is a positive as it suggests that prolonged early separation (deprivation) can cause emotional damage such as affectionless psychopath
• Evaluation -

  -Further evidence against the effects of maternal deprivation comes from the case of the Czech twins: -After being locked up for 7 years by their stepmother, when the Czech twins were discovered, the twin boys couldn't talk. -They were subsequently looked after by two loving sisters and by age 14 they had near normal intellectual and social functioning. By the age of 20 they were above average intelligence and had formed strong attachments. -This goes against Bowlby's theory because it suggests that the effects of privation may not be permanent and are in fact reversible.