maternal deprivation

• what dis Bowlby state about maternal deprivation

  continuous emotional care from a mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development
• what did bowly believe about mother love

  mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins for physical health
• what leads to maternal deprivation

  separation from the mother may lead to maternal deprivation
• what does deprivation mean

  losing emotional care as a result of separation and can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered
• what is the critical period for attachment

  30 months (2.5 years)
• what happens if separated during the critical periods

  if a child is separated for their mother for an extended time during the first 30 months then psychological damage is inevitable
• what do children suffer if separated for too long during critical period

  1. mental retardation
  2. abnormally low IQ
• what can lack of emotional care lead to

  may also lead to affectionless psychopathy
• what is affectionless psychopathy

  the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others
• what does affectionless psychopathy prevent

  person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality
• what did goldfarb do and find

  conducted an orphan adoption study finding lower IQ in children who remained in the institution compared to children who where fostered, also found that it can lead to affectionless psychopathy
• what did bowlby do in the 44 thieves study

  • had a sample of 44 teens accused of stealing
  • all interviewed for signs oof affectionless psychopathy
  • families interviewed to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separation from their mothers
  • control group set up of non-criminals but emotional disturbed young people was set up to see how maternal deprivation occurred in children non-thieves
  • he found 14/44 could be described as affectionless psychopaths
  • 12/14 experienced prolonged separation from mothers within the first 2 years
  • 5/30 remaining thieves experienced separation
  • in the control group 2/44 had experienced prolonged separation
  • he concluded prolonged early separation caused affectionless psychopathy
• what is a strength of maternal deprivation (PEELH) (support)

  P - there is scientific evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation

  E - bowlby studied 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing they were interviewed to find out any prolonged separation from their mothers and also for signs of affectionless psychopathy

  E - 14 out of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths of these 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mother

  L - this suggested that maternal deprivation can lead to affectionless psychopathy and criminal behaviour

  H - however bowlby conducted the research and theory therefore a potential for researcher bias
• what is a strength of maternal deprivation (PEEL) (animal studies)

  P - another strength is that animal studies have demonstrated maternal deprivation

  E - most psychologists are critical of maternal deprivation theory, but one line of research supports the idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects

  E - harlow separated 16 rhesus monkeys from their mothers and was locked with a cloth mother and wire mother, as a result the monkey were very aggressive and unaware on how to mate, if they were very neglecting towards their child

  L - however there is always some doubt over the extent to which animal studies like this can be generalized to humans
• what is a limitations of maternal deprivation (PEEL) (counter evidence)

  P - there is also counter evidence which does not support Bowlby's findings

  E - lewis practically replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale looking at 500 young people

  E - early prolonged maternal separation did not predict criminality or difficulty forming relationships

  L - this suggests that other factors may affect the outcome of maternal separation