Bowlby, Romanian and relationships

• Theory of maternal deprivation

  Proposed by John Bowlby, focused on the idea that the continual presence of care from a mother or mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers
• Monotropic theory of attachment

  John Bowlby's theory that infants form a single strong attachment to their primary caregiver
• Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure, which only becomes a problem if the child becomes deprived of emotional care
• Critical period


  Bowlby saw the first two-and-a-half years of life as a critical period for psychological development
• Effects of maternal deprivation


  • Delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ
  • Affectionless psychopathy - inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others, preventing development of fulfilling relationships and associated with criminality
• Bowlby's 44 thieves study

  1. Interviewed 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing to assess for signs of affectionless psychopathy and whether they had experienced prolonged early separations from their mothers

  2. Compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
• Romanian orphan studies


  1. Followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted by UK families to investigate how good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions

  2. Assessed physical, cognitive and emotional development at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years
• Bucharest early intervention project


  Assessed attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12-33 months who had spent time in institutional care, compared to a control group who had never lived in an institution
• Disinhibited attachment


  Children who have spent their early lives in an institution can show disinhibited attachment, being equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar and unfamiliar people
• Internal working model


  A mental representation of the first relationship with the primary attachment figure, which acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships
• Attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family, as people base their parenting style on their internal working model
• Hazan and Shaver's love quiz study

  Analysed 620 replies to a 'love quiz' printed in an American local newspaper, assessing respondents' current or most important relationship, general love experiences, and attachment type