maternal deprivation
Cards (6)
- continued emotional (maternal) care from a mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development
- separation may read to maternal deprivation. bowlby believed that mother love in infancy is 'as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health
- separation is different from deprivation
- separation means the child not being physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure
- deprivation means losing emotional care as a result from separation
- deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered, thus separation does not always cause deprivation
- critical period
- if child is separated from mother for an extended time during the first 2 ½ years, then psychological damage is inevitable. with continuing risk up to age of 5
- long term consequences
- intellectual development: lower IQ. if a child is deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period = mental retardation. Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQs in children from institutions compared to fostered children
- emotional development: affectionless psychopathy - the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others. a result of lack of emotional care. this prevents person from developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality
- 44 thieves study: procedure:
- sample of 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing
- all 'thieves' were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: characterised by lack of affection, guilt and empathy
- families were also interviewed to establish any prolonged separations from mothers
- findings and conclusions
- 14 of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. 12 of these had experienced prolonged separations from their mothers in their first 2 years of their lives
- in contrast, only 5 of the remaining 30 'thieves' had experienced separations. this suggests prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy