Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

• maternal deprivation


  Bowlby proposed prolonged emotional deprivation has long term consequences fro healthy child development - idea that continual presence of nature from mum essential for psychological development emotionally and intellectually - 6 months to 2.5 years as critical period for psychological development - if child separated from mum in absence of suitable care and deprived of emotional care for extended period of time argued psychological damage inevitable (intellectual, emotional or both) - consequences can't be reversed
• maternal deprivation effects on development

  Intellectual damage - deprived of maternal care for too long in critical period result in suffering mental retardation with abnormally low IQ - Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to children who were fostered

  emotional damage - affectionless psychopathy effect where individual has inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others - prevents person developing normal social relationships and associated with criminality - can't appreciate feelings of victims so lack of remorse for actions
• MATERNAL DEPRIVATION EVALUATION - Bowlby's 44 thieves study

  interviewed 4 teenagers accused of stealing and families compared them to control group of non criminal young people - found 14 of 44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths and out of 14, 12 had experiences prolonged separation from mothers in first 2 years of lives - deprivation can cause emotional damage like affectionless psychopathy
• MATERNAL DEPRIVATION EVALUATION - Genie

  Genie locked in room by dad until 13.5 (he thought she was retarded) - when found she was severely underdeveloped and couldn't stand or talk, only learned a few words (intellectual) and didn't form strong attachments (emotional) - maternal deprivation does have permanent effects on intellectual and emotional development
• MATERNAL DEPRIVATION EVALUATION - critical period criticised

  Rutter found less likely attachments will form after this period but not impossible - concluded more accurate term is sensitive period to reflect important window of time where children most likely to form an attachment bonds can still be formed outside this window - Bowlby overly negative about chances of healthy development following early deprivation
• MATERNAL DEPRIVATION EVALUATION - negative impact on economy


  effect of theory was to cause fear about possible effects of mothers not spending adequate time with children and may have lead to women being prevented from having the same career opportunities as men - e.g. women may have been socially disadvantaged as a result of this theory and been prevented from contributing to society and economy by restricting opportunities and encouraging gender equality