BOWLBY MATERNAL:

• X

  • poor quality of the evidence it is based on
  • 44 thieves study is flawed as Bowlby carried out family interviews and assessments for affectionless psychopathy
  • Left open to bias as he knew which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy
  • Other evidence asw
  • Influenced by the findings of Goldfarb's research on the development of deprived children in wartime orphanages
  • Problems of confounding variables as the children experienced trauma, institutional care + prolonged separation from their caregivers

  Sources of evidence had serious flaws wouldn't be taken seriously as evidence now
• COUNTERPOINT:

  • A new line of research has provided some modest support for the idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects
  • Lévy et al.(2003) showed that separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development though not other aspects of development.

  This means that, although Bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation, there are other sources of evidence for his ideas.
• • X
  • idea of a critical period
  • Bowlby damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first 2 1/2 years of life
  • Critical period
  • However evidence suggests that good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage
  • IE Koluchová reported case of Czech Twins
  • Experienced severe physical abuse from of 18 months-7 years old
  • Severely damaged emotionally by their experience they received excellent care and by their teens they had recovered fully

  Lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation 'critical period' is better seen as a 'sensitive period