AO1

• Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis 


  Deprivation from the main caregiver during the critical period of 2.5 years had harmful effects on physical, emotional, intellectual and social development.
• Bowlby did not distinguish between deprivation and privation. Deprivation is to form an attachment and later lose it. Privation is to never have the ability to form an attachment.
• Long Term Consequences of Maternal Deprivation

  • Low IQ
  • Affectionless psychopathy
  • Increased aggression
  • Delinquency
  • Depression
• Bowlby's MDH: Method

  To investigate his hypothesis, Bowlby conducted the 44 thieves experiment where he analysed the effect of long term maternal separation on teenagers convicted of theft who were at a behavioural clinic. A control group of teens also at the clinic but not for stealing were analysed too. He interviewed their families to see if they had any long-term separation from their mothers.
• Bowlby's MDH: Findings & Conclusion

  He found that 17 of the thieves had been separated from their mother and 12 of these also had affectionless psychopathy. 2 other teenagers did not have separation but did have AP. In the control group, none had AP but 2 had separation from their mother. Bowlby concluded that the reason for theft and affectionless psychopathy was due to maternal deprivation.