Theory of Maternal Deprivation

What is affectionless psychopathy?

The inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others

Who developed the Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Bowlby

What is the Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Bowlby believed if a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care, and is thus deprived from the mother's emotional care during the critical period, psychological damage was inevitable

What two things does maternal deprivation effect in a child?

Intellectual and emotional development

What effect did Bowlby believe maternal deprivation had on intellectual development?

If children are deprived of maternal care for too long, they would suffer from mental retardation

What was the procedure for Goldfarb (1949)?

- studied two groups of children

- one group was raised in almost complete isolation in an institution

- other group was raised in foster care

What were the findings in Goldfarb (1949)?

Lower IQ was found in the children who were institutionalised

What effect did Bowlby believe maternal deprivation had on emotional development?

He believed that individuals who experience maternal deprivation are more likely to become affectionless psychopaths

Prevents person from developing normal relationships

How does Lewis et al act as a limitation of Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

- Lewis et al disagreed w/ Bowlby's conclusion that affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation caused criminality

- collected qualitative data with 500 juveniles and researcher found no link between maternal deprivation and a difficulty of forming relationships later in life

What are some other limitations of the Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

- based this theory off of interviews w/ war orphans, which doesn't control for confounding variables of poor care in orphanages and PTSD, which may have had a larger influence on the child

- researcher bias, Bowl h knew what he wanted to find and may have used leading questions in the interviews

How does Koluchova's study disprove Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

- reported two twins who were locked in cupboards for the first 7 years of their life in Czechoslovakia

- despite the trauma and maternal deprivation, with appropriate fostering the twins made a full psychological recovery