Maternal Deprivation - Bowlby's Theory

(Including the 44 thieves study)

Define maternal deprivation hypothesis

Separation from the mother figure in early childhood has serious consequences

Separation vs deprivation. Define these key terms. What is the difference between the two?

Separation - the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. This is not a significant problem to the child’s development.

Deprivation - occurs when the caregiver has significantly been absent from the child for a long period of time (EXTENDED SEPARATIONS LEAD TO DEPRIVATION) —> damages bond between caregiver and child

What are the long-term effects of deprivation?

• Intellectual development - abnormally low IQ

• Emotional development - affectionless psychopathy, prevents formation of normal relationships, associated with criminality, lack remorse for harmful actions

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: what was the aim of the research?

To examine the long-term consequences of maternal deprivation. He focused on the relationship between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy.

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: what was the procedure?

• A sample of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing, and a control group of non-criminals, but they were emotionally-disturbed young people

• Bowlby interviewed the ‘thieves’ for signs of affectionless psychopathy

• Bowlby interviewed their families to establish whether the ‘thieves’ experienced long separations from their mothers

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: what were the findings?

• 14 of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths, 12 of the 14 experienced prolonged separations from their mother in their first two years of living

• Only 5 of the other remaining 30 ‘thieves’ experienced separations

• Only 2 of the control group experienced long separations from their mother

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: so what is the conclusion of the study?

Experiencing maternal deprivation and long separations from the primary attachment figure in early life is linked with crime and abnormal emotional development

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: this is a natural experiment. What is a natural experiment?

In a natural experiment:

• researcher cannot manipulate the IV (because it is naturally occurring)

• researcher cannot randomly allocate participants to a condition

• natural setting of participant, not artificial

• involves observing/measuring natural changes

Example: participants surviving a plane crash or suffering from a specific mental illness

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 Thieves Study: this is a natural experiment. What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Strengths:

• Allows researcher to investigate certain topics that would otherwise be unethical to study by using a laboratory experiment

• High ecological validity —> participants report personal experiences they have great insight of + researcher cannot attempt to control procedure —> mundane realism

Limitations:

• Low reliability —> no controls of the procedure

• Low validity —> may suffer from bias such as social desirability bias, confirmation bias (researcher looking for evidence that backs up their pre-existing ideas), sample bias (limited group of participants)