3 5 bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Maternal deprivation refers to the separation between caregiver and child.

b. The title of Bowlby's (1944) study into maternal deprivation is 44 Thieves.

False. There are long-term, negative effects of prolonged separation from a primary caregiver. This is primarily due to the absence of emotional care.

Bowlby used interviews as his research method in his 44 Thieves study.

An affectionless psychopath is someone who lacks affection, shame, or guilt following an immoral act (e.g., stealing).

c. Bowlby categorised 14 of the 44 thieves as affectionless psychopaths.

Bowlby found that 40% of the thieves had experienced early separation from their caregivers.

b. Bowlby proposed that the first two years of a child's life are a critical period in emotional and psychological development.

c. Bowlby believed that prolonged maternal deprivation leads to delays in intellectual development, shown by an extremely low IQ.

True. A strength of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory is that it has real-world applications. Bowlby's research led to a social change in how children are cared for in hospital.

a and c. Researcher bias limits the validity of Bowlby's 44 Thieves study. Bowlby may have encouraged the participants to over-report their crimes and periods of maternal deprivation to suit his hypothesis. Social desirability bias limits the validity of Bowlby's 44 Thieves study. The participants may have over- or under-reported their crimes and periods of maternal deprivation to present themselves in a particular light.

A limitation of Bowlby's research is that he may have confused deprivation with privation. Privation is the absence of something desired or needed. Rutter (1981) observed that affectionless psychopathy is more likely to be a result of privation, rather than deprivation.

Institutionalisation refers to the psychological effects of living in an institution for a long time.

a. Out of Rutter's sample of 165 Romanian orphans, 111 had been adopted before the age of two. 54 of the orphans had been adopted by the age of four.

Interviews were conducted with the orphans' teachers and adoptive parents.

True. Developmental delays persisted in the orphans who were institutionalised after the age of six months and had not been adopted until after this age. These developmental delays were manifested in the formation of attachments and relationships.

b. Zeanah et al*.* (2005) conducted research with a sample of Romanian orphans using the Strange Situation to measure their attachment behaviours.

There is good real-world application of the Romanian orphan studies, e.g., the guidance that adoptions should happen within the first week of a baby's life.

c. A limitation of Rutter's research into Romanian orphans is that there is a lack of generalisability. The Romanian children experienced poor institutional care, which may not apply to all institutionalised children.

False. Romanian orphan studies have few confounding variables. Romanian orphans had much in common, as most had been given up by loving families rather than being institutionalised because of war, abuse, parental death or other traumatic events.

True. A limitation of the Romanian orphan studies is that the orphans were not studied long-term. There is a lack of data from the Romanian orphans in their adult lives, which raises questions about the long-term impacts of institutionalisation.

b. A strength of Romanian orphan studies is that they provide insight into the effects of institutionalisation. Such effects do not include negative effects on body mass index.