Psychology - Paper 1 - Attachment - Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

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How long did Bowlby think the critical period was?
30 months
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Which 3 ways can attachment be disrupted?
Separation, deprivation and privation.
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What is separation?
Brief temporary separations e.g. attending day care.
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What is deprivation?
Lengthy or permanent separations from attachment figures e.g. prison, divorce.
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What is privation?
Where children have not had any opportunity to form an attachment with anyone.
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What are the three consequences of disruption?
Intellectual development, emotional development and social development.
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What is the key study for Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?
44 thieves study 1944.
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What was the procedure?
Bowlby compared 44 young people accused of stealing with a control group. Ps were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewed to establish any early separations from mothers.
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What were the findings of the study?
32% of thieves showed affectionless psychopathy compared to 0%. 86% of the affectionless psychopaths had experienced maternal deprivation compared to 17% of thieves who weren't affectionless psychopaths.
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What is the 1/2 strengths?
Practical applications - led to changes in hospital visiting policies; parents are encouraged to stay with child in order to minimise damage to attachment bond. Adoption policies have changed so children get adopted as young as possible.
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What is the 2/2 strength?
Research support - Harlow's research with monkeys showed that maternal deprivation can have irreversible effects. However, there are extrapolation problems.
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What is the 1/3 weakness?
Over-emphasis on the mother and monotropy - Schaffer and Emerson's work on multiple attachments shows that Bowlby may have been mistaken to place so much emphasis on the mother and monotropy. Means theory isn't complete.
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What is the 2/3 weakness?
Research shows critical period can be questioned and effects of maternal deprivation can be reversed - Koluchova looked at Czech twins who were isolated for 18mths. Can be reversed with good substitute emotional care. Critical may be more sensitive.
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What is 3/3 weakness?
Bowlby may have confused deprivation and privation - severe long term damage Bowlby discussed is more likely to be the result of privation. Power of Bowlby's theory to explain the consequences is reduced.
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What is the second study that is used to explain Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?
Romanian orphans
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What does this show the effects of?
Institutionalisation.
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What are the two studies used to explain this unit?
Rutter et al's ERA (Romanian orphans) and The Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Zeanah et al 2005.
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What was the procedure of Rutter et al's study?
Longitudinal study of 111 romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test whether good care could make up for early deprivation. Physical, cognitive and social development was assessed at 4,6,11,15 yrs old. 52 British children were used as control group
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What were the findings?
At time of adoption all Romanians lagged behind control group, age 4 most children adopted BEFORE 6 mths had caught up but those adopted AFTER 6mths still lagged behind. At 11, this pattern remained in terms of social, cognitive and emotional.
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What is disinhibited attachment and who showed it in the study?
Where children are over-friendly with adults and seek attention. Children adopted after 6 mths showed this.
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What was the conclusions of the study?
Long term consequences of deprivation may not be severe as Bowlby thought if the child has sensitive nurturing care after. Control group showed no negative development outcomes suggesting that maternal deprivation wont cause negative effects.
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What was the procedure of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?
95children aged 12-31 mths who spent 90% of lives in institution compared with control group of 50 who hadn't. Attachment type measured using strange situation. Carers also asked if children showed disinhibited attachment.
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What were the findings of the study?
74% of control were securely attached compared to 19% of institutional group. Disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutional group compared to 20% of controls.
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What is the conclusion of these study?
This shows that institutionalisation can affect the quality of the attachment bond.
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What a strength of this study?
Practical applications - Research has led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions e.g. having a key worker.
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What's 1/4 weakness?
Studies lack validity as the children weren't randomly assigned to conditions - the children who were adopted early may have been the sociable ones which means its a confounding variable.
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What's 2/4 weakness?
Problems with generalising from the Romanian Orphan Study - standards of care were poor which means study may not be applicable to all children.
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What is 3/4 weakness?
Methodology makes it difficult to draw conclusions - children were not studied while they were living in the orphanage which means it's not possible to conclude which aspects of institutionalisation had greatest effect of development.
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What is 4/4 weakness?
Long term effects are still being discovered - Studies are on-going. 2017 researchers found that children who spent more than 6mths in institutions had caught up in term of IQ but struggles with E,S,C development.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Which 3 ways can attachment be disrupted?

Back

Separation, deprivation and privation.

Card 3

Front

What is separation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is deprivation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is privation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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