Maternal Deprivation hypothesis

Maternal Deprivation hypothesis

1. Separation is only an issue if the child is deprived in this time.

2. Critical period of the first 30 months.

   • Effect on intellectual development:Bowlby believed if they were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period that they may suffer mental retardation=low IQ.
   • Effect on emotional development: affectionless psychopathy-inability to feel guilt or strong emotion for others- associated with criminality.

3. 44 thieves study:interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy-families also interviwed to find out about infant separation= 14/44 were affectionless psychopaths and 12/14 experienced prolonged separation- only 5 of the remaining 30 had experinced separation.

4. Negative Evaluation: counter evidence that doesnt support bowlbys MDH( lewis replicated 44 thieves on a larger scale of 500 and found separation didnt lead to criminality-suggests there may be other factors that affect the outcome of separation.)--later research suggest the critical period may be more of a sensitive period ( 2 czech twins isolated from 18 months-later when looked after by loving parents they fully recovered)--Bowlby didnt distinguish between deprivation and privation ( rutter distinguished between these and said the long term effects bowlby described for deprivation is more likely to link to privation- many of the 44 thieves had moved from home to home lots -this may be cause of affectionless psychopathy and not deprivation.