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Psychodynamic approach study and debate - Coggle Diagram

- - - - 2 hour procedure:
        
        3: A social worker interviewed the child's mother and recorded preliminary details about the child's early psychiatric history and home life.
        
        4: Both the psychologist and social worker reported to Bowlby (the psychiatrist)
        
        5: Bowlby then interviewed the child and then the mother
        
        2: The psychologist who conducted the test also noted the emotional attitude of the child.
        
        6: After the 2 hour process, the team reviewed school and other reports, discussing their conclusions.
        
        1: on arrival at the London child guidance clinic, each child was given mental tests by a psychologist to assess their intelligence. (Binet IQ test)
        
        7: Most of the children continued to meet with the psychiatrist on a weekly basis for a period of 6 months or more.
        
        8: The mothers talked about their problems with the social worker.
        
        EVALUATION
        
        Researcher Bias
        
        Bowlby's research can be critisised for a risk of researcher bias. Bowlby conducted all the psychiatric assessments himself, diagnosed each child and he knew what ppts were thieves,. Therefore it is possible that his expectations on the effects of maternal deprivation may have influenced his research, this undermines the internal validity of his procedures.
        
        Procedures were NOT Artificial
        
        The procedures did not involve artificially manipulating the behaviour of the children or their mothers. It simply gathered data about their real life circumstances. Therefore the procedure has high external validity and the findings should reflect what happens in real situations where children are separated from their mothers.
        
        Issues of Reliability
        
        A limitation of Bowlby's procedures is that they lack external reliability. Bowlby himself describes the collection of data in his study as "unsystematic and unplanned". therefore it would be very difficult to replicate the procedure in the same way to test for consistent findings into the effects of maternal deprivation on delinquency.
    - - The 44 thieves were diagnosed as having one of 6 character types:
        
        Hyperthymic - 13
        
        Circular - 2
        
        Depressed - 9
        
        Schizoid - 4
        
        Normal - 2
        
        23 of the thieves were Grade 4. of these 13 were affectionless. There were 0 affectionless in the control group.
        
        12 out of the 14 affectionless thieves had experienced early separation from their mothers compared to only 5 of the other categorised thieves and only 2 of the 44 non-thieves.
        
        27 of the thieves had NOT experienced separation from mum but in 5 of these cases the father was openly hostile. (meaning they didn't hide the fact that they did not want their child)
        
        Affectionless - 14
    - - Case studies based on information gathered from Clinical interviews between 1936-1939. Research Sample: Gathered by opportunity- all referred to London Child Guidance clinic due to being 'emotionally disturbed.'
        
        EVALUATION
        
        Use of interviews
        
        Bowlby used clinical interviews, this could have led to social desirability. The children may have lied to avoid getting into further trouble and the mothers may have lied to justify problems experienced by their child/children and so they are seen as better parents. Therefore this reduces the internal validity of the methodology as Bowlby may not have a legitimate measure of the child's character or experiences.
        
        Use of control group
        
        A strength of the methodology is that Bowlby used a control group. He used 44 NON-thieves who were similar to the other thieves in terms of age, intelligence and economic status. Therefore , he was able to directly compare the experiences of maternal separation and personality types of each group to get a more valid picture of the effects of maternal separation on delinquency then if he had just studied the group of thieves.
        
        Use of case study method
        
        A strength of Bowlby's methodology is that it has high ecological validity. he used a series of case studies meaning there is no artificial manipulation. The research used multiple methods to gather detailed qualitative information on the children's behaviour and their home life. Therefore, his study has high external validity as the findings can be generalised beyond the setting of the study.
      - Graded I-IV on the severity of their theft. I being only committed one crime and IV being stealing for a long time. Control group: all thieves were compared to a control group of 44 emotionally disturbed NON thieves of a similar age, IQ range and economic status.
      - 44 thieves ages 5-17 years
        
        13 Female, 31 Male
        
        27 - Average IQ
        
        15- Higher IQ
        
        2- Lower IQ
    - - Bowlby concluded that factors that inhibit the development of the ability to form relationships affect the likelihood of offending. The findings therefore support the assumptions that early childhood experiences affect later behaviours.
      - Juvenile crime is not only attributed to psychological factors, it is linked to social and economic factors too. For example poverty, lack of recreational activities, poor housing etc. are all equally important in paving out the path to criminal behaviour. A holistic approach should be taken to consider all factors and the imapct of each of the on juvenile delinquent behaviour.
      - If we consider these findings, then treatment should be offered to delinquents. The earlier a diagnosis is made, the better it is for treatment. However, it is am extremely slow and difficult process. A better approach is prevention rather than cure. it is sometimes unavoidable to prevent separation of a mother and their child but if the people who are caring for the child during this time are made aware of the potential damage of the separation then they could implement strategies to provide good substitute emotional care.
    - - Low Internal Validity
      - Alternative Evidence to CONTRDICT Bowlby's Findings and Conclusions
      - Researcher Bias
      - Alternative Evidence to SUPPORT Bowlby's Findings and Conclusions
      - Findings Lack Reliability
        
        A limitation of Bowlby's findings and conclusions is that they lack external reliability. Bowlby himself describes the collection of data as "unsystematic and unplanned he worked with the children between 936 and 1939 then decided to analyse data on them for publishing in 1944. This means it was carried out originally as a as a standardised piece of researh. Therefore it would be very difficult to replicate the research in the same way to test for consistent findings into the effects of maternal separation on delinquency.
      - Findings Have Ecological Validity