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Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis - Coggle Diagram
Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
Children shouldn't be deprived of contact with mother during critical period
Critical period = 6 months - 3 years after birth
Critical period is when primary attachment relationship is formed
Separation from mother = Infant's social + cognitive development is poor
Impact of MDH
Active encouragement of parents to stay with child when in hospital
1989 Children's Act
Need for children to be cared in families and not children's homes
Improvements in standards of institutional care
Evidence for MDH
Imprinting
Critical period for attachment formation
Failure to form attachment in this period = inability to form attachments later, form wrong attachments
Stranger anxiety prevent subsequent attachments (9 months old)
Lorenz (1935) - Imprinting in goslings
Counter
Research suggests that human infants aged 1-2 y/o can form new social relationships/multiple attachments
Children in long-term institutional care
Severe cognitive retardation in children in pre-war orphanages
Counter
Confounding factors:
:red_flag: Lack of adequate care by staff
:red_flag: Understimulating environment
More recent research found improved institutional care has fewer harmful effects
Separation anxiety + protest
Children temporarily separated from parents + placed in institution
Robertson + Robertson (1967-1973)
Counter
Separation from mother can be compensated for by presence of another attachment figure
Maternal deprivation in monkeys: Harlow et al (1958; 1969)
Infant Rhesus monkeys separated from mothers + raised in isolation
Isolation longer than 3 months = complete + irreversible social maladjustment
Counter 1
Confounding factor:
:red_flag: General social deprivation rather than maternal deprivation
Counter to counter 1
Later research showed severe deficits can be ameliorated if isolation-reared monkey placed with younger 'therapist' monkey
E.g. Suomi + Harlow (1972); Novak (1979)
Additional evidence for MDH
Koluchova Twins (1972; 1991)
Twins spent first 18 months of life in an institution - made normal progress
Father took them back, lived with him + stepmother until 7 years old
Stepmother kept twins in conditions of extreme deprivation - complete isolation, no proper food/exercise/ intellectual or social stimulation
When discovered, twins had appearance of 3 y/o, could hardly walk + play + speak
Put into foster care by 2 unmarried women + extended family
By 14, twins completely caught up in terms of language development
Both twins had professional careers + started families
Demonstrates how removal from an extremely impoverished environment can reverse deprivation effects
Limitations
:red_cross: Twins had experienced some normal nurturing in first few months of life
:red_cross: Not completely isolated as they had each other's support
:red_cross: Discovered when relatively young
Explains later behaviour problems
Counter
:red_cross: Causal relationship not clear
Rutter (1981) - Discord in divorcing families lead to later behaviour problems
Conflict rather than separation is the important factor
Genie (Curtiss, 1977)