Overview
This lecture critically evaluates Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation, highlighting its strengths, limitations, research basis, and modern relevance.
Distinguishing Bowlby’s Theories
- Bowlby’s monotropic theory explains how attachments form and why they are essential for psychological development.
- Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory focuses on the consequences when formed attachments are broken or disrupted.
Strengths of Maternal Deprivation Theory
- The theory emphasizes the importance of early attachment for emotional, social, and intellectual development.
- Influenced societal changes such as extended maternity and paternity leave to support attachment.
- Raised awareness of the needs of vulnerable children in hospitals and institutions.
- Bowlby’s ideas contributed to reports for organizations like the World Health Organization.
Limitations of the Theory and Its Research
- Bowlby’s 1944 juvenile thieves study lacked a control group, limiting causal conclusions.
- Potential researcher bias: Bowlby conducted both assessments and was aware of children's histories.
- Retrospective data from mothers may be inaccurate or biased.
- Temporal validity issue: findings from the 1930s may not apply today due to societal changes.
- Replication attempts (e.g., Lewis, 1954) with larger samples did not support a link between maternal deprivation and later problems.
Challenges to the Theory
- Case study by Koluchová (1976): Czech twins recovered well after severe early deprivation, questioning the irreversibility of damage.
- Rutter (1972) distinguished deprivation (loss of a caregiver) from privation (never forming an attachment), arguing severe long-term effects stem from privation, not deprivation.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Monotropic Theory — Bowlby's idea explaining why and how attachments form between infants and caregivers.
- Maternal Deprivation Theory — Bowlby's theory on the effects of broken or lost attachment with a primary caregiver after attachment has formed.
- Deprivation — The loss of an already formed attachment.
- Privation — The failure to ever form an attachment.
- Affectionless Psychopathy — Lack of empathy or guilt, originally linked by Bowlby to maternal deprivation.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the differences between monotropic theory and maternal deprivation theory.
- Study contemporary research and criticisms related to Bowlby's work.
- Prepare for the next topic: the impact of institutional upbringing in Romanian orphans.