This essay will describe and evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment and maternal deprivation hypothesis. The essay will describe the two theories‚ weighing up the strengths and the weaknesses. It will include supporting research by Shaffer and Emerson‚ Ainsworth and Harlow‚ along with criticisms by Rutter. John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a child psychiatrist. He was psychoanalytically and medically trained. In 1945‚ after returning from serving in the armed forces medical service‚ he secured a position
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An understanding of my feelings regarding Maternal deprivation Maternal deprivation was a term used by British psychologist John Bowlby. Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation was that any disruption to the continuity of a loving and mutual bond between child and mother/mother figure can be potentially damaging to a child’s emotional‚ intellectual and social development. Bowlby believed that if a bond is broken between child and mother between the crucial period of 6 months and 5 years‚ then
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Maternal Deprivation is a catch- phrase summarizing the work of psychiatrist John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother (or mother substitute) John Bowlbys lifetime work was based around studying childhood through Developmental Psychology. Bowlby believed that there are enormous psychological consequences for a child who has experienced separation from its maternal figure‚ which he concluded in his “Thieves study” Bowlbys theory of monotropy led to the
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In this essay I intend to analyse the attachment theory of well-known British psychiatrist Dr John Bowlby. I will examine both the primary and secondary research behind the theory and look at some of the arguments against it before going on to explore the impact Bowlby’s research has had on the early years setting. Edward John Mostyn Bowlby was born in London on February 26th 1907 to a fairly upper-middle class family. His parents were of the belief that too much parental affection would in fact
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Outline and evaluate research into maternal deprivation. (18 marks) Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis suggests that bond disruption between the infant and caregiver in the early years can have detrimental and irreversible effects on the intellectual‚ social‚ and emotional development of the child. He carried out the study on 44 juvenile thieves (that were transferred to his institution)‚ whom he compared to a group of 44 controls. It was a retrospective study using interviews and questionnaires
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Maternal Deprivation This essay will discuss maternal deprivation and its consequences. Bowlby states that: “A child should receive the continuous care of this single most important attachment figure for approximately the first two years of life.”(Bowlby 1951) Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation to refer to the separation or loss of the mother as well as failure to develop an attachment. The underlying assumption of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis is that continual disruption
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There are many researches studies that look at consequences of maternal deprivation‚ Bowlby believes that maternal deprivation may cause sociological‚ emotionally and psychological problems in the future if the baby is deprived of mother’s care at early years. Bowlby’s theory is based on a research study of 44 young people thieves and 44 young people who were emotionally disturbed‚ the aim of this research was to test maternal deprivation related to delinquency in young people. (Malim‚ et al.1998‚
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Deprivation refers the disruption of attachment that has already been made. Bowlby has conducted a case study of little John whose mother was admitted to the hospital and he showed effect of short term deprivation. He found that he had gone through 3 stages which he called the PDD sequence (Protest‚ Despair and Detachment). At first when he was separated from his mother‚ he showed signs of protest and he was crying‚ shouting and shows signs of desperate attempts to get his mother to return. But after
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Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment (12 marks) Bowlby was an evolutionary Psychologist who believed that attachment is a part of evolutionary behaviour and focus on an animal’s instinctive and innate capabilities‚ and the functions of their behaviour. They believe this is useful for learning about human instinctive and biological behaviour. Attachment behaviour keeps a young animal or human safe. It is behaviour seen in all species of animal. Many species of animal form rapid attachments
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Describe and Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment. An attachment refers to ‘a close two-way emotional relationship between two people. In Child Psychology this focus is on the main care-giver most commonly (but not exclusively) our mothers.’ According to Bowlby‚ children develop an attachment to one main caregiver which is qualitatively different than any others e.g. warm and continuous relationship with mother. This attachment has to occur within the sensitive period (6-24 months) or there could
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