Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis (MDH)

Bowlby stated that for a child to develop into a healthy adult, they require not only good quality physical care but also continuous emotional care from the attachment figure.  He claimed that if the attachment is broken, or does not develop, during the first two and a half years (known as the critical period) long-term, irreversible consequences will occur.  

The effects include: 

• Delinquency and increased aggressiveness (social development)
• Reduced intelligence (cognitive development)
• Depression (psychological development)  
• Affectionless psychopathy (emotional / psychological development)

Supportive research - use the links below to develop your knowledge and understanding of key evaluation points:

Bowlby's 44 thieves study 

The case of John by the Robertson's

Skeel and Dye - Orphan's and IQ levels

Criticisms - 

Bowlby's TB research

Critics such as Rutter have accused Bowlby of not distinguishing between deprivation and privation – the complete lack of an attachment bond, rather than its loss. Rutter stresses that the quality of the attachment bond is the most important factor, rather than just deprivation in the critical period.

Rutter also stated that much of the supportive research only showed a correlation and not cause and effect.  For example, the 44 Thieves Study insinuates that affectionless psychopathy was caused by maternal deprivation. However, this was correlational data and as such only shows a relationship between these two variables. Indeed, other external variables, such as diet, parental income, education etc. may have affected the behaviour of the 44 thieves, and not, as concluded, the disruption of the attachment bond.

Use this information to answer the following essay question:

Outline and evaluate Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis (12 marks)

Cultural Variations in Attachment Type

Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)

Meta-analysis of results of the Strange Situation in different countries.

Findings (data):

Cultural group	No. of studies	No. of mother-infant pairs	% Attachment Type
			Insecure-Avoidant	Secure	Insecure- Resistant
Germany	3	136	35	57	8
Great Britain	1	72	22	75	3
Netherlands	4	251	26	67	6
Sweden	1	51	22	75	4
Israel	2	118	7	64	29
Japan	2	96	5	68	27
China	1	25	25	60	25
USA	18	1230	21	65	14
TOTAL	32	1990

1.     Describe two cross-cultural differences evident in the above table.

2.  Read the following criticisms.  Sort them into positive and negative. 

•     There are ethical issues in the Strange Situation anyway, because it stresses the children.  However, when used cross-culturally there are even more ethical issues because children in some cultures will be much more highly stressed than the Western children for whom the technique was originally developed, e.g. Japanese children who never normally leave their mothers, and Israeli children who never normally meet strangers. 
•     Some of the samples were very small.  For instance, only one study in the UK, Sweden and China.  To base a judgement about attachment types of a whole nation of children on one study may result in biased conclusions, as the sample used might not be representative of the whole population.
•     As the studies were based on the Strange Situation technique, so long as the different researchers carried out the technique exactly as it was first designed they should all have controlled variables etc. in the same way, meaning that the different researchers’ findings could be compared.
•     It was not a truly cross-cultural study, because although many countries were studied, they were mostly Individualistic cultures.  Hardly any research was done on Collectivist cultures.  This means the aim of the study was not achieved.

 3.  Use all of the above information to answer this essay question:

Outline and evaluate research into cross-cultural variations in attachment (12 marks)

Types of Attachment

Mary Ainsworth - The Strange Situation  

Ainsworth developed an observational technique to establish the type of attachment an infant had with their mother.  Attachment type was identified through the observation of the infants behaviour when put through series of events.  Ainsworth observed the following behaviour: Stranger anxiety, Separation anxiety, Reunion behaviour and Willingness to explore the environment.  Mary Ainsworth identified three key attachment types - Secure, Insecure Avoidant and Insecure Resistant.  

Read through the study in more detail:  Mary Ainsworth - The Strange Situation

Evaluation of the Strange Situation Reliability of the 'Strange Situation' was demonstrated by Main, Kaplan and Cassidy (1985): They tested babies at 18 months and then retested them at 6 years of age.  They found that 100% of the secure babies were still classified as secure and 75% of the avoidant babies were still under the same classification.   This is called test-retest reliability and checks for consistency over time.  Ainsworth herself also tested inter-rater reliability (the extent to which different observers score a behaviour in a similar way).  This was also found to be very high. Validity of the 'Strange Situation.'  Some have argued that the strange situation only measures the relationship between the child and one other person (usually the mother) so rather than measuring attachment type it is simple measuring relationship. Main and Weston (1981) found that children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with.  This suggests that attachment type is not consistent.   The infant might be classified as insecure when assessed with the mother, but might be securely attached to the father.  The Multiple Caregiver Paradox must be taken into account. Other issues with the strange situation The study aims to distress the infant.  This is arguably unethical! The strange situation also seems to exaggerate behaviours.  Children over-react when placed in the strange situation so do not behave as they would normally in the real world.  Therefore the study lacks ecological validity. Finally Ainsworth is criticised for over-simplification in her belief that children can be categorised into only three groups.  Other studies have suggested that there big individual differences between children within in attachment group.  The test was devised by Ainsworth in the USA using American children.  The test is therefore culturally biased.  Desirable attachments in the USA may not be seen as desirable elsewhere.  Nevertheless the test has been used worldwide and used to judge infants in other cultures.  This is an example of imposed etic when we create a theory, test or construct in one culture (usually Western) and impose it on the rest of the world!  Explaining the different attachment types Sensitive responsiveness Ainsworth herself believed that the kind of attachment the child develops is due entirely to the mother.  Secure children have mothers who respond appropriately to the child’s needs by picking up on the signals.  Insecure children on the other hand have mothers that are less responsive and the attachments they develop are coping strategies that enable them to deal with this lack of response.  Temperament hypothesis.  Perhaps the reason for a relationship between early attachment and later relationships has nothing to do with the type of attachment formed.  Kagan (1984) believed it was all down to the temperament of the child.  Those who are naturally good at forming relationships do so early in life and form close relationships with parents and this is true later in life as well; because of their pleasant temperament they are more popular with people in later life too.  Thomas and Chess (1977) thought that children were born with a certain personality type and suggested three main categories; Easy: eat and sleep regularly and accept new experiences (under 50%) Difficult: eat and sleeping a problem, as is accepting anything new or different (10%) Slow to warm up: Take a while to get new to new experiences (15%) Easy babies go on to form secure attachments.  Slow to warm up babies require a lot more encouragement so will only form secure attachments with patient mothers.  Belsky and Rovine (1987) found that babies in the first few days of life have certain physiological characteristics that seemed to match later attachment styles.  Calmer and less anxious children at this age were more likely to develop secure attachments a few months later.

Information adapted from:
http://psychology4a.com/attach%206.htm
Thank you!
 

                   

Theories of Attachments

Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space(Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969).

The Learning Theory of Attachment (a.k.a. Cupboard love theory)

• Dollard and Miller 
• Attachments are learned through a process of classical and operant conditioning.
• The infant will attach to the key caregiver who provides food.
• The infant attachs to the caregiver through a process of classical conditioning (association)
• Milk (US) = Happiness (UC) / Milk (US) + Caregiver (CS) = Happiness (UC) / Caregiver (CS) = Happiness (CR)
• The caregiver attaches to the infant through a process of negative reinforcement (operant conditioning)
• Infant crying (Unpleasant) - Feed baby = Baby stops crying (Removing unpleasant feeling).  Behaviour will be repeated.

Evaluation - Is food needed to create an attachment?

Harlow's research with rhesus monkey's proves comfort, not food is key to attachment!  Watch the video - Harlow's rhesus monkey's research

In the Glasgow babies study (Schaffer and Emerson): 39% of the babies formed their first attachment with someone other than the person who fed them (e.g. grandparent).  This would suggest that food is not the main requirement for forming attachments as the behaviourists suggest.

It is seen as a reductionist viewpoint because it does not consider any internal processes (e.g. Instinctual drive - Bowlby) or seek to explain the emotional nature of attachments.


Bowlby's Monotropic theory of Attachment  

• Every baby has an instinctual drive to seek attachment in order to survive.
• Attachment is adaptive, as it aids survival and reproduction.
• The baby acts in a social way, to encourage attachment (e.g. stopping crying when picked up, gurgling, etc).  Babies also look cute! 
• There is a critical period in which attachment need to be formed - 0 - 2 1/2 years old
• There is also a sensitive period - The fourth and six month of life is the most important for attachment development.
• The biological mother also has an instinctual drive to attach to the baby (to keep her gene pool going).
• The attachment with the biological mother is known as Monotropy - This attachment will be superior to all others.

Evaluation - 

Support:

Lorenz research on imprinting shows that geese are born with an instinctual drive to attach to the first living thing they see, in order to ensure survival.  There is a critical period of a few hours in which this attachment must be formed.  it is possible that humans also have such an instinctual drive.  Watch this video:

Lorenz

Bowlby (1969) claimed that there was a hierarchy of attachments, with a primary caregiver, usually the mother at the top.  The Efe, an African tribe, share the care of their children so that women in the village breast feed each another’s children.  However, the infants still go on to form their primary attachment with their biological mother.

Criticisms:

Kegan - The Temperament Hypothesis.   Some babies are born with a difficult temperament.  Such a difficult temperament would not encourage attachment to take place!

Schaffer and Emerson's research shows that by the age of 18 months, most infants have multiple attachments and that their key attachment is not with the mother, but the person who stimulates them the most!

Read more about theories of attachment at the following website
Link to attachments document - click on Explanations of attachment