Outline and Evaluate Research Into Privation

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Outline and Evaluate Research into Privation (12) Bowlby’s theory of attachment led him to believe that there was a critical period for attachment formation. If a separation occurs between mother and infant within the first few years of the child’s life, the bond would be irreversibly broken, leading to severe emotional consequences for the infant in later life. He referred to this disruption of the bond with the mother as maternal deprivation. A study that supports this is Genie, Bowlby saw that separation experiences in infancy and early childhood were the cause of affectionless psychopathy and delinquency, Rutter has argued that these are more likely the results of deprivation. Hodges and Tizard used a longitudinal approach to study, the effects of early experiences and later development. They found that children who were raise in an institution during the sensitive period were unlikely to develop an attachment even when restored to their biological parents. The Czech twins (Koluchovia 1976) were detained in a basement by their stepmother until the age of seven. Although they were severely affected they had normal social and intellectual capability by the age of fourteen, and at the age of twenty they were above average intelligence. A weakness in Hodges and Tizard study is that the parents may not have invested the same time emotionally. The biological parent in Hodges and Tizard sample may not have been as interested in their children which are why they were less attached. Although the Czech twins suffered from privation this did demonstrate that a person without a bond could then go on a function adequately in society. Rutter’s study showed that recovery from extreme privation can be achieved given adequate care, although adoption, within the age of two, was still within Bowlby’s sensitive period. The longer the period of privation the harder to
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