Failure to form an attachment is known as privation, and research suggests that it can have long-lasting effects such as an inability to properly for attachments in adulthood and severe developmental problems. Privation can occur in cases of abuse towards the child, or simply in incidents where the child has no chance to form an attachment to a parental figure. Privation was researched through the use of the case study of Genie, a girl who was locked in a room by her father and stepmother until age 13 and a half. This lead to her not learning to respond properly in a social situation, and being unable to speak properly due to the effects of the punishment she received whenever she spoke. Psychologists have attributed this to the fact that the privation prevented her from forming an attachment or learning any language skills during the critical period of her life, up to two and a half years of age.
Outline and evaluate research into attachment privation Privation is when a child fails to form any attachments. A lot of research has been conducted into attachment privation and the effects caused by this lack of attachment. In 1969, Curtis conducted research into the case of Genie; a girl who suffered extreme cruelty from her father, and never formed any attachments. Her father kept her strapped to a high chair with a potty in a seat for most of her childhood. She was beaten if she made any sounds, and she did not have the chance to play with other toys and children.
Early studies found that 70% were unable to show feelings towards anyone. The children were assessed regularly and some of the children had even left due to adoption or they had been reunited with their families. Hodges and Tizard found that the children who had been reunited with their families were less likely to form attachments with their mothers; however the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents as ‘normal’ children. On the other hand, both groups did have problems with peers as they struggled to make secure friendships. This shows that privation had an effect on the children and had affected their ability to form attachments.
Some of the children remained at the institution while others had left and had to be either adopted or restored to their original families. Restored children were less likely to form attachments but adopted children were attached like normal children. However, both groups of ex institutionalised children had problems with peers. These findings suggest that early privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good emotional care. This supports Bowlby's theory of sensitive period.
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.
During these sessions, the experimenter would tell the child one real event that happened to them, provided by a parent, and one suggested event, provided by the experimenter. The experiment was conducted for one month, and at the end of this month, the experimenter debriefed the child on which suggested story was false, and which was real. In dividing these groups by age, we would essentially like to see if age would play a role in suggestibility, and false memory. False Memory 3 False Memory: The impact of age and suggestibility on children Memory can be, and often is, faulty in many ways. Despite having been mislead or misinformed, people often report experiencing events that they have not experienced.
An example of this is if a child is left in total isolation for a long period of time then they don’t mature both physically or mentally. The famous case psychology case study, Genie, spent nearly all of the first thirteen years of her life locked inside a room. She was not able to interact with her environment, and learn from her surroundings. Because of this she was not able to comprehend simple instruction or interact with other people. Her learning was severely crippled by the lack of stimuli through new and different experiences.
In contrast, a child with an unsecure attachment will be less coherent and have increased anxiety levels. A related study explained by Sroufe, in 1983, suggests that securely attached children were less likely to experience behavioral problems in later life. This is a clear indication that the impact of infant-mother attachment can directly affect later development of the child. Bowlby, (1988) created the Maternal Deprivation Hypotheses to explain the effects of children having their attachment disrupted. This hypothesis suggests that having the attachment removed at an early age can negatively affect the emotional and social development of the infant.
As a result of the fever, she was left blind and deaf. For the first five years of her life, Helen was unable to communicate with anyone. She often failed to communicate with her family and in turn had uncontrollable tantrums which portrayed her as an unruly, out of control child. Her potential was not seen at this point in her life. When Helen was 6 she was awakened to a world of words and concepts through the teaching methods of her tutor, Anne Sullivan.
My older brother is progressively becoming more of a violent and angry person; he was exposed to the domestic abuse of my mother but only until age 2 when I was born (when my mom finally ended the relationship). My younger brothers were not exposed to violence, but their father was never involved and he has never actually met my youngest brother (as he walked out on my mom when she was pregnant). Both my younger brothers seem to struggle with school. The older of the two seems to have a hard time controlling his emotions (specifically anger) yet the youngest seems to do fine with his emotions. I want to know why the absence of a father can be so impactful, what is it that they really have to offer a child during development that a mother cant or doesn’t usually provide?