1. What we will cover;
- What are the effects of a loss of lack of
attachment upon a child’s development?
-Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis

2. Physical disruption of the
PC and child bond. If
suitable replacement is
available then it will not
need to have adverse
consequences.
Loss of emotional care
that is provided by the
PC.

3. • To study teenage criminals with affectionless
psychopathy (a lack of normal affection, shame or sense
of responsibility) to see if they are more likely to have had
an early separation.
• Bowlby believed there would be a relationship, based on the
belief that prolonged separation from the PC would have a
negative impact on development.
86%

4. • James and Joyce Robertson conducted
observational studies of children who were
between about 17 months and 3 years, in the
1960’s.
• The children went into hospital or were placed in
residential nurseries, separating them from their
caregivers for periods from a few days up to
several weeks.
• The Robertson's were convinced that separating
babies from their mothers was harmful.
Complete the Case Notes sheet about
John using P13

5. • “Mother love in infancy and
childhood is as important for
mental health as are vitamins and
proteins for physical health.”
(Bowlby, 1953.)
• Breaking the maternal bond with the
child during the early years (critical
period) of its life is likely to have
serious effects on its
intellectual, social and emotional
development.
• Bowlby claimed that many of these
negative effects are permanent and

6. • Michael Rutter (1981) argued that if a child
fails to develop an attachment this is
privation, whereas deprivation refers to the
loss of or damage to an attachment.
• He believed that the lack of attachment
would have more serious consequences
that the loss of attachment.
• Children who have suffered privation do not
show distress when separated from a
familiar figure, which indicates a lack of
attachment.
• Privation may happen in conditions of
abuse, neglect or inadequate parental care.

7. • Effects of privation are more reversible than Bowlby
believed
• The longer the period of privation the harder to
reverse the effects
• Loving relationships and high quality care are
necessary to reverse privation effects
• Research studies in this area suffer from many
problems including:
• Difficulty generalising from single cases or small
samples
• Difficulty separating effects of
privation, abuse, malnutrition, other trauma or
congenital abnormality