Critically evaluate evidence that maternal deprivation in infancy has long-term effects on human social and emotional development in an essay of 1,000 words.
When considering the question, of whether maternal deprivation in infancy has long-term effects on human social and emotional development, we have to first understand what social and emotional development is, and the psychological approaches which study these aspects.
Psychosocial psychology, studies how a persons thoughts, emotions and behaviours evolve in response to their social environment. When looking at social development, we are specifically studying how children develop attachments and how they communicate and interact, within and around these attachments.
Attachment can be …show more content…
He looked at a study by Goldfarb (1943), of children raised in an institution compared to children raised in foster care, this study found that the former suffered from lower IQs, lower performance in abstract thinking and social difficulties (AQA Psychology for AS,2008, pp45). These children had long term cognitive, emotional and social effects, however, this does not reflect maternal deprivation as such, as the children were socially isolated and most likely suffered privation – a failure to form an attachment – it also needs to be noted that there may have been other factors, for example the foster children might have been exposed to more educational materials. Other studies also reflected similar results, Spitz (1945, 1946) found that babies who were socially isolated demonstated 'anaclitic depression ', Bowlby did a retrospective study of 44 juvenile thieves which found a correlation between delinquency and separation; and between affectionless psychopathy and crime. However, the problem with this is that these correlations may be, for example, down to being from a poorer …show more content…
Clarke and Clarke reviewed many such cases, of which they said “Some researchers, including ourselves, have suggested that different processes may show different degrees of vulnerability to adversity, with cognitive the best buffered and emotional the least. However, in some of the studies reviewed, both aspects had been overwhelmed by the severity of problems yet both showed ultimate recovery” (Clarke,A & Clarke,A.1998). Similarly Rutter et al. carried out a mass study into maternal deprivation and found a link between troubled relationships and social problems, they found no evidence of separation causing issues within a supportive family, although this is strong evidence, it only shows a
When considering the question, of whether maternal deprivation in infancy has long-term effects on human social and emotional development, we have to first understand what social and emotional development is, and the psychological approaches which study these aspects.
Psychosocial psychology, studies how a persons thoughts, emotions and behaviours evolve in response to their social environment. When looking at social development, we are specifically studying how children develop attachments and how they communicate and interact, within and around these attachments.
Attachment can be …show more content…
He looked at a study by Goldfarb (1943), of children raised in an institution compared to children raised in foster care, this study found that the former suffered from lower IQs, lower performance in abstract thinking and social difficulties (AQA Psychology for AS,2008, pp45). These children had long term cognitive, emotional and social effects, however, this does not reflect maternal deprivation as such, as the children were socially isolated and most likely suffered privation – a failure to form an attachment – it also needs to be noted that there may have been other factors, for example the foster children might have been exposed to more educational materials. Other studies also reflected similar results, Spitz (1945, 1946) found that babies who were socially isolated demonstated 'anaclitic depression ', Bowlby did a retrospective study of 44 juvenile thieves which found a correlation between delinquency and separation; and between affectionless psychopathy and crime. However, the problem with this is that these correlations may be, for example, down to being from a poorer …show more content…
Clarke and Clarke reviewed many such cases, of which they said “Some researchers, including ourselves, have suggested that different processes may show different degrees of vulnerability to adversity, with cognitive the best buffered and emotional the least. However, in some of the studies reviewed, both aspects had been overwhelmed by the severity of problems yet both showed ultimate recovery” (Clarke,A & Clarke,A.1998). Similarly Rutter et al. carried out a mass study into maternal deprivation and found a link between troubled relationships and social problems, they found no evidence of separation causing issues within a supportive family, although this is strong evidence, it only shows a