Privation

Failure to form attachments

Privation

Definition:

Occurs when a child has never formed an attachment bond.

Usually as a result of

complete lack of emotional care of the child – during

the first few years

Can cause permanent damage to

emotional and social

development

Hodges & Tizard (1989)

Aim –

Investigate whether a lack of emotional care had permanent and irreversible effects to emotional and social development

Hodges & Tizard (1989) – procedure

Interviews in an institution

Interviewed children, parents and teachers regarding attitudes and behaviour

The institution had a high turnover of staff (why would they do this?)

65 children who were institutionalised before 4 months

Interviews were compared with a control group (who might their control group be?)

Hodges & Tizard (1989)

Findings –

• Children exhibited unusual attachment

behaviours – demanding of adult attention

By the age of 2

• Children did not have any deep relationships, were much more attention-seeking

At the age of 4

• Less likely to have a special friend or be part of a social group

• More likely to be quarrelsome and bullies At 16

Hodges & Tizard (1989)

What conclusions can be drawn from Hodges &

Tizard’s research?

There is evidence that early institutionalisation can cause permanent

damage

Evaluation – A02

1. Genie

2. Attrition

3. Contradictory Evidence

Positive Evaluation - Genie

This is positive at it demonstrates

Hodges and Tizard’s findings that privation has irreversible effects

However...

Genie was locked in her room by her father until she was 13 ½ because he thought she was retarded. When she was found she was

severely physically underdeveloped and couldn’t stand or talk. Genie never fully recovered socially or learned to speak

Negative Evaluation - Attrition

This is a weakness because it would result

in sample bias, specifically as it is usually the most troubled participants who drop out.

Hodges and Tizard’s study was longitudinal meaning that people are

very likely to drop out – resulting in a reduction in the sample

Negative Evaluation – Czech twins

This is a weakness because it demonstrates that the effects of privation are reversible

However...

The Czech twins were locked up for 7 years by their stepmother and couldn’t talk when first discovered.

They were subsequently looked after by 2 loving sisters and by 14 they had near normal intellectual

and social functioning. By 20 they were above average intelligence and had excellent relationships

with members of their foster family