Developmental Psychology

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Developmental Psychology
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How important is early life experience?

• What do we mean by early life experience?
• What experiences do YOU think might be important?

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Attachment theory

• The theory
• That emotional deprivation in young children may
  have serious and long lasting effects

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Attachment theory

• The evidence
• Spitz wolf (1946) children who were
  hospitalised for more than three months suffered
  depression from which they did not recover

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Attachment theory

• The evidence
• Skodak Skeels (1949)
• Children who lived in institutions were
  cognitively retarded, BUT if they received extra
  adult attention their intellectual capacity
  improved

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Attachment theory

• John Bowlby (WHO 1946)
• The maternal deprivation hypothesis
• That children who are deprived of maternal care
  during the critical phase of their development
  will suffer irreversible damage
• (Affectionless psychopathy)

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Attachment Theory

• How might researchers test this theory?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The method
• A longitudinal study
• (Advantages disadvantages?)

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The participants
• Children aged 16
• Who had been placed in an institution when they
  were less than 4 months old

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The institution
• Had a policy which insisted that carers did not
  form attachments to the children
• Before the age of 4 the children had, on average,
  had 50 carers

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The participant groups
• Adopted by the age of 4
• Restored to their biological parents
• Adopted

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The control groups
• Control group 1, matched for age, sex, position
  in the family, one or two parent family,
  occupation of main breadwinner, with the sample
  children
• Control group 2, a same age sex school friend

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• How was the data collected?
• Interview with participant
• Interview with mother and/or father
• Self report self difficulties questionnaire
• Questionnaire to teachers about relationships
  with peers and teachers
• The Rutter B scale screening for psychiatric
  problems

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Relationship within the family

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Closeness

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Who would they turn to?

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Peer relationships

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings
• Relationships with family
• Adopted group- as closely attached as control
  group

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings
• Relationships with family
• Restored group- LESS likely to be closely
  attached, LESS cuddly harder to give affection
  to
• LESS involved with family

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings
• PEER relationships, BOTH groups
• Less likely to have a special friend
• Less likely to be part of a crowd
• Less popular with others
• MORE quarrelsome,
• MORE likely to be bullies

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings
• Other adults (non- family)
• BOTH groups - MORE attention seeking
• RESTORED - more aggressive

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings in brief
• ALL the ex-institutional children
• Were more adult orientated
• Less likely to have a special friend
• Less likely to turn to peers for support

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The findings in brief
• But
• Within the family the adopted group and the
  controls were the most similar

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The independent variable (IV)
• The group of the participant
• Ex-institutional (ADOPTED OR RESTORED)
• Matched control
• School comparison

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• The dependent variable (DV)
• The responses to the questionnaires and
  assessments
• Re
• Relationships with family, peers and teachers

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There are FIVE possible explanations
• 1st explanation
• Class related - the adopted families were more
  middle class (better off financially) than the
  families of the restored children

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There are FIVE possible explanations
• 2nd explanation
• Did the adopted children suffer from poor self
  esteem, as a result of being adopted, which
  affects outside relationships?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There are FIVE possible explanations.
• 3rd explanation.
• The adoptive parents put MORE effort into the
  relationship explains why adopted children had
  good relationships with parents but not with
  peers.

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There are FIVE possible explanations
• 4th explanation
• That the ability to form affectionate
  relationships with peers IS affected by early
  life emotional deprivation. Thus adopted
  children able to recover the family relationships
  but NOT with peers

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There are FIVE possible explanations
• 5th explanation
• That ex-institutional children LAG BEHIND the
  controls (normals) in emotional development, and
  that they may catch up later

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• There is another explanation not put forward by
  Hodges Tizard
• That the parents of the restored children felt
  guilty because their children had been
  institutionalised, and that the restored children
  were resentful at having been institutionalised
  while their siblings had not been

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• Question
• Is the data collected
• Quantitative
• Or
• Qualitative
• Explain why?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• Question
• What are the ethical issues in this study?
• Confidentiality?
• Informed consent?
• Anything else?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• Question
• Does this study have ecological validity?
• Any demand characteristics?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• Question
• Was the sample biased in any way?
• Think about how children might be selected for
  adoption?
• To whom can we generalise the findings?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• Was this study useful in any way?
• Hospitalisation of children?
• Homes or foster care?
• Adoption or institutionalisation?
• IS the state a good parent?

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Hodges Tizard (1989)

• If children are emotionally deprived in the
  early years
• What might reverse the effects?