What does the research on privation suggest its effects on the child are?

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What does the research on privation suggest its effects on the child are?

The definition of privation is; “the lack of any attachments as distinct from the loss of attachments”.

Some psychologists have assumed that all experiences of deprivation were the same however there are some key differences, and in conclusion Rutter explained the main difference between deprivation and privation was that;

Deprivation occurs when a child has already formed an attachment and is then and is then taken away from them,  In contrast;

Privation occurs when a child has never formed an important attachment.  

Many psychologists have done different research into the effects of privation, some support the idea that children can recover from early privation, others say they can’t.

Bowlby has stated that without an early attachment, a child will never be able to attach later on in life, so you would expect this to have an adverse effect on future relationships.  Bowlby (1964) did a study on juveniles who had been separated from their mothers at an early age and showed that those showing signs of affectionless psychopathy (for example, an inability to experience guilt) were likely to have been caused through privation rather than deprivation.

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Dennis (1960) did a study on Iranian orphans and concluded that there is a critical stage for intellectual development before the age of two.  Children adopted from the orphan after the age of two never gained the same IQ as a normal child whereas children adopted earlier could.  This research supports Bowlby’s theory and would suggest that there is a crucial period in which it is possible to reverse the effects of early privation.  Clarke and Clarke (1976) argued that effects of early privation are more easily reversed than previously thought.  After reviewing Dennis’s research they concluded that, “The ...

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