Developmental

Psychology
Discuss potential effects of deprivation or
trauma in childhood on later development
6.2
 deprivation or trauma in
childhood
O Can you give any examples?
Examples of deprivation or
trauma in childhood
O Deprivation: neglect of basic needs
(physical, emotional, social), poverty,
institutionalisation, parental problems

O Trauma: severe shock or experience

(divorce, death of a parent, physical or
sexual abuse, war, natural disasters)
Deprivation can also be traumatizing.
Feral child "raised by dogs”

O Malaya was born in Ukrainian and probably

suffered from a developmental disorder. She
was neglected by her alcoholic parents at an
early age.

O As a toddler, Malaya was allegedly left outside by

her parents. She crawled into the kennel of her
parents' semi-stray dogs where she stayed. This
led to her developing many dog-like behaviours
such as barking and sniffing things, which
stunted her abilities in language, normal human
social and emotional skills.
O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93HymGXC_
wM
 Another example of deprivation: famous and
controversial
O Harry Frederick Harlow (1905- 1981) was an
American psychologist best known for his
maternal-separation, dependency needs, and
social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys,
which demonstrated the importance of care-
giving and companionship in social and cognitive
development.
O Harlow's experiments were controversial; they
included rearing infant macaques in isolation
chambers for up to 24 months, from which they
emerged severely disturb
O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O60TYAIgC
4
 Resilience
O Some children are resilient
O Reslience refers to the ability to recover or
bounce back from stressful events
O Why do some children manage and some
develop psychopathalogy or become
criminals?
Potential effects of deprivation in childhood on
later development

O Rutter et al. 2001 conducted a longidudinal

study on a group of Romanian children from
an institution who were adopted into the UK
O They compared them to children who were
raised in UK institutions then adopted.
 Results
O Rutter found that there were significant
differences in three areas:
O 1. Romanian children had attachment
problems (go with stranger)
O Difference in overactivity and cognitive
impairment
O Romanien children showed near autistic
features
O The age of adoption was important, the older the
more problems
O Normally functioning by the age of six
O Negative life event such as physical and sexual
abuse have been assoicated with a wide range
of psychiatric disorders.
O Rutter’s findings show that it is possible to
recover from a deprived childhood.
O The degree of resilience in some children was
remarkle
 Koluchova 1971, 1991
O Read the case study on p. 202 and answer
the two questions
One potential effect of trauma:
PTSD
O Remember the LO from the biological level
of analysis that could be used here as well?

O Also info from the option: abnormal

psychology can be used
 Summary
O Deprivation and trauma can effect a child’s
development (in line with Bowlby’s theory – how the
caregiver acts) Rutter et al., Carion et al., Bremner et
al. 2003, Olweus, Kidscape (human relationships)

O However, research shows that a lot of children will

recover (it is not fixed), Koluchova, Rutter et al.
O Although, even children who are exposed to
deprivation may eventually develop normally
(resilience)
O Can also use: Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972) Brain
Plasticity