John Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about John Bowlby’s research on attachment, focusing in particular on: (i) the definition of ‘attachment’ and ‘attachment theory’ according to Bowlby; (ii) the origins of Bowlby’s special interest in the mother-infant relationship in his 44 Juvenile Thieves study; (iii) some key aspects of Bowlby’s attachment theory, including its basis in evolutionary theory, the concept of monotropy and the internal working model; (iv) some criticisms of Bowlby’s research, such as its narrow focus on the infant’s relationship with the mother and its cultural specificity.

About the lecturer

Dr Emily Burdett is interested in how culture and cognition influence our understanding of the world around us. Her research has particularly explored the cognitive and social processes that influence the evolution of 'culture.' Her work uses an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and experimental approach to explore questions about how children and adults form concepts, how they learn and who they learn from, and when they innovate and become creative. These questions motivate current projects exploring the origin and transmission of culture, the cultural and cognitive underpinnings of religion and morality, and the motivations for learning and creativity.