The first theory Bowlby’s maternal deprivation relates to Matthew as he is the oldest of four children and his father left when he was only seven, since then he has lived with his mother and has been the only male in the house. In studies using the strange situation Bowlby found that infants maybe securely attached to one parent but not the other or in securely attached to both. Bowlby also agrees that man are capable of providing adequate parenting and becoming attachment figures for there young children, and the ‘mother does not even have to be female’.
Bowlby’s separation theory relates to Matthew as his parents divorced when he was seven and since then he has had no contact with him. Bowlby calls separation anxiety, namely the fear tat separation will occur again in the future. This can result in aggressive behaviour and greater demands towards the mother, which has been shown by Matthew in the case study. It’s also shown that the consequences of divorce are more serious and damaging then those following the death of a father. Which is why children who commonly experiencing parental divorce show separation anxiety, and they may begin to question the security of their remaining relationship, since if the father can leave, why not the mother too?
Children usually deeply resent their parents separation and may retain fantasies of reunion for many years to come. They experience separation as a course that has been chosen by the parents in the knowledge that they do not want it. This especially applies to Matthew as he resents he mother for his father leaving. This makes children feel powerless, disregarded and angry. Where as Matthew has become very aggressive towards his mother because of his father leaving. Divorce has a far greater negative effect on the child’s school work then the death of a parent. As a result of these factors, the relationship between the child and the custodial parent is bound to suffer. Mothers become more authoritarian, increasing the number of demands and restrictions and becoming less affectionate. The children (especially boys) become more aggressive and inflexible.
Berkowits aggression relates to Matthew as he has show violence towards his mother, which his father display to his mother in front of him before he left. Berkowits describes aggression as ‘behaviour which is physical or symbolic, that is carried out with the intention to harm someone’. He reserves the term violence for an extreme form of aggression, a deliberate attempt to do serious injury. Freud sees aggression as instinctive, with aggression energy needing to be released regularly if it is not to built up to dangerous levels. The frustration-aggression hypothesis see instinctive and learned reactions as involved, while the social learning approach deindividuation emphasize cognitive aspects of learning from others behaviour and the influence of others on the individual behaviour respectively.
Berkowits aggressive-cue theory is bases on the fact that aggressive or violent behaviour is at least partly a reaction to specific features of the surrounding situation which ‘pull out’ responses that heighten the strength of the behaviour. This happens when the aggressive meaning for the aggressor and or when they some how remind the aggressor of decidedly unpleasant experiences; this is the aggressive-cue theory. This theory will relate to Matthew as when he’s reminded of his fathers aggressive behaviour towards his mother he then becomes aggressive himself and uses violence in the same way as his father.
E3.B Describe your chosen research technique, methods and sample size. I have decided to carry out the research out in Matthews’s school, where I will observe his class and him too find out how much the theory’s relate to Matthew in his behaviour shown in class towards other students and his teacher. I will do this by first observing Matthew for roughly ten minutes, I will then randomly choose three other students to observe for the same amount of time, while doing this I will record types of behaviour shown in the class. After I have finished observing them I will issue a questionnaire to the students observed using a quantative methodology asking questions abut their family situation e.g are their parents separated/ do they have any brother or sisters?
Once I have finished the research I will compare what I found when observing and join this with the questionnaires to relate to the theory’s and question how far I agree with these from the findings of the research. To find this out I will try to answer these questions when comparing the research findings with the theories. 1. Can long term separation of parents cause a child to show aggressive behaviour? 2. Does divorce have a negative effect on the school work? 3. Is aggressive behaviour a reaction to specific features of the surrounding situation which ‘pull out’ responses that heighten of the behaviour? 4. With out the love of both parents, children grow up with a sense of insecurity and lack confidence, also finding it harder to form relationships with others?