4. Romanian Orphan Studies

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we look at studies on attachment that were conducted with Romanian orphans in the 1990s and early 2000s, focusing in particular on: (i) the historical context of these studies; (ii) how the disastrous family policies of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu led to a national crisis in which many poverty-stricken families were forced to abandon their children and put them into orphanages; (iii) the poor living conditions and lack of care provided inside the orphanages; (iv) two studies on the psychological effects of institutionalisation on these children being Rutter (1998) and Zeanah et al. (2005); (v) the fact that both found that institutionalisation had a profound effect on the development of children and their ability to form secure attachment relationships.

Course

In this course, Dr Emily Burdett (University of Nottingham) explores psychological theories of attachment as the close emotional bond formed between two individuals. In the first lecture, we think about John Bowlby’s research into the mother-infant relationship. In the second lecture, we explore two studies of attachment in non-human animals by Harry Harlow and Konrad Lorenz. In the third lecture, we think about Mary Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’ experiment as a way of measuring the quality of attachment between an infant and a caregiver. Next, we look at two Romanian orphan studies and think about how the lack of strong attachment relationships in early life affects a child’s later development. In the fifth and final lecture, we consider the influence of early attachment on later relationships, including with a romantic partner and as a parent.

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.