The Czech Twins

By Sporty, Scary and Posh

Who are the Czech twins?

The Czech twins were born in 1960. Their mother died shortly after giving birth, and they spent the next year being cared for by a social agency and another 6 months after that in the care of their aunt.

They were sent to live with their father (low intelligence) after he remarried. Their new stepmother banished them to the cellar, where they lived in isolation for the next 5 ½ years until they were discovered.

How did privation occur?

Their father was away as a result of his job and so they were unable to form an attachment with him as well.

The twins were unable to form an attachment with their mother as she died soon after their birth.

Their mother was very cruel, she didn’t show them any kind of love, and beat them

Effects of Privation

• Dwarfed in stature

• communicated mostly in gestures and had no spontaneous speech

• Suffering from rickets

• Did not understand the meaning of pictures

• Play was rudimentary and primitive

• They were ‘touch hungry’ from adults

What do you think the Long term effects of privation were?

They developed normally showing no signs of psychological abnormality when they were assessed at age 14

They developed normal relationships, both got married and had children. Both were entirely stable lacking abnormality.

From a state of profound disability they caught up with their peers and achieved intellectual and emotional normality- and by the age of 20 they had above normal intelligence

They had warm loving relationships with their foster family

Evaluative points • Koluchová’s study of the twins was ethical because he kept

their names and identity anonymous – it’s even impossible to find photos of them

• The twins may have not suffered long-term effects because they had each other – is it even a case of privation if they may have attached to each other?

• The fact that they were well looked after for the first year and a half may also explain why they were more resilient to the isolation later on, compared to cases of isolation such as Genie

• As it’s a case study, the results cannot be generalised as the results are unique to the twins

Against Privation• According to Rutter (1981), privation will result in a

type of personality that shows an inability to form relationships, a lack of guilt and antisocial behavior such as delinquency. However the Czech twins developed into normal, well adjusted adults.

•Harlow and Harlow found that monkeys isolated from their mothers but reared with peers were reasonably well adjusted

•Contradicts Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis

Support for Privation

Koluchova’s study of the twins did support the Privation Theory as immediately after they were ‘discovered’ they were “dwarfed in stature, suffering from rickets, a bone condition caused by a lack of Vitamin D, were unable to speak and did not understand the meaning of pictures” therefore, an IQ test was not even possible. At age seven, they were described as being at the stage of 3 year olds and it was predicted that they would never fully recover. When they were removed from their parents they had to be sent to a school for children with severe learning disabilities.

QuizQuestion 1

How old were the Czech twins when they were found?

7 years

3 and ½ years

14 years

Question 2

Why were they unable to form an attachment with their father?

He was away working

He was a drug addict

He ignored and didn’t interact with them

Question 3

What happened when the Czech twins were separated from their parents?

They went into a social agency until 18

They were legally adopted by a dedicated women

Were adopted numerous times but eventually adopted by an aunt

Question 4

What did the twins suffer from when they were found?

Scurvy, increased aggression

Delinquency, affectionless psychopathy

Rickets, dwarfed, lacked speech

Question 5

What psychologist studied the Czech twins?

Koluchova (1972, 1991)

Rutter (1981)

Bowlby (1949)

Winner Winner

Wrong!!!

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5