Cultural Variations

Question 1

What is culture(A01)

Answer 1

Ideas/social behaviour of a society

Question 2

Describe the Israel culture and what type of attachment it causes(A01)

Answer 2

Collectivist culture
Raised in groups
Disorganised attachment type - babies are away from parents but may form an attachment with nannies

Question 3

Describe the German culture and what type of attachment it causes(A01)

Answer 3

Individualistic culture
Ideal baby is independent/non clingy
Insecure avoidant - low separation anxiety

Question 4

Describe Japan’s culture and what type of attachment it causes(A01)

Answer 4

Insecure avoidant
High separation anxiety
Children are rarely separated from their mothers

Question 5

Aim of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study

Answer 5

Investigate cultural variations in attachment

Question 6

Procedure for Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study

Answer 6

Meta analysis of 32 studies that used the strange situation

Studies were carried out in 8 different countries(1990 children in total)

Question 7

Results for Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study

Answer 7

Germany - Lowest secure attachment/highest insecure avoidant attachment
GB - Lowest ambivalent attachment/highest secure attachment(only 1 study used)
Japan - Highest ambivalent attachment/lowest insecure avoidant
US - Average percentage across all types(18 studies used)

Question 8

Who studied an African tribe to look into cultural similarities

Answer 8

Tronick et al
Infants breastfed by different women but slept with the mother at night
At six months, child still showed one primary attachment
Supports secure attachment

Question 9

Who looked into cultural differences using German infants

Answer 9

Grossman - German infants classified as insecurely attached

German infant behaviour may be seen as secure in Germany but insecure avoidant in the US

Question 10

How does the sample size affect Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study(A03)/counter to sample size

Answer 10

1990 babies used
Reduces the chance of anomalies/increases internal validity
Cross cultural research uses tools made for one culture which leads to cultural bias(counter)/decreases internal validity/population validity

Question 11

What else could cause the similarities between cultures other than an innate drive for survival as stated by Bowlby(A03)

Answer 11

Mass media could cause similarities(e.g books/tv)

Suggest similarities are caused by parenting techniques being shared worldwide rather than innate biological influences

Question 12

What does Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg using a different number of studies for each country lead to(A03)

Answer 12

Higher chance of anomalous/incorrect data
Data is more accurate for countries with more studies
Decreases internal validity/credibility

Question 13

Issues and debates for cultural variations(A03)

Answer 13

Culturally biased
Strange situation created using 106 American babies
Lacks generalisability/decreases population validity