Cultural Variations in Attachment Flashcards
(16 cards)
What are cultural variations
Ways that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour.
What is a meta analysis
Process of combining results from several studies with the same research questions or methods.
The meta-analysis may discuss the findings and conclusions from several studies on a particular topic to provide an overall view
What was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
To investigate the types of attachment across cultures and to see if attachment types (secure and insecure)
are universa or culture bound
What was the method of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
The researchers located 32 studies conducted in 8 countries of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types.
Sample consisted of 1,990 children. The data from these studies were meta-analysed =s)
What were the results of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
- In all countries, secure attachment was the most common
- For secure attachment type, Great Britain was highest (75%) and China was lowest (50%).
- For insecure-resistant attachment type; Israel was highest (29%) and Great Britain was lowest (3%).
- For insecure-avoidant attachment type; Germany was highest (35%) and Japan was lowest (5%).
The variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures.
What was the conclusion of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
- The cross-cultural similarities (demonstrated by secure attachment being the most common universally), suggests that many aspects of attachment are innate.
- The cross-cultural differences (demonstrated by the fact that not all babies globally are securely attached), suggests that some aspects of attachment are influenced by culturally specific child-rearing
practices.
What was the aim of Takahashi study
To investigate the validity of using the Strange Situation to study cultural variations in attachment
What was the method of Takahashi study
: Takahashi replicated Ainsworth’s Strange Situation in Japan and China.
What were the results of Takahashi study
Found a greater incidence of insecure-resistant attachment type compared to western cultures.
What was the conclusion of Takahashi study
the test of attachment type did not have the same meaning for the Japanese children as it did
for the original Americans
- Japanese mothers practically never leave their infants alone, thus they found the procedure of The Strange Situation extremely distressing
- This may lead to them being incorrectly categorised as insecure resistant when they are in fact securely attached to their primary attachment figure.
What are the strengths of cultural variations in attachment
Indigenous researchers
Large sample size
What are the limitations of cultural variations in attachment?
Unrepresentative sample
Imposed etic
Evaluate Indigenous researchers as a strength Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
P: Most of the studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists.
E: For example, they included research from a German team and Takahashi who is Japanese. This means that many potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided e.g., misunderstandings of the language used by participants, having difficulty communicating instructions to them or bias because of nation’s stereotypes.
E: Strength because there is a high chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully, which increases the validity of the data collected about cultural variations in attachment.
Evaluate large sample size as a strength Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
P: Has a very large sample size and so has high population validity.
E: Their sample consisted of 1,990 babies and their attachment figures.
E: This large sample increases the internal validity of the findings because it reduces the impact of biased
methodology or unusual participants over the meta-analysis.
Evaluate unrepresentative sample as a limitation Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study
P: Samples they used may not be representative of the attachment type typical in any given country.
E: As the samples from each country were so small, they could not take account of sub-cultures such as social class, ethnicity, culture, or religion.
Within any country there are many sub-cultures, each of which may have different child-rearing practices.
E: Limitation because the findings of their meta-analysis relating to the attachment type typical in any given country may not apply to all groups within that country. This means that the findings of this meta-analysis may have low external validity.
Evaluate Imposed etic as a limitation of cross-cultural research
P: Trying to impose a test designed for one context to another context.
E: Cross-cultural psychology includes the ideas of emic (cultural uniqueness) and etic (cross cultural universality).
Imposed etic occurs when we impose an idea or technique that works in one cultural context to another. For
example, in Britain and the USA, lack of affection on reunion in the Strange Situation may indicate an avoidant
attachment. However, in Germany this behaviour is likely to be interpreted as independence rather than
insecurity. Therefore, this part of the Strange Situation may not work in Germany.
E: Limitation because it means that behaviours measured by the Strange Situation may not have the same meanings in different cultural contexts and comparing them across cultures is meaningless and any conclusions drawn will not be valid.
