Cultural variations in attachment Flashcards
(26 cards)
What are cultural variations?
Differences between western (individualistic) and non-western (collectivist) cultures and why their attachment styles might differ
The culture in which people live and in which they develop…
conntributes to individual differences
Culture refers to things that make our society…
what it is
What are examples of culture?
Rules, laws or less obvious things like social norms and customs
What is emphasised in an individualistic culture?
Personal achievements are emphasised for the individual regardless of the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition
What is emphasised in a collectivist culture?
Emphasise family and work group goals above individual needs and desires
What can be assumed if there’s differences in social norms and values…
that there may be differences in attachment across cultures
What causes differences in attachment?
People use different child rearing practices which encourage them to develop different abilities and qualities
Whst was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn’s research?
To investigate cross cultural variations in attachment
What was his sample?
32 studies of the Strange Situation from 8 countries using around 2000 children
Where was secure attachment most common?
UK - 75%
Where was insecure resistant most common?
Israel - 29%
Where is secure attachment least common?
China - 50%
Where is insecure resistant least common?
UK - 3%
What was the most common attachment type across all 8 countries?
Secure attachment
What was the most common insecure attachment type in western cultures?
Insecure avoidant
What was the most dominant insecure type in non-western cultures?
Insecure resistant
What is the most significant finding in the study?
There was one and a half times greater variation of attachment styles within cultures than between cultures
One study found that __% of the sample were securely attached, compared to the other study in the USA that found __% of the sample was securely attached
46%, 90%
What was the conclusion of Van Ijzendoorn’s research?
These results shpw that there are cultural variations in attachment as insecure types were different. Although there must be similarities due to secure attachment being most common in all cultures
How can Van ijzendoorn’s sample be praised?
High population validity as it was a meta-analysis of 32 strange situation studies, using a large sample of 2000 infants
What is a positive thing about a large sample?
It is easier to generalise the findings to the rest of the target population
Critics would argue that although there was a large number of studies combined for this meta-analysis, the research can be criticised for…
culture bias as over half (18 out of 32) of the research studies were carried out in the US
How many of the studies were carried out in a collectivistic culture?
Only 5
