cultural variations in attachment ao3

Question 1

strength - standardised methodology

Answer 1

P: one strength of research into cultural variations of attachment is the standardised methodology whereby everything is kept the same.
E: all of the 32 studies included in the meta analysis by izendorn and kroonenberg used the same method to measure attachment - the strange situation. A highly controlled observation with the same 8 episodes each lasting 3 minutes along with a clear set of behavioural categories
E: this use of standardised methodology means researchers can accurately compare attachment behaviours across cultures without the problem of extraneous variables affecting how attachment was studied
L: thus strengthening what we can learn about cultral variations in attachment.

Question 2

weakness - unrepresentative samples

Answer 2

P: One major drawback of research into cultral variations in attachment is that the samples are unrepresentative
E: for example japan is a large country with many subcultures. ijendoorn and sagi found that tokyo displayed attachment type patterns similar to the western world whereas rural japan showed higher levels of insecure resistant
E: therefore we cannot make comparisons between japan and usa if you dont know the specifc culture of the samples being studied eg those 2 studies of japan arent representative of japan as a whole
L: weakness the applicibality of findings cross culturally

Question 3

weakness - ethnocentric

Answer 3

P: one weakness into research into cross cultural variations of attachment is that it is ethnocentric whereby one particular culture is used as the standard by which other cultures are judged
E: the strange situation was designed in america - a westernised individualistic culture using only american children
E: this means that when researchers observe behaviour of the children they are using a set of beh categories based on the american lens and american values. so if a child enjoyed exploring a play room this would be seen as avoidant beh and be seen neg, but in germany this would be seen something which is sought after in children a they value independence and non clingy infants (grossman)
L: causing some to argue that the strange situation may be biased toward the american westerinsed culture.

Question 4

weakness - lacking in temporal validity

Answer 4

P: ijendoorns theory may lack temporal validity due to the changing nature of family life in the modern world
E: for example, simonelli et al measured attachment using the ss in modern italy.
E: it was found that compared to historical italian families there was a significantly lower percentage of secure infants and a sig higher % of avoidant infants
L: these results are argued to suggest this change is a healthy coping mech due to demands of modern life with infants adjusting to a absent mother not showing extreme emotion.