3 - Cultural Variations in Attachment Flashcards
How were cultural variations in attachment investigated?
Meta-analysis of 32 studies into attachment conducted
Studies looked at the relationships between mothers and their babies (under 24 months) using the strange situation
Studies conducted in 8 countries : some individualistic (USA, UK, Germany), some collectivist ( Japan, China, Israel)
What were the findings of the investigation?
Secure attachment was the most common
The second most common was insecure-avoidant ( except in Israel and Japan where avoidant was rare but resistant was common)
Lowest percentage of secure was in China
Highest percentage of secure was in Great Britain
Highest percentage of insecure-avoidant was in West Germany
Overall variations within cultures were 1.5 greater than the variation between cultures
What do the fact that there are similarities and differences between and within cultures each suggest?
Similarities between cultures suggests that caregiver and infant interactions gave universal characteristics and so may be partly instinctive.
Variations between cultures suggestscultural differences in child rearing practices play an important role.
Variations within cultures suggests that sub-cultural differences, such as social class, play an important role in attachment style ( perhaps more than culture).
What are the negatives of this investigation and findings?
The strange situation methodology was developed in the USA and may not be valid in other cultures. The term imposed ethic can be used, which means when a technique that is developed in one culture is imposed on another.
This study was not actually comparing cultures but countries. For example, USA and Japan were compared. Both of these countries have many different subcultures and child rearing practises. It was found that Tokyo had similar attachment style distributions to the USA, but more rural areas had far more insecure resistant infants.
All the studies only looked at an infants attachment to their mothers. Children might be insecurely attached to their mothers, but securely attached to their fathers. The strange situation therefore doesn’t measure a child’s attachment style , but rather their attachment to an individual. A psychologist found that infants behave differently depending on which parent they’re with.
What are the negatives of this investigation in terms of specific countries?
The strange situation is an unsuitable measure of attachment in Japan. A similar rate of secure attachment in the USA and in Japan. However, there were no avoidant infants and high rates of resistant infants (32%). Infants became so distressed when left alone that for over 90% of infants the study had to be stopped at this point. This is because the mothers rarely left their children alone as very few of them worked. This explains why they showed such violent protest and were classed as resistant.
It is an unsuitable measure of attachment in Germany as well. Behaviour that is seen as healthy in the USA is not seen as such in Germany. Children were encouraged to be independent and self-reliant. Behaviours such as crying when their mothers leave the room as spoilt and so do not reward this behaviour. This is why they may have shown less anxiety when separated from their mothers and be classed as avoidant.
The infants in Israel lived in a closed community and did not come into contact with strangers. This could be the reason why these children showed severe distress when confronted with strangers, and so were classed as resistant.
