3.4: Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

Cultural variations

Answer 1

Cultural variations are differences in:
1. Child-rearing practices
2. Attachment types
between different cultural groups

Question 2

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then what?

Answer 2

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments:
1. Evolved
2. Have a survival value
is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures

Question 3

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of what?

Answer 3

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments:
1. Evolved
2. Have a survival value
is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures

Question 4

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
What should dominate in all cultures?

Answer 4

Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures

Question 5

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of what?

Answer 5

Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of:
1. Insecure-avoidant
2. Insecure-resistant
types

Question 6

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Who (what year) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures?

Answer 6

Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures

Question 7

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures.
What does he argue?

Answer 7

He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with:

1. Weak adult relationships
2. Early sexual activity

Question 8

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures.
He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like when?

Answer 8

He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like after a:
1. Famine
Or,
2. Plague
when many people have died

Question 9

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures.
He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like after a famine or plague when many people have died, why?

Answer 9

He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like after a famine or plague when many people have died, because people would need to reproduce by:

1. Being sexually active at a young age
2. Not getting too emotionally involved with people who might die young

Question 10

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures.
He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like after a famine or plague when many people have died, because people would need to reproduce by being sexually active at a young age and not getting too emotionally involved with people who might die young.
However, if different patterns of attachment types are found cross-culturally, what would it mean?

Answer 10

If different patterns of attachment types are found cross-culturally, it would mean that infants’ attachment types are not biological

Question 11

If Bowlby’s belief that attachments evolved and have a survival value is true, then patterns of attachment types should be similar across different cultures, regardless of child-rearing practices used within those cultures.
Secure attachments should dominate in all cultures, with equal amounts of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.
Belsky (1999) even proposes an evolutionary reason for the existence of similar attachment types in different cultures.
He argues that insecure attachment types are associated with weak adult relationships and early sexual activity, which could be useful in certain situations, like after a famine or plague when many people have died, because people would need to reproduce by being sexually active at a young age and not getting too emotionally involved with people who might die young.
However, if different patterns of attachment types are found cross-culturally, it would mean that infants’ attachment types are not biological, but what?

Answer 11

If different patterns of attachment types are found cross-culturally, it would mean that infants’ attachment types are:
1. Not biological
,but
2. Learned through exposure to different cross-cultural child-rearing styles

Question 12

Child-rearing styles do vary across different cultures.
For example, in some cultures one person does most of the caregiving, while in other cultures, many carers are involved.
There are also cross-cultural differences as to how different attachment types are regarded.
Example

Answer 12

For example:
1. In Britain, we view insecure-avoidant attachment negatively, because it is associated with weak attachments to people
,but
2. In Germany, insecure-avoidant attachments are valued, because they are associated with being independent from others, which is viewed positively in German culture

Question 13

Child-rearing styles do vary across different cultures.
For example, in some cultures one person does most of the caregiving, while in other cultures, many carers are involved.
There are also cross-cultural differences as to how different attachment types are regarded.
For example, in Britain, we view insecure-avoidant attachment negatively, because it is associated with weak attachments to people, but in Germany, insecure-avoidant attachments are valued, because they are associated with being independent from others, which is viewed positively in German culture.
In Germany, what are many more infants classed as being?

Answer 13

In Germany, many more infants are classed as being insecure-avoidant

Question 14

Kyoung (2005) used the Strange Situation to compare 87 Korean families with 113 American families.
There were notable differences: The Korean infants did not stay close to their mothers and when Korean mothers returned, they were more likely to play with their infants.
There were, however, a similar proportion of securely attached children in both cultures, suggesting that different child-rearing practices can lead to secure attachments.

Answer 14

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Question 15

Grossmann and Grossmann (1991) found that German infants tended to be classified as insecurely attached.
This may be due to different child-rearing practices, because German culture requires ‘distance’ between parents and children.
This indicates that there are cross-cultural variations in attachment

Answer 15

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Question 16

Malin (1997) found that Aboriginal infants in Australia are discouraged from exploring by threats and distractions of food and so tend not to use their mothers as a safe base from which to explore, staying close to her at all times.
This leads to the infants being incorrectly labelled as insecurely attached and often being put into care

Answer 16

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Question 17

Evaluation:
1. The different patterns of reaction to the Strange Situation reflect cultural values and practices.
For example, the greater frequency of insecure-avoidant children in Germany reflects a cultural emphasis on early independence training.

2. The greater amounts of insecure-resistant attachment type in Japan may result from stress during the Strange Situation due to infants’ unfamiliarity at being left with strangers.
   Japanese children are rarely separated from their mothers, so separation episodes are upsetting for these children.
   In contrast, Rogoff (2003) found that black American infants have many caregivers and are encouraged to be friendly to strangers and thus the Strange Situation activates their interest to explore.
   This shows that the Strange Situation has different meanings in different cultures and we need to examine child-rearing practices in order to interpret findings based on the Strange Situation.
3. The facts that attachment patterns vary cross-culturally and that the Strange Situation may not be applicable in all cultures suggest that attachment theory is culture-bound and applicable only to Western cultures

Answer 17

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