At - Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

What are cultural variations?

Answer 1

The ways that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices, and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour.

Question 2

What does culture mean?

Answer 2

Refers to the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people.

Question 3

What does subculture mean?

Answer 3

Refers to a group within a country that, although it shares many of the dominant cultural characteristics of that country, may also have some special, different characteristics.

Question 4

What type of cultures are Western cultures classed as?

Answer 4

Individualist.

Question 5

What do individualist cultures value?

Answer 5

Independence and the importance of the individual.

Question 6

What type of cultures are Eastern cultures classed as?

Answer 6

Collectivist.

Question 7

What do collectivist cultures value?

Answer 7

Emphasise the importance of the group or collective. They are characterised by the extent to which things are shared - groups live and work together sharing tasks, belongings and childrearing. They value interdependence.

Question 8

What are examples of Western/Individualist cultures?

Answer 8

US/UK

Question 9

What are examples of Eastern/Collectivist cultures?

Answer 9

Israel/Japan

Question 10

What is the key study of cultural variations?

Answer 10

van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1998).

Question 11

Describe the procedure of van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study of cultural variations

Answer 11

They conducted a meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviour. They examined over 2000 Strange Situation classifications in 8 different countries.

They were interested to see whether there would be evidence that inter-cultural differences did exist and whether there were intra-cultural differences.

Question 12

What are inter-cultural differences?

Answer 12

Differences between different countries/cultures.

Question 13

What are intra-cultural differences?

Answer 13

Differences within the same culture.

Question 14

What were the findings of van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study of cultural variations

Answer 14

They found that the inter-cultural differences were small. Secure attachment was the most common classification in every country. Insecure-avoidant attachment was the next most common in every country except Israel and Japan (collectivist countries at the time).

They found that intra-cultural variations were 1.5 times greater than inter-cultural variations.

In conclusion, the global pattern across cultures appears to be similar to that found in the US. Secure attachment is the ‘norm’ - it is the most common form of attachment in all countries. This supports the idea that secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthy social and emotional development. These cultural similarities support the view that attachment is an innate and biological process.

Question 15

What views do the findings from van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study of cultural variations support?

Answer 15

They support the idea that secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthy social and emotional development. The cultural similarities also support the view that attachment is an innate and biological process.

Question 16

What other study supported the findings of van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study of cultural variations?

Answer 16

Tronick et al. (1992) - They studied an African tribe, the Efe, from Zaire who live in extended family groups.

Grossman and Grossman (1991) - They found higher levels of insecure attachment amongst German infants than in any other cultures.

Takashi (1990) - Used the Strange situation to study 60 middle-class Japanese infants and their mothers and found similar rates of secure attachment to those found by Ainsworth et al.

Question 17

Describe the study done by Tronick et al. (1992) on cultural variations

Answer 17

They studied an African tribe, the Efe, from Zaire who live in extended family groups. The infants were looked after and even breastfed by different women but usually they slept with their own mother at night. Despite such differences in childrearing practices the infants, at six months, still showed one primary attachment.

Question 18

Describe the study done by Grossman and Grossman (1991) on cultural variations

Answer 18

They found higher levels of insecure attachment amongst German infants than in any other cultures. This may be due to different childrearing practices. German culture involves keeping some interpersonal distance between parents and children, so infants do not engage in proximity-seeking behaviours in the Strange Situation and thus appear to be insecurely attached.

Question 19

Describe the study done by Takashi (1990) on cultural variations

Answer 19

Used the Strange situation to study 60 middle-class Japanese infants and their mothers and found similar rates of secure attachment to those found by Ainsworth et al. However, the Japanese infants showed no evidence of insecure-avoidant attachment and high rates of insecure-resistant attachment (32%). The Japanese infants were particularly distressed on being left alone; in fact their response was so extreme that for 90% of the infants the study was stopped at this point.

This cultural variation might again be accounted for in terms of different childcare practices. In Japan infants rarely experience separation from their mothers, which would explain why they were more distressed in the Strange Situation than their American counterparts. This would make them appear to be insecurely attached.

Question 20

What conclusion can be drawn about the cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 20

The studies suggest that, despite the fact that there are cultural variation in infant care arrangements, the strongest attachments are still formed with the infant’s mother. The research also shows, however, that there are differences in the patterns of attachment that can be related to differences in cultural attitudes and practices.

Question 21

What is the term ‘imposed etic’ used to describe?

Answer 21

The use of the technique designed in one culture but imposed on another.