Cultural Variations

Question 1

Outline Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis on the cultural variations in the strange situation

Answer 1

• meta-analysis of 32 studies from 8 countries around the world
  FINDINGS
• type b secure attachment was the most common across all cultures
• the UK and the US are individualistic they encourage independence meaning there is a high percentage of securely attached infants
• Japan is a collectivist country, infants are rarely left by their mothers (encourage dependence) hence the high percentage of insecure resistant children
• Germany has a high percentage of insecure-avoidant children as they encourage independence

Question 2

AO3 evaluate research into cultural variations into attachment

Answer 2

• meta analysis used a huge sample size making it very applicable to the population
• strange situation is measuring anxiety rather than attachment
• meta analysis is actual looking at differences between countries rather than culture
• with the strange situation developed in the US many people question whether it is applicable to other cultures.
• there is actually more variations in attachment styles within cultures than between cultures so we may need to avoid over focusing on cultural variations

Question 3

outline research by Takahashi

Answer 3

• they conducted the strange situation in Japan and it had to be stopped early as the infants were to distressed

Question 4

why does the strange situation suffer from cultural relativism

Answer 4

• it is not a good measure for attachment in other cultures as the behaviours looked for in the observation are expected in US cultures

Question 5

how could the strange situation be improved

Answer 5

• it lacks ecological validity due to the highly controlled setting, it could be conducted
• be adapted for different cultures