Cultural Variations

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

The shared beliefs and values of the members of a particular society

Question 2

What is cultural variation?

Answer 2

Emphasis on personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals. Strong sense of competition (e.g. UK, USA etc.)

Question 3

What is a collectivist culture?

Answer 3

Emphasis on family and work goals above individual needs and desires. There is a high degree of interdependence between people (e.g. China)

Question 4

What are the three main studies carried out on cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 4

1. Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)= Meta-analysis
2. Jin et al. (2012)= Korea
3. Simonelli et al. (2014)= Italy

Question 5

What is the study that looks at cultural variations?

Answer 5

Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988):

Aim:
To look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant
attachments across a range of countries, and within countries.

Procedure:
- Located 32 studies where the Strange Situation had been used
- These studies were conducted in 8 countries (15 in the USA)
- Overall sample was 1,990 children
- Data for the 32 studies were meta-analysed

Question 6

What is the strength of cultural variation?

Answer 6

Indigenous researchers- Most of the studies conducted in the cross-cultural research were carried out by indigenous psychologists. These are people from the same cultural background as the participants.
E.g. van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg included research by a German team and Japanese. This means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided researchers’ misunderstandings of the language or having difficulty communicating instructions. It also avoids any bias because of one nation’s stereotypes of another. This increases the validity of data as there is an increased chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully.
Counter- This has not been true of all cross-cultural attachment research. E.g. Morelli and Tronick (1991) were outsiders from America when they studied child-rearing patterns of attachment in the Efe of Zaire. Their data might have been affected by difficulties in gathering data from participants outside their own culture.

Question 7

What are the three limitations of cultural variations?

Answer 7

Countries rather than cultures- IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg were actually not comparing cultures, but countries.
Within each country there are many different subcultures, each of which may have different childcare practices.
E.g. In the UK the so called ‘middle classes’ may have different child-rearing techniques to the ‘working classes.’
IJzendoorn and Sagi (2001): found distributions of attachment type in Tokyo were similar to the Western studies, whereas a more rural sample found an over-representation of insecure-resistant individuals. This suggests that sub cultures may be more important than cultural differences

Imposed etic (the use of a technique designed in one culture but imposed on another)- The strange situation was designed by an American based on a British theory  applying a theory or technique designed for one culture may not be a suitable measure of attachment for all cultures.
E.g. Lack of pleasure on reunion indicates an insecure attachment according to the Strange Situation. However in Germany this may signify independence as opposed to avoidance. In Japanese culture, dependence rather than independence would be the sign of secure attachment. The Japanese children may appear to be insecurely attached according to Western criteria, whereas they are securely attached by Japanese standards.
This means that looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment.

Confounding variables- Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta-analyses. Characteristics such as poverty, social class and urban/rural make-up can confound results as can age of participants studied in different countries.
Environmental variables might also differ between studies and confound results. E.g. The size of the room and the availability of interesting toys- babies might appear to explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys compared to large, bare rooms. Less visible proximity-seeking because of room size might make a child more likely to be classified as avoidant.
This means looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment.