Cultural Variations

Question 1

Define cultural variations

Answer 1

The difference in norms and values that exist between people in different groups

Question 2

Define individualist cultures

Answer 2

Emphasis on personal independence and acheivement at the expense of group goals
- strong sense of competition

Question 3

Define a collectivist culture

Answer 3

Emphasis on family and work goals above individual needs and desires
- high degree of interdependence between people

Question 4

Three main studies carried out on cultural variations

Answer 4

• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) - meta-analysis
• Jin et al. (2012) - Korea
• Grossman and Grossman (1991) - Germany

Question 5

Procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) study

Answer 5

Meta-analysis of Strange Situation and combined findings of 32 other Strange Situation studies from a variety of different countries

Question 6

Three main findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) study

Answer 6

• secure attachment = most common
• insecure-avoidant = highest in Germany
• insecure-resistant = least common overall, but highest in Japan

Question 7

Was the variation greather between or within cultures in Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) study

Answer 7

Greater within cultures by 1.5 or 50%

Question 8

Why was insecure-avoidant attachment highest in Germany?

Answer 8

German caregivers bring up children to be more independent

Question 9

Why was insecure-resistant highest in Japan?

Answer 9

Japan = collectivist culture
- Japanese infants are very rarely left by their mothers

Question 10

How does Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) study show support for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Answer 10

Cultural similarity of secure being most common - suggests attachment is innate

Question 11

Jin et al. (2012) procedure

Answer 11

• compared atttachment types in Korea to other studies using the Strange Situation to assess 87 children
• proportions of insecure and secure babies = similar to most countries
• higher levels of insecure-resistant

Question 12

Strength - representative sample

Answer 12

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg used nearly 2000 babies and their parents
- increases internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results, making it more generalisable

Question 13

Limitations - countries rather than cultures

Answer 13

• within each country there are differences
• in the UK, middle class would have different child-rearing techniques to the working classes
• Tokyo results were similar to wester but rural Japan found an over-representation of insecure-resistant individuals