Cultural Variations Flashcards
Who conducted a meta-analysis of findings from the Strange Situation across multiple countries?
van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
How many countries did the meta-analysis look at?
8
How many studies did the meta-analysis look at?
32
What was the total sample size of the meta-analysis?
1990
What country had the highest % of insecure avoidant?
Germany
What country had the highest % of insecure resistant?
Israel
What were the findings of attachment for children in China?
50% secure
25% avoidant
25% resistant
What was the most common type of attachment across all countries and cultures?
Secure
What was found about the types of insecure attachment in collectivist cultures?
-There is a higher % of insecure resistant attachment than insecure avoidant
What was found about the types of insecure attachment in individualist cultures?
-There is a higher % of insecure avoidant attachment than insecure resistant
What country had the most studies in the meta-analysis?
USA (had 18)
What is intra-cultural variation?
Variation WITHIN cultures
What is inter-cultural variation?
Variation BETWEEN cultures
What was found about intra- and inter- cultural variation
Intra-cultural variation was nearly 1.5 x greater (150%) than inter-cultural variation
How many countries produced findings proportionally consistent with Ainsowrth and Bell’s finding?
6/8
What study was conducted by Simonelli?
- Used the Strange Situation in Italy
What was the aim of Simonelli’s research?
-to see whether the proportions of babies in different attachment types still matched those found in previous studies.
What were the findings of Simonelli’s research?
-50% secure
-36% insecure-avoidant
-a lower rate of secure attachment and higher rate of insecure-avoidant than found in many studies.
What is the explanation of Simonelli’s findings
-Increasing numbers of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare
What can be concluded from Simonelli’s findings?
Patterns of attachment types are not static but vary in line with cultural change
What are the strengths of cultural variations in attachment?
-indigenous researchers
What are the limitations of cultural variations in attachment?
-confounding variables
-imposed etic
Explain the strength of the Strange Situation that: indigenous researchers were used
-This kind of research means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided, such as researchers’ misunderstandings of the language used by participants or having difficulty communicating instructions to them.
-Difficulties such as bias because of one nation’s stereotypes of another can also be avoided.
-This means there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully - enhancing the validity of the data collected.
Explain the limitation of cultural variations: confounding variables
-Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews or meta-analyses.
-Sample characteristics such as poverty, social class, age and urban/rural make-up can confound results
-Environmental variables might also differ between studies and confound results. For example the size of the room and the availability of interesting toys there - babies might appear to explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys compared to large, bare rooms.
-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.
Explain the limitation of cultural variations: imposed etic
-Imposed etic occurs when we assume an idea or technique that works in one cultural context will work in another.
-An example of this in attachment research is in the use of babies’ response to reunion with the caregiver in the Strange Situation.
-In Britain and the US, lack of affection on reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment.
-But in Germany such behaviour would be more likely interpreted as independence rather than insecurity, therefore that part of the SSC may not work in Germany.
-This means that the behaviours measured by the SSC may not have the same meanings in different cultural contexts, and comparing them across cultures is meaningless.
