Cultural Variations

Question 1

define culture

Answer 1

shared beliefs and values of members of a particular society

Question 2

features of collectivist cultures

Answer 2

group effort, interpersonal development and less antisocial behaviour, interdependence, family above self
- tend to bring up children as a community
- extended families with a close bonds

Question 3

features of individualist cultures

Answer 3

personal achievement, praising initiative and independence, more anti social behaviour, strong sense of competition
- raise kids to be self-sufficient and independent
- encouraged to fend for themselves

Question 4

what did Van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg do?

Answer 4

• completed a meta analysis on 32 studies across 8 countries using strange situation test
• studied attachment types in under 2000 babies between and within cultures

Question 5

VL & K key findings

Answer 5

• secure attachment most common
• Germany had most avoidant (Ned and China w/ lots)
• Japan + Israel had few avoidant but lost of resistant
• 1&1/2 more variation within cultures than between

Question 6

cultural similarities

Answer 6

• research support for the findings from VL & K
• Tronick: studied an African tribe with diff child rearing practices to the US/EU but found children still showed a primary attachment to one parent

Question 7

Strange situation test in Japan

Answer 7

• collectively culture, rarely left by mother so distress when mother leaves due to shock not insecure attachment
• show resistance due to misunderstanding the situation
• Takahashi found 32% insecure resistant, but had to stop study for 90% of kids due to extreme distress

Question 8

Strange situation test in Germany

Answer 8

• high percentage of avoidant behaviour, typical of independent children
• Grossman found parents seek independent non-clingy kids who don’t make demands but obey commands
• highlights cultural differences

Question 9

VL & K research conclusions

Answer 9

• findings support attachments as innate and biological as secure was most common
• supports that most children regardless of cultural differences are securely attached to primary caregiver
• shows differences due to cultural than inadequate parenting

Question 10

what is imposed etic?

Answer 10

making an assumption about a behaviour and applying it to all cultures

Question 11

limitations of VL & K’s study

Answer 11

Analyses difference between countries not cultures
- VL & sagi found Tokyo has similar attachment types to Western countries but rural Japan has more resistant
Use of the strange situation test for cultures
- based on Western beliefs/norms of child rearing practices (imposed etic)
Similarities due to global culture
- attachment is innate and isn’t modified by the culture one I s brought up in

Question 12

strengths of VL & K’ study

Answer 12

Most studies conducted by indigenous psychologist
- e.g Takahashi was Japanese and Grossman german
- no misunderstanding of language, difficulty communicating instructions or influence of stereotypes