cultural variations Flashcards
who studied cultural variations
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
what was the procedure used to study cultural variations in attachments
they conducted a meta analysis of the findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviour. it examined 2000+ strange situations studies in 8 different countries. they were interested in finding inter-cultural differences and intra-cultural differences
what was the findings of cultural variations ?
they found few differences between cultures but a lot of differences within cultures. secure attachment was most common in every culture, apart from collectivist cultures, followed by insecure-avoidant. concluded that global patterns across cultures appear to be similar to the USA; secure attachment is normal and innate
what are the cultural similarities of attachment
Tronick et al studied an african tribe who live in extended family groups. infants are communally brought up and breast fed by different women. however they slept with their mother. there are different child rearing practises, but they still show signs of having one main attachment figure. supports van ijzendoorn’s findings that secure attachment is most common
what are cultural differences in attachment
Grossman and Grossman found that because of different child rearing practises in germany, more infants are classed as insecure than secure. because of the culture, children don’t engage in proximity seeking behaviours. studies such as strange situations classify them as insecurely attached which goes against van ijzendoorn
what is a limitation of research into cultural variations in attachment (countries)
this research claimed to look at variations across cultures, but it actually looked at different countries for example japan and USA. there are subcultures within these countries. These subcultures produced different findings of attachment (van ijzendoorn and sagi,2001). this shows that the original findings may lack realiability and so can’t be generalised
what is a limitation of research of cultural variations (imposed etic)
imposed etic: a technique designed in one culture and then used/designed in another culture. the same measurements are used in different cultures and so you may be measuring the wrong thing. strange situations says willingness to explore is a sign of secure attachment, but in some cultures like japan, it is not. they measure secure attachment through dependency not independencey. Limitation because it lacks validity
what is a limitation of research into cross cultural variation (culture bias)
attachment theories/tools are heavily based on western cultures. the continuity hypothesis doesn’t have the same meaning in different cultures. Bowlby said securely attached infants go on to be independent and socially competent. But collectivist cultures place importance on being group orientated. undermines ability to measure in diff culture
