Cultural Variations in attachment

Question 1

What should be true if attachment is an evolved process developed to help us survive

Answer 1

That attachment is the same everywhere, regardless of cultural variations

Question 2

Who produced a meta anlysis of attachment behaviour across cultures

Answer 2

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, looking at inter and intra cultural differences between the studies

Question 3

How many studies did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg collate in their meta-analysis

Answer 3

32 studies of attachment behaviour, in total over 2000 strange situations in eight different countries

Question 4

What did an Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg find from their meta-analysis

Answer 4

They found that differences were small, with secure attachment being the most common in every country. Insecure avoidant was the second most common in all countries except Japan and Israel, both considered collectevist at the time

Question 5

What conclusion did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg draw

Answer 5

That the global pattern across cultures were similar to the US norm, which supports the view that secure attachment is the best for healthy development and that attachment is an innate process

Question 6

What studies support the conclusions drawn by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Answer 6

Tronick et al studied the African Efe tribe who live in extended family groups, and despite shared childrearing practises had infants showing one primary attachment

Question 7

Who conducted a study on the African Efe tribe

Answer 7

Tronick et al

Question 8

Who found high levels of insecure attachment in German infants

Answer 8

Grossmann and Grossmann

Question 9

What did Grossmann and Grossmann find

Answer 9

Higher levels of insecure attachment in German children, which could be because German childrearing practises include keeping personal space between the infant and the parents, reducing proximity seeking behaviour

Question 10

Who found high levels of insecure resistant infants in Japan

Answer 10

Takahashi

Question 11

What did Takahashi do?

Answer 11

Used the strange situation on 60 middle class Japanses infants and found high levels of insecure resistant attachment, at 32%. The infants were so distressed at being left alone that for 90% of infants the study was stopped at this time

Question 12

How many insecure resistant children did Takahashi find

Answer 12

32%. Infants became so distressed at being left alone that for 90% of the infants the study had to be stopped at this time

Question 13

Why might Takahashi have gotten the results he did

Answer 13

Because of Japanese childrearing practises, where children are very rarely experience seperation from their mothers, making them appear insecurely attached

Question 14

What is an overall conclusion to the outline of cultural variations in attachment

Answer 14

Cultural variations can lead to differing patterns of attachement, but secure attachment is consistently the most common, suggesting that some elements of attachment may be innate

Question 15

What is one explination for the similarities in attachment style across cultures

Answer 15

Similarities in attachemtn behaviour could be due to a ‘global culture’. Mass media spreads ideas accross the globe about parenting and childrearing, and as a result children accross the world are exposed to similar influences, which explains similarities despite culture differences. This would mean that attachment is not an innate mechanism as Bowlby suggests, but a product of an increasingly globalised culture.

Question 16

How do the tools of research affect cultural validity

Answer 16

The ‘tools’ used are developed in one culture and may be invalid when used in another. Observational methods are linked to the cultural assumtions of the designer, for example in the strange situation it is assumed that willingness to explore is a sign of secure attachment, but in some cultures, like the Japanese culture this is not the case. Here dependence rather than independence is a sign of secure attachment. This means that Japanese children are only insecure by western standards, which is an imposed etic

Question 17

Why was the meta analysis by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg criticised

Answer 17

It compared countries rather than cultures. For example when studying Japan a study in Tokyo, which is an urban setting, found similar distributions to western studies, whereas a more rural sample found an over representation of insecure resistant infants. They found more variation within cultures (intraculture) than between them, as they were likely measuring subcultures within a country. This suggests we need more caution when measuring ‘cultural variations’ and when assessing individual samples

Question 18

What may be a solution to cultural differences

Answer 18

To produce explinations of attachment rooted in individual cultures. Rothbaum suggested that there may be a small set of universal principles, but general childcare practises should be related to cultural values. However, Posada and Jacobs not there is a lot of evidence suppoting universitality of attachment and the idea shouldn’t be abandoned.

Question 19

Who suggested that there may be a small set of universal principles but general childcare parctises whould be rooted to cultures

Answer 19

Rothbaum