Cultural Variations In Attachment Evaluation Flashcards
How is Bowlby’s explanation of cultural similarities in attachment limited?
Bowlbys theory of attachment argues the similarities emerge from innate attachment, when really they may be due to global culture.
Kroonenberg carried out another meta-analysis of 32 studies and concluded some of the cultural similarities in attachment are explained by the effects of mass media, which spread ideas about parenting so children all over the world are similarly influenced and therefore form similar attachment types.
How is the idea that kroonenbergs study compared cultures limited/not true?
It was actually the countries that were being compared, not the cultures as there are many different subcultures within countries with different childcare practices.
Izjendoorn and Sagi 2001 - found attachment in urban Tokyo was similar to that in Western studies but there were much higher insecure-resistant individuals in rural Tokyo
This explains why kroonenberg found more variation within cultures as there are different subcultures in each country that needed to be measured
How is using the Strange situation to study culture variation in attachment a limitation?
The strange situation is observational lead to cultural assumptions as the strange situation was designed by an American, so observing willingness to explore is a sign of secure attachment
However, in traditional Japanese culture, dependence rather than independence is a sign of secure attachment as it is a collectivist culture
This means the cross-cultural research using the strange situation causes findings across cultures to lack validity outside of America
What is the solution to consistently explaining how attachment varies across cultures?
Use ‘indigenous theories’ - produce explanations of attachment rooted in individual cultures
Prior and Glaser (2006) concluded that expressions of maternal sensitive and manifestations of secure-base behaviour may vary across cultures but the core concepts of attachment such as protection are universal as Posada and Jacobs (2011) noted
What does imposed etic mean?
Trying to apply a theory designed for one culture to another culture
Who is the overall sample size in cultural variation studies into attachment a strength?
The Kroonenberg meta-analysis totalled nearly 2000 babies and their primary attachment figures. This increase internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology or very unusual participants
