Cultural variations of attachemnt

Question 1

Why did Van Ijendoorn & Kroonenberg conduct their study?

Answer 1

• wanted to look at the proportions of attachment styles across a range of countries to assess cultural variation
• And looked at variations within cultures

Question 2

What was Van Ijenzoorrn & Kroogneberg research procedure ?

Answer 2

• located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate proportions of babies with different attachment types
• conducted in 8 countries
• 15 studies in the USA
• the data from study was met analysed

Question 3

What were the findings of their study in terms of the three attachment types?

Answer 3

Secure> most common in all countries
Lowest = China 50%
Highest= UK 75%

Insecure-resistant> most common in Israel (29%)
least = UK (3%)

Insecure- avoidant > most common in Germany (35%)
least= Japan (5%)

Question 4

What did they find about variations within cultures?

Answer 4

variations within cultures 1.5 greater than variations between

Question 5

Outline procedure & findings of Takahashi study

Answer 5

• Replicated the strange situation with 60 Japanese infants & mothers
• 0% insecure-avoidant
• 68% secure
• 32% insecure resistant
  Showed distinct cultural differences

Question 6

What is a strength of cross cultural research?

Answer 6

• Studies conducted by Indigenous psychologists
• Indigenous psychologists are those from the same cultural background
• included research from German team (Grossmann) & Takahashi (Japanese)
• many problems with cross- cultural avoided such as misunderstanding of language or difficulty communicating instructions to P’s or bias
• validity increases

Question 7

What is a limitation of cross cultural research?

Answer 7

• impact of CV’s on findings
• Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta-analysis
• sample characteristics such as poverty, social class can confound results
• environmental variables might also differ between studies & confound results e.g. size of room, toys available etc
• may not tell us anything about cross cultural patterns

Question 8

What is another limitation of cross cultural research?

Answer 8

• imposed etic > trying to impose a test designed for one cultural context to another context
• e.g. strange situation and babies response on reunion with caregiver
• Britain & USA see lack of affection = avoidant
• Germany > behaviour interpreted as independent rather than insecurity
• behaviour measured by SS = different meanings in different cultures thus meaningless to compare