A03

• What are the strengths of cultural variation studies?

  1. Indigenous researchers

  C.A. - not true of all cross-cultural attachment research
• What are the limitations of cultural variation studies?

  1. Countries rather than cultures
  2. Imposed etic
  3. Confounding variables
• Strength = indigenous researchers

  • Most of the studies conducted in the cross-cultural research were carried out by indigenous psychologists
  • These are people from the same cultural background as the participants
  • E.g. Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg included research by a German and Japanese team
  • This means many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided - misunderstanding of the language or having difficulty communicating instructions
  • Also avoids any bias because of one nation‘s stereotypes of another
  • Increases validity of data
• C.A. for indigenous researchers

  • This has not been true for all cross-cultural attachment research
  • E.g. Morelli and Tronick (1991) were outsiders from America when they studied child-rearing patterns of attachment in the Efe of Zaire
  • Their data might have been affected by difficulties in gathering data from participants outside their own culture
• Limitation = countries rather than cultures

  • Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg were actually not comparing cultures, but countries
  • Within each country there are many different subcultures, each of which may have different childcare practices
  • E.g. in the UK the so called ‘middle classes’ may have different child-rearing techniques to ‘working classes’
  • Ijzendoorn and Sagi (2001) found distributions of attachment type in Tokyo were similar to the Western studies, whereas a more rural sample found an over-representation of insecure-resistant individuals
  • Suggests sub cultures are more important
• Limitation = imposed etic

  • The strange situation was designed by an American based on a British theory
  • E.g. lack of pleasure on reunion indicates an insecure attachment according to the Strange Situation
  • However in Germany this may signify independence as opposed to avoidance
  • In Japanese culture, dependence rather than independence would be the sign of secure attachment
  • The Japanese children may appear to be insecurely attached according to Western criteria but securely attached by Japanese standards
  • Studies may not tell us much about cross-cultural patterns of attachment
• Limitation = confounding variables

  • Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta-analyses
  • Characteristics like poverty, social class and rural/ urban make-up can confound results
  • Environmental variables may differ between studies and confound results
  • E.g. the size of the room and the availability of interesting toys - babies may appear to explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys
  • Less visible proximity-seeking because of room size might make a child more likely to be classified as avoidant