AO3

• indigenous researchers 


  • indigenous researchers are from the same cultural background as the ppts (e. Grossmann and Grossmann)
  • Means there is an excellent chance that researchers and ppts communicated successfully, increasing the validity of the study
  • however, isnt true of all cross cultural attachment research meaning some cross cultural attachment research may have communication errors and hence lacks validity
• confounding variables 


  • studies conducted in different countries may not be matched for sample characteristics - studies may use children of different age and social classes
  • environmental differences - smaller room would mean the baby feels more confident to explore
  • means studies assessing attachment types carried out in different countries may tell us little about cultural differences in attachment
• over generalisation


  • nation vs culture - a study of attachment in Tokyo (urban) found similar distributions of attachment as in western cultures but rural samples found high insecure resistant
  • therefore, it is a mistake to generalise the results of an individual sample and say that it represents the attachment within a whole culture
  • the meta analyses may lack validity as they have a limited sample representing an entire culture in the cross cultural comparisons
• competing explanations 


  • Bowlbys theory that attachment is innate would suggest that secure attachment is the universal norm
  • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg suggest that the cross cultural similarities they found might be explained by the effects of mass media, which spread ideas about parenting so that children all over the world are exposed to similar influences
  • so cultural similarities may not be due to innate biological differences but are because of our increasing global culture