Cultural Variations in Attachment AO3

• Confounding variables 1/2

  -One limitation of cross-cultural research, including meta-analyses of patterns of attachment types, is the impact of confounding variables on findings. Studies conducted in different countries aren't usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews or meta-analyses. Sample characteristics -poverty, social class, urban/rural make up - can confound results, as can the age of participants studied in different countries. Environmental variables may also differ between studies & confound variables.
• Confounding variables 2/2

  The size of the room & the availability of interesting toys there - babies might appear to explore more in small rooms with toys compared to large, bare rooms. Less visible proximity seeking due to room size might make a baby look more avoidant. This means that lookinh at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment.
• Imposed etic 1/2

  -One limitation of cross cultural research is in trying to impose a test designed for one cultural context to another context.

  Cross cultural psychology includes the ideas of emic (cultural uniqueness) and etic (cross-cultural universality). Imposed etic occurs when we try to impose an idea or technique that works in one cultural context to another. eg. Babies response to reunion in ASS in Britain & the USA, lack of affection on reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment.
• Imposed etic 2/2

  In Germany, such behaviour would be interpreted as independence rather than insecurity, therefore that part of SS may not work in Germany. This means that the behaviours measured by the SS may not have the same meanings in different cultural contexts, therefore comparing them across cultures is meaningless.
• Indigenous researchers 1/2

  +One strength of the research is that must of the studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists. Indigenous psychologists are those from the same background as the participants. This kind of research means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided, such as researcher's misunderstandings of the language used by participants or having difficulty communicating instructions to them.
• Indigenous researchers 1/2

  Difficulties can also include bias due to one nation's stereotypes of another, this means there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully - enhancing the validity of data collected.
• +-However this hasn’t been true of all cross-cultural attachment research. Eg. Morelli & Tronick were outsiders from America when they studied child rearing & patterns of attachments in the Efe of Zaire. Their data might’ve been affected by difficulties in gathering data from participants outside their own culture. This means that data from some countries might have been affected by bias & difficulty of cross cultural communication.