Cultural variations

• Collectivist culture- we culture, interdependence

  individualist culture- me culture, independence
• Van ijzendoorn and kroonenberg- looked at attachment across a range of cultures

  Procedure- meta analysis of 32 studies of attachment using the strange situation, studied the results of 1990 children

  Findings- wide variation between proportions of attachment types, but all countries had secure attachment as the  most common, the proportion varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in china

  individualist cultures- insecure-resistant was low

  collectivist cultures- insecure-resistant was much higher (above 25% in japan, china and Israel)
• Other studies-

  Italian- 76 babies assessed using the strange situation, 50% secure, 36% insecure avoidant

    - this is a lower rate of secure attachment and a higher rate of insecure avoidant than has been found in many studies. Researchers suggest this is because increasing numbers of mothers work long hours and use child care

  Korean- 87 babies asssessed using the strange situation, most were secure. However those classified as insecure, only 1 was avoidant
• The conclusion is secure attachment is the norm in many cultures supporting bowlbys idea that attachment is innate. However, it is clear that cultural differences have an influence on attachment type
• Strength of this research is that most of the studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists. This means that many of the problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided such as researcheras misunderstanding participants or having difficulty communicating instructions to them, and any bias from stereotypes. this enhances the validity.

  However, this isn’t true for all cross cultural attachment research, psychologists were outsiders from America when they study child rearing and patterns of attachment so the data might of been affected by difficulties in communication
• One limitation of cross cultural research is the impact of confounding variables. Studies conducted in different countries are not matched for methodology when they are compared, characteristics such as poverty, Social class and age can confound results. Environmental variables may also differ like the size of the room and the type of toys available, babies might appear to explore more if the studies conducted in small rooms with more attractive toys. this means that comparing non-matched studies in different countries may not tell us alot about cross cultural patterns
• another limitation of cross-cultural research is trying to impose a test designed for one cultural context to another context. Imposed etic occurs when we assume an idea or technique that works in one culture will work in another. In Britain and the US, lack of affection at reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment but in Germany, this behaviour would be more likely interpreted as independent rather than insecurity. this means that behaviours measured in the strange situation may not have the same meanings in different cultural contexts and comparing them across cultures is meaningless.