Cultural Variations

• Culture- the shared beliefs of members of society, includes societal norms and beliefs about what is good and bad
• Cultural Variations- Differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups
• Individualistic culture- emphasises personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition
• Collectivist Culture- Emphasises family and work goals above individualistic needs and desires, higher degree of interdependence
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a study to look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of cultures
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg conducted a meta-analysis on 32 studies across 8 countries of 1990 children where the Strange Situation had been used to investigate attachment types
• Meta-analysis: A meta-analysis is where researchers combine the findings from multiple studies to draw an overall conclusion
• In all cultures, secure attachment was the most common attachment type
• 75% of infants in Britain were securely attached, compared to 50% of infants in China
• Insecure-avoidant attachment was the second most common in individualistic cultures like Germany
• Insecure-resistant attachment was the second most common attachment style in collectivist cultures such as Israel and Japan
• The variations within the same culture was 1.5 times greater than those between cultures. In the US, one study said 46% of infants were securely attached, while another said 90% were
• Secure attachment is the most common attachment type, but there are some variations in attachment type
• Simonelli et al (2014) conducted a study on 76 Italian 12 month olds using the Strange Situation to see whether the proportion of attachment styles had changed
• Simonelli et al found that only 50% of infants identified as securely attached, which is lower than it was previously found
• Simonelli et al suggested that more mothers working and putting their children in childcare was the cause of less secure attachments
• Simonelli's et al study links to Bowlby as they concluded that societal and cultural changes can lead to dramatic differences in attachment types
• Jin et al (2012) used the Strange Situation to compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea compared to other studies
• Jin et al found that most infants were securely attached, however only one was insecure-avoidant. This was similar to the distribution found in Japan in Van Ijzendoor and Kroonenberg's study
• Jin et al concluded that most infants are securely attached, however there are small differences due to changes in parenting
• STRENGTHS

  • Indigenous researchers- reduces chances of miscommunication or misunderstandings, increases validity
• LIMITATIONS

  • Imposed etic- Strange Situation was designed in US, infants are being measured by the standards of another culture and may be incorrectly categorised
  • Mass media- parenting styles become similar due to media, infants attachment is similar as a result, global culture
  • Confounding variables- methodology, social class, age, toys, and lab size may differ producing different results