Evaluating Cultural Variations in Attachment

Starter 1

• Take 1 item of work that has been marked and come the response sheet.

• Write in your targets• Pick one area of weakness in your answer and

redraft a paragraph that addresses the issue.

10 mins10 mins

Starter 2 – pick out 3 differences and similarities between these pictures (think about culture)

Learning Outcomes• ALL will understand some of the evaluative

points about research into cultural variations in attachment

• MOST will be able to describe research on cross cultural variations in attachment

• SOME will be able to consider how the cross cultural variations in attachment may support theories of attachment

Big Picture

• Continue with paired work on the research into cross cultural variations in attachment

• Work in groups to debate cultural variations in attachment

• Answer an exam question individually using the P.E.E.D. format

• Form your own opinions about the impact of culture on attachments in the review

Task 1

• Last lesson you were asked to divide a page in half and give details of research which SUPPORTS the idea that there are differences across cultures and research which DISAGREES with this statement

• Cross cultural similarities• Cross cultural differences

AO1 cultural variations

Discuss cultural variations in attachment (12 marks)

AO2 cultural variations

Similarities

Differences

PEEL each point you choose below

AO1 cultural variationsDiscuss cultural variations in attachment (12 marks)

AO2 cultural variations

Ainsworth’s Uganda Study (1967) – found majority of infant were securely attached. No insecure avoidant attachment.

Tronick et al (1992) – Study of an African tribe with different childrearing practices. Infants still had 1 primary attachment

Fox (1977)- Study of Kibbutzim where children cared for in communes by a nurses. Greater attachment still shown for biological mother during reunion.

Similarities

DifferencesGrossman and Grossman (1991) – more insecure attachment in Germany. Distance in parent-child proximity.

Takahashi (1990)

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

Takahashi (1990)• Compared attachment types in 60 middle class Japanese

infants aged under 12 months with American infants using the strange situation.

• 68% of Japanese infants were securely attached, 32% were insecure-resistant, and no infants were insecure-avoidant.

• Infants were so distressed that the ‘leaving the infant alone’ stage of the strange situation had to be abandoned.

• However, if they had not been so distressed then as many as 80% of Japanese infants would have been classed as securely attached.

• Japan have different child care practices and children are rarely separated from their mothers.

• In Western cultures the dominant type of insecure attachment was avoidant.

• In non-Western cultures, the dominant attachment type was resistant.

• China was the only exception to this rule, with avoidant and resistant attachment being distributed equally.

• There was 1 ½ times greater variation within cultures than between cultures.

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

AO1 Conclusions

• Strongest attachments seem to be the mother or PCG despite differences in child rearing across cultures.

• Secure attachment seems to be the norm around the world. It was always the most common form.

• There are some differences in the levels all 3 forms of attachment.

Research and Evaluation

• Every piece of research can be evaluated in some way

• Cross cultural research has some particular strengths and weaknesses based on the methodology used and the difficulty in defining ‘culture’ as a variable to be measured

Cultural bias• Rothbaum et al (2000) attachment theory is only relevant in

American culture and psychology should develop ‘indigenous’ theories for each different culture.

Secure attachment – is about a sensitive PCG. In USA and Japan ‘sensitive’ is very different. Independence vs dependence.

Continuity hypothesis – In USA and Japan being emotionally successful later in life is different. In Japan not showing your feelings and focusing on the group

Secure base – In USA this helps child to be independent and explore. In Japan relationships tend to be ‘dependence’ focused.

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Is attachment universal?•Posada and Jacobs (2001) argue there is a lot of evidence to show it is across different cultures. Simply sensitivity of the PCG is linked to secure attachment even if this looks different in different cultures.

Culture VS subculture•Van Ijzendoorm & Kroonenberg (2001) found more variation within cultures. •Class and location help form subcultures that could affect attachment.

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Mass media•Van Ijzendoorm & Kroonenberg (2001) suggest the media are a cause of cultural similarities. •This suggests attachment similarities are not biological but social.

Research Bias & Imposed etic•Most studies had indigenous researchers but sometimes psychologist look at other countries. Psychologists also come from different sub-cultures.•Problems with understanding language.•Imposed etic means a technique that has been designed in one culture but imposed on another.

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Writing a 12 mark essay

• Depth vs Breadth• Fill the AO2 studies in to the right column on

your grid now.• You probably won’t use all of the AO1 and

AO2 research so you have to decide which to revise and to include.

• Highlight the AO1 and the AO2 points you will use now.

• One problem is..• One advantage of this approach..• This research is supported by…• This research is challenged by…• One criticism of this research…• An alternative explanation for… would be…

AO2 Evaluation sentence starters.

Task 3

• Write a paragraph for the following question

• Discuss cultural variations in attachment (12 marks)

• There are no differences in attachment cross-culturally. Despite the fact that there are different child rearing practices, children still demonstrate secure attachment. In Ainsworth’s Uganda study, she found that children in the strange situation in both Uganda and UK mostly used their mother as a secure base, which is a major feature of being securely attached.

• However this only looks at comparing two countries, and the picture may be different across other cultures. Using the Strange Situation has it’s flaws because the mother may change their behaviour because they know they are being observed and therefore display demand characteristics, which lowers the validity of the research. Furthermore the observation itself is only a snapshot of the attachment between the infant and the mother and this may be different on a day to day basis or over a long period of time.

• There are cultural similarities in attachment.........

• However this study cannot be generalised to all non-western cultures because it only focuses on one country. Furthermore the sample was biased because it only used infants from middle class families, which means that their upbringing style could have been very different from other families in Japan.

Homework.

• Read the hand-out on disruption to attachment.

• Complete the AO2 column from this powerpoint.

Review

• What is YOUR opinion on the impact of culture in attachments

• Now that we have looked at the psychological research

• THINK for 1 minute• TURN to the person next to you and DISCUSS• SHARE with the rest of the class

2 minutes