Starter

Describe characteristics of….

Secure attachment

Insecure-avoidant attachment

Insecure-resistant attachment

What are the key terms?

- Willing to explore- Low stranger

anxiety- Unconcerned

with separation- Caregiver no

interest to infant needs

- Keen to explore- High stranger

anxiety, - Enthusiastc to

retunr to care giver

- Carevier sensitive to infants needs

- Unwilling to explore

- High stranger anxiety

- Reject upon reunion

- Caregiver mixed feelings to infants needs and behaviours

Securley attached Insecure resistantInsecure avoidant

According to Bowlby, attachments are adaptive

Do you agree?

Other than food, do attachments have an evolutionary advantage?

Help us survive!

Belsky (1999) suggests…

YES! Insecure attachment types are associated with early

sexual activity and weak adult relationships

While these may appear undesirable, they are useful in certain situationsFor example; After plague or famine

Reproduce youngNo emotional attachment with those who may die young

Behaviours which help you survive will dominate

If Bowlby is correct that attachments have an evolutionary advantage, patterns of attachment should be similar across cultures

Regardless of cultural differences in values and child rearing styles

Cultural variation

Refers to the differences in social behaviors that different cultures exhibit around the world

Can you think of any?

Two main types of cultures

Individualist cultures Value independence, working to their own

individual goals e.g. USA and Europe (Western Cultures)

Two main types of cultures

Collectivist cultures Value cooperation, working towards the family

or group goals e.g. Japan and Israel (Eastern Cultures)

Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)

Wanted to look at attachment styles and culture

Aim:

To investigate the types of attachment across cultures and to see how the three main attachment styles applied

To investigate if attachment styles are the same across cultures or culturally specific

Procedure

Did not conduct their own studyThey conducted a meta-analysis

Analysed data from other studies32 studies using Strange Situation across 8

different countries

Calculated average

percentage for different attachment

styles in each

country

Can you see any

trends??

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found:

Secure attachment was most common across all cultures

What does this tell us?Attachment styles may have evolutionary advantage as

regardless of culture it dominates

Lowest percentage of secure attachments was shown in China

Highest in Great Britain

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found:

Rates of insecure-resistant were similar to Ainsworth study (all under 14%) in individualist culture

However, not for collectivist cultures (China, Japan and Israel rates were above 25%)

Suggests cultural

differences

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found:

Germany have high levels of anxious avoidant In Germany this style is associated with

independence… cultural influence

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found:

Differences found between samples from one country

In one US sample, there was 94% insecure-avoidant attachments, whereas in another US sample there was 47%

What conclusions can be drawn?

There are similarities across cultures

There are more differences within cultures (intra-cultural) than between different cultrues (inter-cultural)

Evaluation

Large sample of nearly 200 babies and primary attachment figure

This increases internal validity

However,

There lacks studies from African and South American samples. These would be required before a universal conclusion can be drawn

Evaluation

Meta-analysis… reliable?

Evaluation

The samples may not be representative of cultures

The meta-analysis compares between countries, not cultures

This means comparisons between countries (Italy vs Korea) may have little meaning

Evaluation

Cross-cultural studies can suffer from an imposed etic

Where the researchers analyse findings in a biased manner of their own cultural beliefs, and wrongly impose culturally specific beliefs onto another

Validity?

Simonelli et al. 2014 (Italian study)

Researchers assessed 76 12-month olds using Strange Situation

Wanted to see whether proportion of attachment types matched previous studies in Italy

Simonelli et al. 2014 (Italian study)

Researchers found; 50% were secure 36% were insecure-avoidant

This was a lower rate of secure attachment than found in previous studies

Simonelli et al. 2014 (Italian study)

The researchers suggested this was due to the increasing numbers of mothers working long hours and using professional childcare

Cultural changes can make a dramatic difference in patterns of attachment

Differences within cultures…

Person 1: Kyoung (2005)

Person 2: Grossman & Grossman (1991)

Person 3: Malin (1997)

Page 136 Black mask

Name and year

What they found?

What does this mean in terms of

attachment types and culture?