Attachments
Lesson 6
Cultural Variations in
Attachment
1.What, according to Bowlby,
are the evolutionary reasons for
attachment?
• 2. How does the Strange
Situation confirm this?
(Think of the long-term
consequences of the
different types of
attachment)
Evolutionary significance of Attachment 1.
• Aids immediate survival – baby is fed, nurtured,
protected, loved.
• Attachment provides secure base from which infant can
explore the world and learn.
• Infant’s brain develops with acquired knowledge and
discovery, and it is able to fully develop it’s genetic
potential.
• Smart infants grow into smart adults who tend to mate
with smart partners to make smart offspring – therefore
the genes are advantageously perpetuated. The adult has
been assisted in meeting a smart mate because It’s secure
attachment has provided a template for all other
relationships and it is able to interact successfully.
Evolutionary significance of Attachment
2.
• The Strange Situation highlights that even
very small children are put at enormous
disadvantage by an insecure attachment.
• Longitudinal Studies show that the type of
attachment a child has, is with them for
life, and affects all other relationships.
• In turn, their type of attachment influences
what sort of parent they are able to
become, which in turn, will affect the next
generation.
Is attachment the same in all
cultures?
• Bowlby’s theory of attachment,
supported by Ainsworth’s Strange
Situations study suggests that there are
evolutionary reasons for attachment –
basically, that it is necessary for survival.
If this is the case, then the Strange
Situation should provide similar results
in all cultures.
• But there might be a problem here. Let’s
see!
Behaviours displayed by infants in The Strange
Situation (Ainsworth et al 1978) (U.S.)
Secure
attachment
(Type B)
Insecure
Avoidant
(Type A)
Insecure
Resistant
(Type C)
Insecure Avoidant/
Resistant.
“Disorganised”
Willingness to
explore
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
Alternate
between A & C
Stranger
Anxiety
HIGH
LOW
HIGH
Often prefer
strangers’ company
Separation
Anxiety
Reasonably
easy to soothe
INDIFFERENT
DISTRESSED
Alternate
Between A & C
Behaviour at reUnion with carer
ENTHUSIASTIC
AVOIDS
CONTACT
SEEKS AND
REJECTS
Often afraid of
carer
12%
Minority of
Infants display this
disorganised
behaviour
% of infants in
this category
66%
22%
(Type D)
Name and date the study which
examined attachment crossculturally
• What was the AIM of this study?
• What was the PROCEDURE Of this
study?
Cross-cultural patterns of attachment –
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg,
1988
• Aim – To investigate global attachment
patterns
• Procedure - This was a meta-analysis (the
data from 32 Strange Situation studies from
eight countries was collated and analysed)
What were the FINDINGS?
Findings
In all countries, secure attachment was the most common –but…….!!!!!!!!!!!
Secure Attachment (Type B) -Most common in all cultures. The
The Lowest proportion was in China (50%)
The Highest (approx 75%) –GB & Sweden.
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Avoidant Attachment (Type A) More common in W. Germany
than other western countries.
Very rare in Israel and Japan.
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Resistant Attachment (Type C) - Common in Israel, China &
Japan.
Lowest proportion was in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden
What were the CONCLUSIONS?
• How are the apparent differences in
attachment cross-culturally to be
explained?
Conclusions
• Globally, secure attachment was the most
common and we could conclude, the “best” for
healthy social and emotional development.
• The variation in percentages, particularly
between types A and C suggest that childrearing practices in different countries may
affect the attachment of babies -------and/or
• It may be that the Strange Situation does not
work well in all cultures, for reasons that we are
going to discuss.
Can you give some
EVALUATION?
Evaluation – Explaining the cultural
variations in the Strange Situation
• Western cultures such as that of the U.K and
USA, are called individualist cultures
because they value independence and the
importance of the individual.
• By contrast come cultures, such as those of
Japan and China are called collectivist
cultures because they value sharing and
interdependence and the value of the group.
Big Criticism: Is the Strange
Situation Culturally Biased?
• The Strange Situation was developed in the
U.S, an individualist country.
• But in Japan for example, which is a collectivist
country, the cultural norm is for mothers and
babies to rarely be separated, which means we
might expect to see high levels of separation
anxiety and might explain the high % of Type C
in the SS. Many of the differences in the crosscultural SS concern collectivist countries.
More on Culture Bias
• Rothbaum et al 2000 said that attachment theory and
research is not relevant to other cultures because it is
so rooted in American culture. Why did they say
this? Here are two examples.
• 1. The Continuity Hypothesis (Ainsworth said that
those infants who are securely attached grow up to
be socially and emotionally competent adults)people who are independent and able to express
their emotions. BUT!! ….. In Japan being a
socially and emotionally competent adult means
being group orientated and someone who is able to
inhibit (not show) their feelings.
More on Culture Bias
• 2. The Secure Base Hypothesis - the infant
uses the primary care giver as a secure base
from which to explore and become
independent. BUT!!! In Japan the ideal in
relationships is that people should be very
much inter-dependent on each other.
• So as a result Japanese children may appear to
be insecurely attached according to Western
cultures, whereas they are securely attached by
Japanese standards.
We must be so careful when
interpreting data!!
• What we call “avoidant” behaviour in the
UK and USA, might well be called
“independent” in Germany, an
individualist country, but where
independence is very highly valued. And
just look at the graph and you will see that
there are a higher proportion of type “As”
in Germany.
So why are there such crosscultural similarities?
• Van Ijzendoom and Kroonenberg sugest that
the apparent cultural similarities they found
might be explained by the effects of the mass
media, with TV and internet, which spreads
ideas about parenting so that children all over
the world are exposed to similar influences.
• This means that the cultural similarities may
not be due to innate biological influences but
are because of our increasingly global culture.
Methodological Issues (can also be used
for evaluation)
• 1. Meta-analysis (the results of 32 S.S studies were
analysed)
• 2. Substantial study and large sample size (over
2000 babies)
• 3. But half of the 32 studies studied were carried
out in the US, reflecting the dominance of US in
psychology studies.
• 27 were carried out in individualistic cultures
• Only 5 in collectivist cultures, implying that the
sample was not truly representative.
More Methodological Issues
• 4. Ainsworth’s Strange Situation was developed in
the US so we can only make valid interpretations
in cross-cultural studies if we really understand the
attitudes to child-rearing in that culture.
• 5. Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg found that the
variation within cultures in attachment was oneand-a-half times greater than between cultures.
This shows clearly that it is a mistake to assume that
all children are brought up in exactly the same way
in a particular country or culture.
A good final paragraph
• When looking at attachment behaviours crossculturally, some might question Bowlby and
Ainsworth’s view, that attachment is a universal
factor in human development. However, whilst
there are differences, and to some extent,
attachment theory is culture-bound, the
impressive fact is that in in all 8 countries
involved in the meta-analysis of the Strange
Situation, secure attachment was the most
common, by far, and we could conclude, the
“best” for healthy social and emotional
development.
• Certainly research has shown that secure
attachment is associated with good psychiatric
health in adulthood.
Homework
• Discuss research into cultural variations
in attachment (12 marks)