The main conclusion of this study is that the overall consistency in attachment types leads to the conclusion that there may be universal characteristics that underpin infant and caregiver interactions. Also due to the greater variation found within rather than between cultures, it suggests that sub-cultural comparison studies may be more valid than cross-cultural comparisons.
- Give two criticisms of research into cross-cultural variations in attachment.
As the study found that there was 1 ½ times greater variation with cultures than between them, this may mean that it is wrong to think of any given culture as a whole. This means that cross-cultural comparisons based on the assumption that there is uniformity of behavior within each culture lack validity.
Another criticism of this study is that it may be ethnocentric, as the ‘Strange situation’ was created in the USA it may be adjusted to suit there society.
- Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.
According to this hypothesis, breaking the maternal bond at the early stages of a child’s life can have serious effects on its intellectual, social, cognitive and emotional development. Bowlby also claimed that these serious effects later in life were permanent and irreversible.
In order to support his ‘Maternal deprivation’ hypothesis, Bowlby carried out his ’44 Thieves’ study. From the results of this study he found that from the 44 thieves, 32% of these were ‘affectionless psychopaths’ and a further 86% of these had experienced early separation from their mother. The other 685 of the thieves that were not ‘affectionless psychopaths’, 17% had experienced early separation from their mother.
From this Bowlby concluded that separation and/or deprivation results in permanent emotional damage, the study also shows that the effects of separation and/or deprivation can be easily observed years later through the behavior.
However, Bowlby later challenged his own theory through his study into children who were hospitalized, as they were suffering from tuberculosis (TB). The children that Bowlby studied had spent between 5 and 25 months in hospital, and had had no substitute mother, but the children had been allowed regular visits from their families.
When Bowlby later tested the children, he could find no difference between the hospitalized children, and children that had developed normally.
