Cultural Variations

Cultural Variations

1. Arteriole

   • If blood pressure falls too low a nerve signal is sent from the Vasomotor centre in the brain along the sympathetic nerves, this stimulates the smooth muscle in the walls of the arterioles causing them to contract, narrowing the lumen, causing the blood pressure to increase.

2. The blood leaves the heart under high pressure, the lumen of the artery increases with the increased flow of blood or increased blood pressure and the walls (of the artery) stretch or expand preventing pressure from increasing in artery beyond the normal healthy systolic range.

   • The walls of the artery recoil and the lumen (of artery) returns to normal (preventing a fall in blood pressure)

3. Blood Pressure: 18-year-old male 120/80 mm Hg

   • 20-year-old male 125/80 mm Hg
     • 40-year-old male 135/85 mm Hg

4. Blood Pressure: 20-year-old female 123/80 mm Hg

   • 40-year-old female 133/85 mm Hg

5. If attachment is innate (like Bowlby suggested) then we should find similarities across different cultures

6. Ainsworth's Ugandan study

   • 26 Ugandan children were observed in 1967
     • Found various 'universals' in attachment behaviour - mother's of infants with secure attachments showed greater sensitivity towards their infants than those who had insecure attached children.

7. If cultural variations are observed this suggests that culturally-determined childrearing practices affect attachment rather than inherited processes.

   • Takahashi found that Japanese infants showed much higher rates of insecure-resistant attachment (32%) than in most other cultures, and no evidence of insecure-avoidant attachments

8. Rothbaum et al argued that attachment theory has a strong Western bias, reflecting individualist ideas of the importance of autonomy.

   • Cross cultural similiarities may be explained by universally shared mass media (TV, books) rather than an innate process

9. Posada and Jacobs believe that there is good evidence to support universality of core concepts