If attachment is an innate behaviour then we would expect attachment behaviours to be very similar across the world, which they are to the extent that all infants fall into the 3 or 4 attachment categories discovered by Ainsworth and Bell. However, infant attachment in various cultures has been studied using the strange situation test and findings have shown that this is not the case. Findings for infants in the United States, Israel, Japan, and Germany were reported by Sagi, Van Ijzendoon, and Koren-Karie (1991). Their findings for the American infants were similar to those reported by Ainsworth and Bell: 71% of them showed secure attachment, 12% showed anxious and resistant attachment, and 17% were anxious avoidant. .
The Israeli infants behaved rather differently from the American ones. Secure attachment was shown by 62% of them, 33% were anxious and resistent, and only 5% were anxious avoidant. These infants lived in a kibbutz or collective farm, and were looked after by strangers much of the time. However, they had a close relationship with their mothers, and so tended not to be anxious and avoidant. Japanese infants are treated very differently from Israeli infants. Japanese mothers practically never leave their infants alone with a stranger. In spite of all the differences in child-rearing practices in Japan and Israel, the Japanese infants showed similar attachment styles to the Israeli ones. Two thirds of them (68%) had a secure attachment, 32% were anxious and resistant, and none were anxious and avoidant. However, the Israeli and Japanese children probably showed anxious and resistant attachment for rather different reasons. Israeli children are accustomed being separated form their mother, but they rarely encounter complete strangers. Thus, their resistant behaviour was perhaps due to the presence of the stranger.