How Enculturation Shapes Children's Development in Different Cultures

How does enculturation affect children's development? AP Seminar April 2022 Word Count: 2013

Introduction Enculturation delineates and explains various human characteristics between cultures. Enculturation is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.”. The synchrony of cultures is determined by the fundamental attributes of a society. The learning and teaching of necessary, relevant, and viable skills bring forth a newly educated generation. To illustrate this phenomenon, a 2019 survey was conducted to demonstrate the influence of parents’ culture on their children’s development (Maryville University). Collectivism is defined as the practice of giving a group priority over each individual in it. This concept is seen in Asian, South and Central American, and African countries. Individualism juxtaposes the notion of collectivism. Individualism is a social theory favoring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state controls. Europe and North America are the two continents where individualistic ideals are more prominent. Both mindsets are rooted in the culture of various geographical locations. The type of mindset an individual has contributed to the societal problems of their community. Therefore, directly influencing the extremism of the behavior taught to a child. Collectivism affects a child as they are thought to be more empathetic and open-minded to laws concerning equality and fairness. The opposite is true in individualistic communities. Children who are raised with parents fitting into the individualism mindset stereotype are more likely to support laws pertaining to nationalism, freedom, and respect of authoritative figures. In short, the different environmental impacts shape how children develop. Parent’s culture strongly confluences and connects to a child’s language for communication, moral ideologies, and the understanding of their role as a member of society. It is crucial to remember that parenting techniques do not entirely dictate the future of a child. External influences include the introduction of social media,

negative or positive social circles, financial prosperity or issues, racial or gender discrimination, etc. Enculturation is shown in Barry El al's 1959 cross-cultural study of various cultures and their child training practices. It was discovered that hunting and fishing cultures, such as the indigineous community of the Inuit, focused a majority of their time educating and training children in practices that encouraged initiative and innovation. This is a contrast to agricultural societies who are more strict on rules and practices of crops and animals. The authoritarian family dynamic in these communities is a result of the endless negative possibilities. For example, if a crop fails, the devastating effect will be seen for months on end. Food insecurity would increase and a solution to this problem would be too time consuming to implemize that the long-lasting consequence of crop failure will forever remain and damage the prosperity of the community. Parents utilize social norms to raise their kids in a particular way to prepare their children for the “real world”. Preparedness connects with one of the key responsibilities of a parent, protecting their child. The best way to achieve this task is by ensuring they know of the dangers and understand the people they will be surrounded with. By knowing necessary behaviors, children will be prepared for the outside world because said behaviors help kids operate and thrive in a specific culture and society. However, when social environmental norms and home traditions clash, developmental issues can arise. In short, distinct cultural values greatly influence parental techniques such as disciplinary punishments and rewards. Conformity is defined as the behavior of compliance to standards, rules or laws. The Asch Conformity Experiment is a great example that highlights the need for social acceptance due to cultural expectations and parenting approaches. A subject was placed with six confederates, or individuals who seem to be participants but in reality are part of the research team, in a petite room. The subject was presented with four figures, specifically lines. They were

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asked to choose two out of four lines that looked similar. The confederates of the experiment purposely selected the incorrect answer to fool the subjects' final response. As expected, the experiment demonstrated the swaying of the subject’s views as the subject chose the same answer as the confederates. They did this to conform to the majority belief, even if their choice was wrong. The validation achieved by his unified answer soothes the idea of isolation. When alone, the subject was almost 100% accurate when selecting which lines were similar. with a less than one percent error. When in a group the subject conformed the majority 36.8% of the time. The experiment shows how the subject would conform to the majority. Conformity is connected to enculturation because of this unifying behavior. The synchronization to a whole or group results in the establishment of underlying values and beliefs. Although conformity does not directly affect the start of a child's development, it is still present in the process. Most of it’s effects are noted or “in full affect” in a child’s teenage and young adulthood years. Conformity is split into categories, which are then divided by levels. The level of these categories are determined by the impact of the effect and vary from culture to culture. Larsen explored conformity’s diverse sections in the 20th century. Laresnen conducted three replications of Asch's experiment in different time segments: 1974, 1979 and 1990. In the 1974 experiment, conformity rates were at the highest concentration in the U.S. compared to that in the 1979 experiment. The different rates of conformity throughout time are explained by the major events that took place in specific communities and cultures. In Larsen’s case, the U.S was the setting the case was conducted in. Due to this, he analyzed current events in the U.S to provide context for the subject’s answers. Laresen argues that the difference in conformity rate between 1974 and 1979 is a result of the beginning and end of the Vietnam War. Vietnam began November 1st, 1955 and ended April 30, 1975. Due to this, Larsen proves that every culture has different rates

of conformity. For example, conformity in social norms is more prominent in Eastern countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Fiji. Western countries juxtapose this idea as Western countries follow the idealistic mindset and defend individual rights in government legislation. In short, the reason why eastern countries have a higher conformity rate is explained by analyzing their customs and traditions. Easten countries adopt collectivism. This cultural principal and conformity collaborate to influence government laws and individual’s living standards. For example, countries like China or North Korea have communist beliefs. Alongside China and North Korea, most Eastern countries have a lot more regulation, causing citizens to have higher conformity rates. There is a grand contrast between eastern and western culture. As stated before, collectivism and high conformity rates are dominant in eastern countries compared to the individualistic mindset and low conformity rates in western countries. The diverse cultures affect how a child builds his or her values and how it integrates into becoming a member in society. Parents have an influence on a child's upbringing in society. A parent teaches the values they learned from society to his or her child. These values can be credited to government officials and members of society that hold these principals . The parenting styles significantly differ from east to west. Eastern countries give a strong emphasis in education, discipline, and work ethics. This is observed in “Who Spends The Most on Their Child’s Education” ( World Economic Forum [4]) countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and India are in the top 15, signifying and prioritizing education whether it is extracurriculars or academics. Another study was done by Freedman, 1969, on the behavior of Chinese-American and Caucasian-American. The study showed that the Chinese-American infants were found to be more stable when compared to Causcasian-American. Freedman's conclusion showed that these types of behavior can be

credited to different parenting tactics and can determine how the child develops into adulthood. In western countries, more specifically the United States, parents usually have a more holistic approach. They let their children explore and have more freedom. Of course the freedom given to children in the United States makes sense given its history; the United States’s values revolve around freedom and liberty for all. Collectivism in eastern countries is highlighted when talking about Filial Piety in the West versus the East. According to the Center for Retirement Research, only 3 percent of young adults care for their parents in the United States, this is exceeded by eastern countries where most young adults tend to live or care for their parents. There is no better ‘culture’ or ‘values’ when comparing eastern countries and western countries. Both cultures are different and are shaped up by their own history. The impact enculturation has on children is predominantly good, there is no risk of assimilationism or modification in your own culture. The biggest harm of enculturation are the mistakes of the parent and society being passed on to the children. The physiological flaws that are able to be passed down from generation to generation are racism, sexism, and homophobia. These prejudices being passed down is one of the biggest problems with enculturation. It is an unavoidable problem. A more prominent example is the concept of intergenerational trauma. Intergenerational trauma is when traumatic experiences are passed down from those who directly experienced it. A lot of them depend on things like alcohol and fall into patterns of domestic violence, often leading to divorce. Their children may experience attachment issues and often disconnect from their culture or family, straining the family relationship. For example, John's grandparents lived through the partition of India of 1947, the liberation war in Bangladesh resulted in the experience of oppression, poverty, and PTSD. John's grandparents' repressed anger led to the physical and emotional abuse of his parents. John's parents were codependent on

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alcohol and had severe untreated mental illnesses because of John’s parents and grandparent’s trauma, John also became codependent. He seeked approval of authority figures, obtained attachment and was later diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. John, being diagnosed with depression, lied about the impact his parents had had on him. Having feelings of racism, sexism or homophobia, which can also be passed down or learned from those around you. The improvement of lives and the advocoation for the LGBTQ+ community is one effect of enculturation. The harm society has had on individuals who felt isolated from society used their voice and united to create reform programs. Giving more support towards LGBTQ+ gave rise to more teens coming out and feeling safe to be accepted in society. This is a direct contrast to other countries who have yet to accept these values. For example, Russia is still holding on to strong believes against the LGBTQ+ community with more than 80% hiding thier sexual orientation and having a lot less safety. Enculturation is a non-genetic form of inheritance that happens through social learning (Adranda, 2020). Beliefs such as racism, homophobia and even sexsim can be passed on from generation to generation with the influence of a parent and/or environment. These kinds of influences have a toll on how children turn out, and how they will hold their place in society. These kinds of harmful impacts are something that should be stopped from being passed down from generation to generation. One way to prevent this is to raise awareness and increase education in schools about certain learned behaviors that children have little to no control over. This solution is not bulletproof. For example the harm towards the child is already done and it is hard to stray away from learned behavior. The other solution is to target the parents before the harm to the child is already done. This solution again, revolves around education to the whole. Sexim, racism, and homophobia are all rooted in ignorance. Both of these solutions need the

cooperation of the state and the citizens, which is the biggest limitation. Enculturation becomes more apparent and complex when you see it from different cultures, different parenting behaviors, and different environments all affect a child's development. Bibliography: Nicole Barile. (2019, May 16). Slow culture - blog . Nicole Barile. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://futureofglobalwork.com/blog/tag/Slow+Culture

Travis DixonTravis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, MACKENZIE, K., Tdixon, MacKenzie, K., Catalina, & Dixon, T. (2017, June 20). What is "Enculturation?" . IB Psychology. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/2017/06/20/what-is-enculturation/ Travis DixonTravis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, T. (2016, October 4). Key study: Conformity - asch (1955) . IB Psychology. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/2016/10/04/key-study-conformity-a sch-1955/ "Asch Conformity Experiment" YouTube, uploaded by HeroicImaginationTV, Feb 20, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA . Travis DixonTravis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, C.g., Dixon, T., Wietersheim, A., & Audrey. (2020, March 30). Key study: Conformity rates across cultures (bond and smith, 1996) . IB Psychology. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/2016/10/04/key-study-bond-and-s mith-1996/ Wagle, K. (2018, August 23). 14 differences between acculturation vs Enculturation . Public Health Notes. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.publichealthnotes.com/differences-between-acculturation-vs-encultur ation/ Klein, E. M., Müller, K. W., Wölfling, K., Dreier, M., Ernst, M., & Beutel, M. E. (2020, July 17). The relationship between acculturation and mental health of 1st Generation

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Immigrant Youth in a representative school survey: Does gender matter? Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7368737/ Cultural influences on child development . Maryville Online. (2021, April 8). Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://online.maryville.edu/blog/cultural-influences-on-child-development/#:~:text =Culture%20influences%20development%20from%20the,and%20as%20membe rs%20of%20society Andranda, G. (2020, July 23). Ideology and social cognition: The Challenge of Theorizing 'speciesism' . Taylor & Francis. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24740500.2019.1705233 Gelfand, M. J., Caluori, N., Jackson, J. C., & Taylor, M. K. (2020). The cultural evolutionary trade-off of ritualistic synchrony. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , 375 (1805), 20190432. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0432 Fast fashion systems –an introduction. (2013). Fast Fashion Systems , 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1201/b16230-6

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