Cultural Psychology – Developmental Perspective Seniz Celimli

Cultural Psychology All social and emotional development occurs in a cultural context Culture involves shared beliefs and practices which unite communities and differentiate them from other communities What may appear to be a universal feature of development, is often one of myriad, cultural solutions to a problem Messinger

What is cross-cultural psychology? – The critical and comparative study of cultural effects on human psychology Comparative: at least two samples that represent at least two cultural groups Critical: requires critical thinking – Cross-cultural psychology establishes psychological universals (Berry et al., 1992; Lonner, 1980). Celimli Shiraev & Levy, 2001

Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development StageEgo CrisisAgePositive Outcome 1Basic trust vs. Mistrust0-1Drive and Hope 2Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt2-3Self-control and Willpower 3Initiative vs. Guilt3-5Direction and Purpose 4Industry vs. Inferiority5-12Method and Competence 5Ego Identity vs. Role confusionAdolescenceDevotion and Fidelity 6Intimacy vs. IsolationYoung adultAffiliation and Love 7Generativity vs. StagnationAdulthoodProduction and Care 8Ego integrity vs. DespairMaturityRenunciation and Wisdom Each stage is driven by a developmental conflict, problem, or crisis. Healthy and mature personality is defined as emerging from a positive resolution at each stage. Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society Celimli

Erikson’s theory has been criticized by… – mixing objective description with subjective prescription – an healthy individual is defined in accordance with Western cultural ethics, values, and social institutions – an ideal has been defined rather than the actual Celimli

Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development – Universal across Cultures? Erikson’s stages and their general sequence cannot always be observed in other cultures – In industrialized and economically developed cultures, freedom of choice can be relatively easily practiced – In developing or under-developed countries, choices could be very limited that most of which had been prescribed at birth *** In general, Erikson’s theory is more applicable to the developed societies (broad socialization), where freedom of choice is enabled and encouraged than societies have strict ways of living (narrow socialization) Celimli

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor (0-2): learning to interact with the immediate environment Preoperational (2-7): language acquisition Concrete operation (7 to early adolescence): learning logic Formal operations (adolescence): development of abstract thinking *** Do these stages apply to every culture? Celimli

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development – Universal across Cultures? *** Do these stages apply to every culture? Some argues …. the stage sequences are universal (Dasen, 1994) Some have criticized Piaget’s and his followers’ methodology and procedure (Gardiner, Mutter, & Kosmitzki, 1998) Formal operational stage – accomplished by all adolescents in all societies?? Celimli

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Preconventional Level – Obedience and Punishment – Individualism and Exchange Conventional Level – Interpersonal relationships – Maintaining social order Postconventional Level – Social contracts and individual rights – Universal ethical principles Celimli

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development – Universal across Cultures?? Some skepticism about cross-cultural validity of Kohlberg’s theory: – whether the hypothetical stories would also be applicable to cultures other than Western cultures in terms of legal structures and moral principles *** In many cultures, moral judgments are based on pre-existing traditions (not on freedom of choice) Celimli

Physical contact & tactile behaviors Hispanic mothers report touching more frequently, being more affectionate with their infants and having more skin-to-skin contact. Observations: no overall differences in mother-infant touch, but the Hispanic mothers showed more close touch and more close and affectionate touch compared to Anglo mothers, who showed more distal touch. – Infants were 9 months old » Franco F, Fogel A, Messinger DS, Frazier CA. Cultural Differences in Physical Contact Between Hispanic and Anglo Mother-Infant Dyads Living in the United States. Early Development and Parenting 1996;5(3): Messinger

Current trend of human development Emphasizing the meaning of both individual and cultural factors of socialization Previously, individual autonomy, defined as independence from others: a requisite of healthy human development Celimli

Autonomy vs. Interdependence? Value system, rules, and the structure of the family unit have been formed through the societal demands which show variances across time and cultures. A model of family change (Kağıtçıbaşı, 1996a, 1996b) - analyzes the link between the self, family, and society in order to explain cultural differences Celimli

Family Interaction Patterns (Kagitcibasi, 1996, 2005) Pattern of total interdependence: – The child: the economic value – Independence of the child: not valued and evaluated – Obedience is the essential of the childrearing Pattern of dependence: – The child: the main source of economic costs – Independence of the child: highly valued – Autonomy is the basic childrearing orientation The pattern of psychological interdependence: – The child: no longer the economic value – Psychological interdependence of the child: valued – Closeness and relatedness (not separateness) is the ultimate goal in childrearing practices Celimli

Privileged Treatment of Toddlers: Cultural Aspects of Individual Choice and Responsibility Christine Mosier and Barbara Rogoff Collectivism v. Individualism? Cultures that promote cooperation with the group through freedom of choice Treatment of toddlers: Special treatment or same rules for sharing? Age of understanding Emphasis on individuality and choice promotes cooperation that is voluntary as opposed to guided by parental control The study: – 16 Mayan families from San Pedro, Guatemala – 16 middle class families from Salt Lake City, Utah – Interactions between toddlers (14 to 20 mo) and siblings (3 to 5 yrs) – Interview with mother about child-rearing, social behavior, etc. – Given 9 objects to toddlers and siblings to manipulate, with mother’s help Nayfeld

The results: Mean Proportions (and SDs) of Events in Which Access to an Object Was at Stake San Pedro mothers’ schooling related negatively to their privileged endorsements (r.50, p <.05) and uninvolvement (r.57, p <.05) and related positively to their nonprivileged endorsements (r.56, p <.05). EventSalt Lake CitySan Pedro Toddlers eventually gained access to the object.59 (.20).87 (.09) Mothers endorsed toddler’s privileged position.43 (.24).63 (.22) Mothers endorsed toddler’s nonprivileged position.25 (.13).04 (.05) Siblings endorsed toddler’s privileged position.45 (.19).80 (.09) Siblings endorsed toddler’s nonprivileged position.54 (.21).19 (.09) Nayfeld

Mother’s reports: – More San Pedro mothers: reported privileged treatment of toddler, expected that older sibling cooperate with toddler’s wishes reported that toddlers do not yet understand social consequences of own actions Reported that siblings (3 to 5 y.o.) are their own primary caregivers and have household responsibilities Transitions and Continuity – Mayan families: abrupt transition at birth of next child – Salt Lake City families: continuity of treatment from toddlerhood through childhood (rules of sharing, compelled to behave) Cultural Models: Responsible cooperation developed through freedom of choice v. sharing of rules and resources Nayfeld

Child’s play Child’s development – should be evaluated within cultural context Observation child’s play can help to reveal cultural influences on children’s development (Rogoff, 2003) 2 nd year-old – child’s play moves from exploratory to symbolic (pretend play) Celimli

Child and Mother Play in Three U.S Cultural Groups (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) Mother-child dyads from three cultural backgrounds living in the U.S. – European American mother-child dyads – South American Latino mother-child dyads – Japanese mother-child dyads Celimli

Cultural Differences in Child’s Play (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) European American children – engage more exploratory or object-related play Argentina and Japan children – engage in more symbolic, person-directed play – Why? Celimli

Cultural Differences in the Initiating of Child Play (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) European American mothers Latino mothers Japanese mothers Celimli

Interdependence vs. autonomy? American children are socialized to be relatively autonomous, while Japanese children are socialized to work interdependently in groups – (Benedict, 1974; Conroy et ah, 1980). Japanese mothers more frequently focus their infants' attention within the mother-infant dyad, while American infants spend more time engaged with toys and vocalize or initiate vocalizations more frequently – (Bornstein et al., ; Caudiil and Weinstein, 1969; Shand and Kosawa, 1985) Messinger

Child and Mother Play in Three U.S Cultural Groups (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) Participants: – 20-month-olds and their mothers: South American Latino immigrants (37), Japanese immigrants (36), and European Americans (40). Procedure: – The child play alone (10 min); – The child-mother play (10 min) with an identical toy set

Findings (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) Boys – more exploratory and less symbolic play than girls for all groups Both Latino and Japanese children – more exploratory and less symbolic play when they alone Japanese children – more exploratory and less symbolic play when they alone than play was initiated by mother

Findings (Cote & Bornstein, 2009) Children’s play tends to be more sophisticated when their mothers encourage them than when children initiate play with their mothers or play alone The play of Japanese and South American immigrant children is similar to that of European American children in the sense that it is more sophisticated when play is mother rather than child initiated and that by playing with their mothers, children’s play develops.

Children’s Attention to Interactions Directed to Others: Guatemalan Mayan and European American Patterns Correa-Chavez & Rogoff, 2009 Patterns of Learning – Indigenous: intent community participation Learning by attending to ongoing events and beginning to pitch in when ready – Middle-class: lessons out of context of productive activity – Differences Indigenous toddlers/parents showed “keen simultaneous attention” EA toddlers/parents “quickly alternated their attention” – Schooling often connected with parental attention management Method – 3 groups: Traditional Mayan, Kaxlaan Mayan, European-American – Session 1: observed sibling learning how to make a toy Coded for attention to sibling’s lesson, disruption/attention seeking, and attempts to collaborate – Session 2: Ten days later, put together sibling’s toy Coded for how much help the child needed Kolnik

Session 1: Attending – Mayan children engaged in more sustained attention than EA children, while EA children engaged in more brief glances and not attending – EA children disrupted more than Mayan children – No differences on attempts to collaborate Session 2: Frog toy learning – Effect of background on need for help Traditional Mayan < Kaxlaan Mayan < EA – Effect of sustained attention on need for help Children with more sustained attention needed less help – Effect of sustained attention, CONTROLLING for background Sustained attention significant, background not significant Discussion – Mayan children spent most of the time sustaining attention, EA children didn’t – The more sustained attention, the more learning took place – implications for embedding learning in a culturally appropriate context Possibly more “community participation” teaching Results Kolnik

Tronick, Morelli and Ivey (1992) Continuous Care and Contact model  Primary relationship with one individual that widens only to one or two more people.  Evidence of this in US Infants, and cross- culturally from the !Kung (Konner 1972) BUT...  Many studies on fathers, men, siblings, other children providing care in less developed areas  Model revision ? Mattson

Caretaker-Child Strategic model Motivation and goals, opportunities, constraints between infant and caregiver BUT...  Social Factors - Group Composition, values customs -> child rearing patterns  Ecological Factors - climate, food supply, environmental risks -> effort, protection and care VS. Mattson

Efe People Ituri forest of Zaire  Small communities of a few families  Leaf huts face a communal space  High mortality rates, low fertility  High work load, not strong delineations of labor most gathering is communal  Multiple caregivers, infants engaged with others half the time, 5+ every hour (Tronick et al. 1987) Methodology issues  Naturalistic, one community at both points  Data gathered at different times  Better data gathering methods  Researchers living in these camps  Some variation in when the observations were made Mattson

Method and Results Quasi-cross sectional (Five Levels, N = 40, n ~= 8, gender about the same) Four groups- Mother, Father, Adults, Children  Compare to average person for Adults and Children, rather than the group as a whole for timing Solitary activity increases with age and Social contact decrease with age  Overall less time spent with Mothers across the first three years, no significant difference for Fathers At first time point, Mothers more than father or adults, Children more than Fathers At last time point, More time with Children than any other, More contact with Mother than Father.  More time spent with average child over the first three years  At 5 months spent more time with mother than others, at 3 years Peers and mothers are similar, more children than adults. Mattson

Conclusions and Further Questions Tronick suggests  Society requires managing many relationships which are essential to be successful  Close distances to work areas mean easy to return and console/tend to infant, in contrast with !Kung  Mortality leads to many parent-less children and childless adults  Care-giving style works to buffer from health risks  Many people work as many "secure" bases Therefore this pattern suggest a more multi-layered process were each relationship may have an independent and meaningful impact. Is this exclusionary of CCC model? Mattson