Where babies come from © 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company
Chapter 5
Universal Brains, Cultural Minds How do cultures get inside people’s heads? Course: Culture experiences psychology This chapter: Culture socialization (esp during early development) psychology Ie, culture is nurture, not nature/instincts/genes (so NOT separate populations)
Facets of Culture
Role of Sensitive Periods Sensitive period = span of organism’s life when it can gain a new skill relatively easily E.g., kittens and vision Humans: especially evident with language
Sensitive Periods— Language Acquisition Infants can learn any language effortlessly; after puberty it is MUCH harder Why? ‘Use it or loose it’ principle Loose ability to hear un-used (un-heard) phonemes
Language = Culture? Edward Sapir: language as the single greatest force of socialization Linguistic relativity hypothesis (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) Language thinking
Sensitive Periods— Language Acquisition & Culture Genie Wild Boy of Aveyron
Sensitive Periods—Culture Cheung, Chudek, and Heine (2011). Studied Hong Kong immigrants to Canada for their cultural identification with both Chinese and Canadian culture Results
Development = Acculturation If we are born open to learning any culture, then Younger children should be similar across cultures Older adults should show greater differences across cultures Evidence: Emergence of ‘dialectical thinking’ versus ‘linear’ thinking
Example ‘Noun bias’ assumed to be universal Not! SVO vs VSO, even just plain V different parental behaviors different focus of attention among infants (analytic vs relational)
Folk theories of development VS.
Variations in Infants’ Worlds Movie Babies (2010)
Variations in Infants’ Worlds Keller’s (2007): 3 month olds in 5 cultural contexts Unannounced visits were videotaped- ~100 min each Revealed differences in
Where should infants sleep? Historically and across cultures: co-sleeping US: sleep alone by 6 months Child abuse? Parenting practices become “moralized” Variations in Infants’ Worlds
Where Should They Sleep? Indian value priorities Incest avoidance Protection of vulnerable Female chastity anxiety Respect for hierarchy American value priorities Incest avoidance Sacred couple Autonomy ideal Opposites!
Indian solution: MF 3girl / 14girl 8boy / 15boy 11girl OR F 8boy / 15boy 11girl / M 3girl 14girl How is this incest avoidance?!?
Cultural Psychology, 2 nd Edition Copyright © 2012 W. W. Norton & Company
Parenting Styles Baumrind StyleAccep- tance Parental Control Autonomy Granting Authoritative+++ Authoritarian-++- Permissive++- Uninvolved---
Growing Pains—Toddlers West: Terrible twos = developmental milestone An assertion of autonomy and individuality Foundation for future mature relationships Japan: noncompliance = immaturity
Growing Pains—Adolescents Adolescent rebellion = a developmental milestone A biologically triggered period of ‘storm and stress’ Hall, Freud, etc
Growing Pains—Adolescents But not found in half of 175 pre-industrialized societies Margaret Mead- ‘pleasantest period of life’ Due to individualism and modernity?? Also: quasi-status sleep deprivation
Effects of Education Flynn effect- due to education, healthy, environment…
Vgotsky’s SocioCultural Theory And Luria’s work with Russian peasants “ mind is culturally constituted”
Effects of Education Clear effects of time in schooling on Memory strategies- eg, clustering vs spatial organization Taxonomic categorization (more holistic vs analytical differences), e.g., hatchet, log, hammer… Logical reasoning, eg bears in the North… Mathematical reasoning IQ test scores Goddard’s tests of immigrants- invalid
Case Study: East Asians and Math Stevenson and Stigler (1992): © 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company
Case Study: East Asians and Math Possible explanations 1) Math is taught differently (school days in session, amount of homework, etc.) 2) differences in the valuing of education (kids & parents) 3) differences in expectations 4) Differences in ease of numbering systems
Summary We are born ready to acquire any language and culture, but a sensitive period limits what we can learn easily. Cultural differences in socialization experiences (particularly parenting and formal education) are pervasive and come to engender larger cultural differences as one grows up.