Culture and Human Development Final
4 main sources of change in culture
1. As the result of innovation 2. In response to changed condition in society Ex. economic change, population change (immigration), social transformation 3. Through cultural diffusion - transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another = cultural diffusion is more influential than ever due to our instant communication technologies, subcultures influences enter the dominant culture 4. Because of cultural and social impositions - conquest and wars, laws
Social redefinition varies across cultures
1. Clarity in social redefinition: Explicitness - less explicit in contemporary U.S. society than in traditional cultures 2. Continuity: Starting point and length
Designs to study the effects of cultural change on development
1. Comparing generations at the same stage of life but at different historical periods 2. Comparing different generations at the same time. Note: Intergenerational difference is the variable of interest, Intergenerational conflict can be used to index intergenerational change, the more intergenerational conflict the greater the intergenerational difference
3 components of Initiation ceremony
1. Real or symbolic separation from parents 2. Separation of males and females - accentuation of physical and social differences between males and females 3. Passing on of cultural, historical, and practical information - From the adult generation to the newly inducted cohort of young people
5 Characteristics of emerging adulthood
1. The age of identity explorations 2. The age of instability: on the move (residence, schools, majors, romance) 3. The self-focused age: Learning what it means to make independent decisions and to be self-sufficient 4. The age of feeling in-between 5. The age of possibilities: because different futures remain possible, they have great expectations and optimism
Changes contributing to emerging adulthood stage
1. The rise in the average age for marriage and parenthood 2. The ready availability of reliable birth control, along with less stringent moral standards 3. The pursuit of tertiary education and training 4. More employment opportunities for women
Cultural variation of adulthood include:
1.Being able to financially support their parents. 2. Israeli's completing military service 3. Korean support parents financially Traditional cultures focus on marriage - Demonstration and commitment to being interdependent
2 developmental niches
2 different cultural domains- child's own ethnic group and majority society The cultural context is not homogenous for minority and immigrant children, child develops a context-specific scripts
Theories on adolescence
2 main theories: Adolescent marginality, Intergenerational conflict
A growing generational gap?
2 possibilities: No, social connections between are still strong Yes, pace of technological change has increased in the last 30 years
Attaining adulthood
3 common criteria: 1. accepting responsibility for one's self 2. making independent decisions 3. becoming financially independent All of these criteria are markers of individualism
The transition into adulthood in contemporary society
3 very different trajectory possibilities: one for the "haves", one for the "have nots", one for those who are somewhere in between 2 societal trends are reshaping the nature of the transition - The increasing length of the transitional period - Incresing demand for more formal education
Greenfield's theory
4 levels Top level - Demographic characteristics of communities 3 lower levels - Adaptations to top level Direct and indirect causal influences
Menarche
A girl's first menstrual period.
Counterculture
A sociological concept stating that adolescents develop a different cultural viewpoint that may be hostile to the values or beliefs of adult society.
Quinceañera
A"coming-out" celebration for girls who reach their 15th birthday and that is part of traditional Latino culture.
Child marriages
AKA early and forced marriage - a formal marriage or informal union entered into by individual before reaching the age of 18 *both boys and girls *Mostly poor SES girls
acceptance
Accept cultural differences as important. Own culture is just one possibility in a world of many cultures.
ethnorelativism
According to Bennett's model of intercultural sensitivity: The embracing and integration of self into different cultures.
Punishment
According to behaviorism, the process through which a behavior is made less likely to occur again.
Reinforcement
According to behaviorism, the process through which a behavior is made more likely to occur again
Child soldiers in war
Active combat, messengers, porters, cooks, spies
Prevention science
An area of research that examines the biological and social processes that lead to maladjustment as well as those that are associated with healthy development.
how are child soldiers recruited?
Armed forces will also destroy other outside options for children: schools, villages, farms, ect *Armed forces abuse children's feelings of desperation and traumas resulting from previous situations of extreme violence *Also abuse certain motivations of children: Children may join armed forces because of the desire to take control of events
List and explain the criteria for adulthood that appears to be important in traditional cultures
Arrnett's theory Supporting your parents, demonstrating commitment - getting married, Interdependence ( commitment to community)
Defense
Believe own culture is the most 'evolved'. Experience cultural difference as an attack on values ('they are taking our jobs')
Puberty
Biological changes that lead to physical and sexual maturity *Puberty occurs universally, but not adolescence
Timing varying between genders
Boys: at puberty, at a designated chronological age, or when community decides individual is ready fro status change Girls: Timing usually linked to menache - physical appearance is often changed (clothing)
Ethnic minority children challenges and coping mechanisms
Challenges: learning language and new customs, discrimination, segregation, racism Coping mechanisms: strong ethnic identity, close bonds with extended family
Risk factors Personal
Characteristics or environmental circumstances that increase the probability of negative out-comes for children. Risk is a statistic that applies to groups, not individuals.
Why child soldiers
Children are relatively easy to abduct, subjugate, and manipulate * They are more impressionable and vulnerable to indoctrination * Their moral development is incomplete and malleable * Seen as more loyal and less threatening to adult leadership *Tactical advantage * despite their disadvantages in term of fighting skills, may have a particular functional value
What are characteristics of culture
Conservative, but not monolithic *based on traditions *evolve and change
Why child soldiers
Cost-benefit: children require less food and no payment. punishment of children is also less costly * can present a moral dilemma to enemies: should they kill children? *Rebel groups may recruit children in order to signal seriousness, commitment and ruthlessness, and thereby instill fear in the enemy
Davis' paradigm
Culture conflict is experienced by parents and their offspring Each generation learns culture early, older members have difficulty changing their views, young learn culture from peers and other young adults with more current views
Reentry shock
Culture shock in reverse, upon returning home after living in another culture
Postfigurative cultures
Cultures in which what children and adolescents need to learn to function as adults changes little from one generation to the next, and therefore children and adolescents can learn all they need to know from their elders.
Cofigurative cultures
Cultures in which young people learn what they need to know not only from adults but also from other young people.
Prefigurative cultures
Cultures in which young people teach knowledge to adults.
Descriptive vs. prescriptive norms (value judgments)
David Hume: an "ought" (prescriptive) cannot be derived from an "is" (descriptive) Rogoff position: " The aim is to understand the patterns of different cultural communities, separating understanding of the patterns from judgments of their value"
6 stages of Bennett's model
Denial, defense, minimization, acceptance, adaption, integration
Migration trends
Due to growing inequalities Within and across borders From rural to urban From developing to industrialized countries
Minimization
E l e m e n t s o f o n e ' s culture experienced as universal/ similar to all cultures. May correct culturally different behavior to match expectations.
Anthropological perspective
Emphasize diversity of adolescent experiences across different cultures
Adolescent marginality
Emphasizes the differences in power between adults and adolescents
Protective factors
Environmental and personal factors that are the source of children's resilience in the face of hardship.
Why is the Flynn effect happening?
Environmental improvements: better prenatal care, smaller families, educational television Decline of infectious desease Schooling and technology
Ethical imperialism
Ethics of one's culture considered most appropriate what is different may be considered unethical
teleology
Explanation of phenomena in terms of final causes or goals Design and purpose analogous to that found in human actions are inherent also in the rest of nature Many developmental theories are explained teleologically ex. Piaget: children develop first concrete operations so that they can develop later formal operations
Initiation ceremony
Formal induction of a young person into adulthood : mark social redefinition of youth with a dramatic and elaborate rite of passage
Consequences of child marriage
Girls likely to experience: * violence, abuse and forced sexual relations - women who marry younger are more likely to be beaten and to believe that the husbands can justify it * Poor sexual and reproductive heath - child brides are more likely to contract HIV than their unmarried counterparts because of greater sexual exposure with an older husband *Illiteracy and lack of education - girls tend to drop out of school shortly before or when they get married
Theory of recapitulation
Hall's theory of adolescence: Development of the individual paralleled the development of the human species, in which adolescence matches the transition period to civilization.
Developmental transitions
Important juncture in people's lives Childhood to adolescence: biological changes - puberty, brain development, growth spurt Cognitive changes: Abstract, idealistic,logical thinking Socioemotional changes: independence and peers, conflict with parents
Identity crisis
In Erikson's theory, the specific crisis of the period of adolescence that is shaped both by the changes of puberty and by the specific demands that society places on young people to make decisions about the future.
Id
In Freud's theory, that part of the psyche believed to be dominated by instinctual urges.
Ego
In Freud's theory, that part of the psyche believed to regulate thought, emotion, and behavior, and whose development is emphasized in Erikson's theory.
Learning environments
In Greenfield's theory refers to both the physical environment where enculturation and socialization takes place (e.g., school, family house, etc.) and the psychological environment (e.g., ethnotheories, cultural scripts, etc.) that determines the type of interactions between the child and the caregivers or other socializing agents.
Honor killings
In certain cultures, the killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonor on the family
Mixed status families
Include U.S. citizen children and unauthorized immigrants are known
Migrant
Individual who leaves a place and goes to another without reference to direction, purpose, or duration
Immigrant
Individual who leaves one society behind to live and/ or work in another
integration
Integrate cultural differences into identity. Move in and out of different cultural world views.
3 scenarios about the interpersonal domain
Job scenario (school): challenges family values, but not family practices T-shirt scenario (home): Challenges both family values and family practices Brother scenario: Direct conflict between family and school responsibilities
What is the relationship between the rate of child labor and the GDP of a given country? How can you explain this relationship
Low GDP= high child labor exact opposite regions
Developmental theories
Make value judgments in relation to developmental ends:
Second-citizen view
Many adolescents are prohibited from occupying meaningful roles, thus experiencing frustration and restlessness Adolescent problems are created, in part, by our structure of their experience and by isolating them from adults
Secular trend
Marked changes in physical development that have occurred over generations.
Contemporary differences for migration
More options to remain connect to family - Ease of traveling, internet and media: E-mail, video conference Intense interactions due to remittances Increasing number of women immigrating
Cultures vary in their definition of adolescence
Most cultures have some kind of adolescence Cultural variations: 1. Length: U.S.: ages 10 - 18 2. Content 3. Daily experiences
Ethical relativism
No cross-culturally acceptable standards of right and wrong No ethical principle is objective
naturalistic fallacy
No ethical judgments can be derived from scientific findings Fact/value dichotomy
Can we avoid value judgments
No, we can't avoid value judgements (2 reasons): *Statements of fact/statements of value is a false dichotomy: only a distinction, not a sharp dichotomy * Our "descriptive" vocabulary is value-ladden (it expresses values, is perscriptive)
Denial
Own culture is the only real and 'true' culture. Avoids noticing cultural difference.
how are child soldiers recruited?
Patterns of recruitment of children vary according to the context - usually a mix of punishment, promises of rewards and indoctrination * Recruitment is facilitated when they are forced to participate in an assassination (perhaps of one of their relative, parents or friends) - the objective is to break their will and their bonds with the community
Harmful cultural practices
Practices rooted in culture that put children's physical and psychological health at risk, and that have relatively lasting negative effects on children's development: child labor, infanticide, female genitalia and cutting, child marriage, honor killings
Downward secular trend of menarche
Puberty begins earlier in cultures where good nutrition and medical care are widely available in the U.s. he average age is 12.5 Illness and thinness tend to inhibit the development of body fat resulting in delayed puberty Advances in food production have enhanced nutrition and therefore puberty has come sooner
Emerging adulthood
Recent period of the life course in industrialized countries characterized by experimentation and exploration leading to enduring (adult) commitments A contemporary extension of adolescence
Enculturation
Reinforcing the basic values and norms of a culture of origin
Policy making and international community
Responsible adults try to reduce children's suffering due to harmful cultural practices or difficult contexts of development * goal of presentation science *what fundamental needs must be met to assure that children will develop into healthy, well-adjusted adults? * United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the child - Not ratified by Somalia and U.S.
Modification: Differences within adolescent population
SES structures adolescent experience Impossible to generalized to all adolescents
Susan Beal
SIDS
Motor development is an example of a .....
Secular trend
Sexting
Sending sexually suggestive photos via cell phones.
Enculturation vs. Acculturation
Similarities: Both E and A are processes for acquiring culture Differences: E is learning to become a competent member of an original cultural group, E helps individual to survive and better fit into their original culture A is a 2-way change process when 2 culture meet A changes are felt in both cultures
Cultural comfort
Subconscious expectation for how life is patterned.
Youth culture
Subculture in a given society that is largely created and spread by young people themselves.
adaption
Take into account cultural differences by including relevant constructs from other cultural world views. Not the same as assimilation.
Effects of globalization
Technology effects the way families are being formed: internet dating, international adoption, more options for emerging adults
Equipotentiality
The ability to have similar or equal effects.
Resilience
The ability to recover quickly from the adverse effects of early experience or persevere in the face of stress with no apparent special negative psychological consequences.
Cultural integration
The close relationship among various elements of a cultural system.
Culture shock
The feeling of disorientation when one encounters a new or rapidly changed cultural situation
Cultural change
The fundamental alterations in the patterns of culture and social behavior over time Each generation can add changes to their culture in the process of cultural transmission
Global culture (global village)
The idea that globalization produces a lifestyle that has spread throughout the world and results in the standardization of tastes and values.
Globalization
The increasing worldwide technological and economic integration, which is making different parts of the world increasingly connected and increasingly similar culturally. Greater interdependence, mutual awareness among cultural groups, inevitable force
Social redefinition
The process through which an individual's position or status is redefined by society. he belief common in Asian cultures that children should respect, obey, and revere their parents throughout life.
First- generation families
The status of persons who were born in one country and then immigrated to another.
Second- generation families
The status of persons who were born in the country they currently reside in but whose parents were born in a different country.
Cultural lag
The tendency of symbolic culture to change more slowly than material culture. change in one part of culture accompanies other transformation, all parts of culture don't change at the same pace
Adolescence
The time after puberty begins and before adult roles are taken on *Begins with biology (puberty) and ends with culture (socially constructed)
Cultural diffusion
The transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another.
Glocalization
The ways in which global phenomena are responded to differently in local cultures.
Cultural hybridization
The ways in which parts of one culture (language, practices, symbols) get recombined with the cultures of another.
Flynn effect
The worldwide increase in IQ performance, particularly on nonverbal tests, over at least the last century.
Sociodemographics
Top, causal level in Greenfield's theory that describes characteristics of a culture or community as a whole in terms of its ecology, economy, and social relations
Introduction of TV
Tv is seen as superior than elders, migration to cities leaving elders to care for children left behind
Greenfield's theory
Unique features - Deals simultaneously with 2 scales of development: Ontogentic= Change within a lifetime. Phylogenetic= change across succeeding generations Other theories: Developmental trajectories as constant across historical time *Greenfield's theory = Change in developmental trajectories as constant, as sociodemographic conditions change, cultural values and developmental patterns are transformed across generation
Amae
Very close, physical, indulgent relationship between the mother and her young child.
Effects on children
When set free or escape: many cant go back home to their families and communities because theyve been ostrracized from them * many girls have babie from their time in th erebel groups and their communities/ families dont accpt them home *most have missed out on school: -Without an education they have very liitle future prospects -sometimes return to rebel for food
Acculturation
When the values and norms of an outside culture are acquired
Developmental model of intercultural sensitivity
a continuum ranging from ethnocentrism, or rejection or avoidance of different cultures, to ethnorelativism, the embracing and integration of self into different cultures.
Conclusion of scenario study
acculturation to host society values speedier in domain of personal achievement than in domain of interpersonal relations ancestral values maintained longer if a particular value conflict challenges family practices and values. Parents have more influence on children's values in home contexts than in school settings.
Adolescence as a historical phenomenon
adolescence as a period varies across historical eras No generalizations are possible about how stressful it is, its developmental task, and nature of intergenerational conflict No "identity" when adolescent followed parental occupation
Adolescence as an invention
adolescence is entirely a social invention Division between childhood and adolescence reflects our socioeconominc circumstances adolescents treated as a special group because of compulsory education Social conditions, not biological givens, define the nature of adolescence
Intergenerational conflict (generational gap)
adolescents and adults grow up under different circumstances, developing different attitudes, values, and beliefs, and thus, leading to inevitable conflict
Transnational families
adopt separate living arrangements in 2 or more countries but retain close links with their homeland Reasons for separation Political, economic factors, pursuing education
cultural variations in age of reaching young adulthood
all cultures do not have the transitional period of emerging adulthood
Most serious developmental problems:
associated with a combination of biological, social, and environmental risk factors interacting over time
social learning theory
behaviors are learned through modeling and observational learning
Compare and contrast the fact/value dichotomy vs. the naturalistic fallacy; then elaborate on 2 arguments against the view that value judgments can be avoided in developmental science
cant seperate fact and value
Child labor
children are the cheapest form of labor children in middle childhood are employed in developing countries Provide basic needs for family: food, shelter, clothing
filial piety
children should respect and rever their parents throughout life
Family Relations: conflict
conflicts with parents increase, peaking during mid-teens (mother-daughter more intense)
Adolescents develop a counterculture
different cultural viewpoint that may be hostile to the views of the adult generation We will always have intergenerational conflict because society changes so rapidly Marginality is an inherent characteristic of contemporary adolescence
Why does child marriage happen?
gender inequality- lower status of girl/women *poverty - low income families girls seen as an economic burden and marriage is a potential income * Negative cultural practices - importance of preserving "Family honor" through the girls virginity - marriage safeguard against immoral behavior * Failure to enforce laws - sometimes families are not aware they are breaking the law
MAOA
genetic variant in the code for an enzyme" monoamine oxidase A *affects several neurotransmitter *@ normal gene verisons: short and long, producing people with lower or higher levels of MAOA Beaten+low levels = overly aggressive High MAOA = model citizen Not beaten+high MAOA= troubled adults
public policy
government-based social policy * purpose of social policy about child development: Provide information, provide funding to achieve goals: child protection and family support, provide services to prevent or reduce problems: Head Start, sex education for teenagers, provide infrastructure to support efforts on behalf of children
Number of risk factors
increases the likelihood of problems
Social redefinition consequences
increasing privileges, increasing responsibility
discontinuous societies
industrialized societies characterized by rapid social change: transition to adulthood is abrupt
Teleogical explanation
involves value judgments *A judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something, based on a comparison relative o adopted values
Continuos society
non-industrialized societies with little social change: transition to adult hood is gradual and peaceful
1.5 generation
people who immigrate to anew country before or during their early teens
cosmopolitan identity
perceiving oneself as a citizen of the world
Risk factors
personal characteristics or environmental circumstances that increase the probability of negative outcomes for children *risk is statistic that applies to groups, not individuals *most risk factors are not the direct cause of the developmental problems
Mead
postfigurative, prefigurative, cofigurative
Technological change and youth culture
rate of technological change in a culture influences degree to which adolescents receive instructions from adults or from each other
Behaviorism
reinforcement and punishment as main influences
Acculturation and schooling
schooling is a force for the acculturation of immigrants into the mainstream culture of individualism Under the influence of the school, children of adult immigrants acculturate faster than their parents Learning of culture takes place context by context
social policy
set of planned actions to solve a social problem or attain a social goal
Cause of Family Relation conflicts
sexual maturation, ability to reason and argue effectively, desire for greater independence and autonomy, parental concern over potentially risky behavior *Tradition cultures (autonomy not valued): Few parent-teen conflicts because of feelings of duty and respect
global ethics
show respect for core human values demonstrate sensitivity to local traditions Recognize that context matters when distinguishing between right and wrong
differential sensitivity
some people are more vulnerable than others to particular experiences *genes or circumstances that work both ways: they predispose people to being either unusually successful or severely pathological Ex. violent delinquent often boys beaten in childhood, troubled in school is living in a drug-filled life, crowded neighborhood.
Acculturation development
the process towards gaining competence within 2 distinct cultural domains in order to have a sense of belonging and be able to participate successfully with in both