PPT 3b - Culture and human development

PPT 3b - Culture and human development Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory. Also use PPT 3 a about twins and genetic nature V nurture study.

Starter activity - Culture in your home Make a list of as many activities that you have carried out on your own when you were going through the childhood life stage. Now compare these with each others. Do any of you practice a religion? Do any of you look after younger brothers and sisters? Do any of you carry out household domestic tasks for your parents? How much time do you spend on your own completing tasks, hobbies, socialising, and compare this with the amount of time you spend with your parents (doing the same. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

AfL What have you noticed? Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

AfL Now compare your life style with other cultures! Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Different age groups working together everyday from a very early age is common within other cultures. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Culture and human development Q&A The thought of young children handling knives makes many UK parents shudder, yet toddlers in parts of Africa safely use machetes. Similarly, infants in middle-class communities in the UK are often expected to sleep alone by the time they're only a few months old, while Mayan children typically share their mother's bed through their toddler years. These striking differences in child-rearing practices reflect the diverse range of what is considered developmentally appropriate for children around the world, depending on their cultural circumstances. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

What the theorists say! The UK is a highly age-segregated society, with children spending much of their time away from the activities of adults. That segregation removes children from important opportunities to observe and learn from elders by participating in valued community activities, said Rogoff. In communities that are age-segregated, childhood is often viewed as 'preparation' for later entry into the adult world, she noted. Adults arrange for children's involvement in exercises--in school or at home--to prepare for community involvement in adulthood. . "All children grow as members of cultural communities," said Rogoff, an expert on learning and development who holds the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Chair in Psychology. "So understanding how childhood is supported, constrained, and constructed in any community is part of understanding child development." The very notion of familiar developmental "milestones," such as the ability to sleep independently, walk and read by certain ages, and "move away from home" in early adulthood, reflects European middle-class culture. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development

In the UK Cultural difference can have a negative effect on certain groups. Read the newspaper articles and then we will discuss the issues . If you want an example of the official “conspiracy of silence” that has allegedly allowed hundreds of vulnerable white girls in some towns to be abused by Asian men, the case of Ajmal Mohammed, a 43-year-old from Blackburn, might seem to be it. In 2004, Mohammed, an amateur cricketer in the Ribblesdale league, took a schoolgirl to a Manchester hotel room and got her drunk – to celebrate, he said, her 14th birthday. The child ran away. Police were called, but he denied having sex with her and they issued him with a “child abduction warning letter”. He was never prosecuted. Two years later, Mohammed took another 14-year-old to a hotel room, this time in Blackpool – and this time he raped her. When the police came for him, they found the numbers of six other vulnerable youngsters on his mobile phone. In industrial towns across the North and the Midlands, over the past three years, at least 51 people have been convicted in trials involving groups of men who have picked up young girls for sexual exploitation. Forty-eight of the offenders were Asian; the vast majority of the victims were white. Last week, in Derby, nine men, eight of them Asian, were sentenced for their parts in a gang that groomed, sexually exploited and in some cases raped 27 local children, 22 of them white. The issue exploded on to the national agenda on Friday after Jack Straw, the former Home Secretary who is also MP for Blackburn, said that in his town, some Pakistani men saw white girls as “easy meat”. There was, he said, “a specific problem of Pakistani-heritage men who target vulnerable young white girls, and we need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani-heritage men thinking it’s OK to target white girls in this way”. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Think again! A Channel 4 documentary on the subject in 2004 was pulled at the request of police. Few experts were willing to talk openly yesterday. Yet as early as 2006, Blackburn’s local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, launched a “Keep Them Safe” campaign to make the authorities tackle what it called “sexual grooming and abduction […] which predominantly involves Asian men”. In article after article, the paper charted locals’ frustration at officialdom’s reluctance to get involved: in 2007, it reported, the parents of some victims even threatened to sue the police for their failure to act. The editor, Kevin Young, said: “This is an extremely sensitive subject, and the Telegraph gave it a lot of consideration before launching its campaign.” In response, in 2008, Lancashire police and Blackburn social services set up Operation Engage. By March last year, it had offered protection to some 385 girls and young women. Similar operations have sprung up in Preston and other nearby towns. Some schools in East Lancashire now offer their female pupils lessons in “how to spot a sexual groomer”. There could, of course, hardly be a more emotive story than this. Sexual abuse! White girls! Pakistani men! Politically-correct establishment letting it all happen! No wonder the BNP has been licking its lips (though, unfortunately for them, the only two white Blackburn people recently convicted of this crime, in November 2008, turned out to be members of the party). Yet just because the BNP exploits an issue, does not mean there is nothing in it. The questions really should be: is it simply a local problem in those towns? What, if any, wider weaknesses does it expose in Britain’s Muslim communities? And what, if any, wider weaknesses does it expose in Britain’s governing class? Sadly for the racists, the figures just do not support any attempt to paint British Muslims and Asians as sex predators on a national scale. Asians are, in fact, under-represented among sex offenders. As at June 2009, there were 7,021 British men in prison for sex crimes, of whom only 234 were Asian. That is 3.3 per cent, rather less than the proportion of Asians in the population. And a 2008 study by Malcolm Cowburn of Sheffield Hallam University found that jailed sex criminals from ethnic minorities were less likely to have abused children than white sex offenders. HarasRafique, of the Centri counter-extremism think tank, says: “There is a problem, a massive problem, but I don’t think it’s confined to Pakistani communities. It only appears to be a bigger problem with immigrants because immigrants are more visible.” And not just because of their skin colour. Asians do not commit more sex crimes, but they do, perhaps, commit different sorts of sex crimes. White child abusers are more likely to find and groom their victims in private, on the internet. The evidence suggests that Asian abusers are more likely to find and groom their victims in public, on the street. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Task 1 – List four cultural factors that can have a very positive effect on human development in the childhood life stage in the UKNow list four factors that could have a negative effect on human development in the adolescent life stage in the UK Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Cultural differences and how they approach child nurturing Human development theories: windows on culture By Robert Murray Thomas Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development

Case study – 21 year old Joseph and 15 year old Roberta Key words – nationality, region, locality, ethic background, gender, religious affiliation, occupation, level of education, age, social class, fraternal association, recreational pursuits, athletic team, political preferences and many more. "we all have our own idiosyncratic gestures"; "Michelangelo's highly idiosyncratic style of painting"

Tasks – what kind of person will Teresa become (in later life Teresa would like to become a doctor)? • Scenario 1 - Teresa’s parents come from a lower working class background, the mother is a clearer and the father is ling-term unemployed. Neither has any educational qualifications. What does that make you think about Teresa's chances of becoming a Doctor. • Scenario 2 - Now suppose Teresa's parents come from a upper middle class background. They are wealthy and one is a famous surgeon, the other a child psychologist. How likely is it that Teresa will become a doctor? Scenario 3 – suppose Teresa's lower working class parents were both killed in a tragic accident straight after her birth – and she was then adopted by the upper middle class parents. How do you see her future prospects? Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

AfL • You will probably agree that – in our society at least – the child from lower working class origins, on average, will have a more modest career prospects that the child from upper middle class parents. There are many exception of course but, by and large, successful people are the children of other successful people, poor people are the children of poor people. • But why is this? • Is it because successful people are born with above average abilities – and pass these abilities on to their children through their genes? (that would be a ‘nature’ theory). • Or is it just because successful people are able to provide their children with a better education, a more stimulating environment, better contacts and so on? (that would be a ‘nurture’ theory). Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Examination style question – 2010 – nature or nurture Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

AfL • Do genes play a role in our success in later life? • The nature versus the nurture debate! Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Social mobility What do all three of our Party leaders have in common? Well, they’re all male, middle-aged, probably rather dull at dinner parties. But there’s something else: they all got into politics through family “contacts”. At 15, Ed Miliband was doing work experience for Tony Benn. David Cameron worked for his MP godfather before being tipped for CCHQ by Buckingham Palace. And Nick Clegg, as we all now know, got his first job at the European Commission through a next-door neighbour. So it’s no surprise to see this in the latest YouGov poll: of all the professions, politics is seen to be the least meritocratic. Only 8 per cent of respondents think that getting into politics is “mostly about what you know and how good you are”. 76 per cent think that it’s “mostly about who you know and what contacts you have”. The equivalent figures for medicine are 71 per cent and 11 per cent. It’s quite clear what the public thinks: intelligent kids become doctors, well-connected ones become politicians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd0vpuPYC9Q&feature=related Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVSKsvyNGM

Plenary • Explain what you understand by the term culture and human development. • What factors can influence a good quality education and subsequent good job? • What does social mobility mean? • Is it nature of nurturing that can help to improve life chances? • HWK now try to use this information to answer the examination style questions Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

The ‘nature’ viewpoint • Career success is only one vast number of things that distinguish one person from another, of which some are clearly the products of genetic inheritance, while others are undoubtedly the products of environment. • The nature viewpoint, as we are calling this, is the view that what we are is mainly determined by our biological inheritance. Darwin (1809-1882) showed how living things could change gradually over time as a result of ‘natural selection’, resulting eventfully in new species. Animals or plants that thrived would pass on their characteristics to their offspring's., so these characteristics would spread, but animals that coped less well would not be so successful in reproducing, so their characteristics would tend to die out. In essence what ‘natural selection’ means is that nature accidentally achieves, over many thousands of years, the same kind of result as animal breeders achieve on purpose. Darwin was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural world.

Studies of twins • This has been one way that researchers have explored the influence of genetic inheritance on personality and other individual characteristics. • There are two types of twins what are they? Charles Darwin’s natural selection Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slbeTHBFrrc&feature=related Fraternal Identical • Twins are conceived at about the same time and grown together in their mother's womb, but they are no more closely related than any other pair of siblings (that is to say that share, on average, about 50 per cent of the same genes). Fraternal twins do not necessarily look alike and may not be of the same ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gwnzW4jOMI&ob=av3eender. • Twins on the other hand, result when a single fertilised egg divides and the two resulting parts start growing into separate individuals. Such twins are not always absolutely identical because environmental factors – in the womb, at birth, or subsequently – may result in some differences. But they certainly look very alike – and they are genetically identical: they both have exactly the same set of genes. Occasionally it happens that identical twins are separated at birth and this event allows scientists to look in reality at the kinds of questions that we considered hypothetically in the activity about Roberta and Joseph. Is it the genetic parents, or the environment and the adults who actually raise a child, who are the most powerful influence on the child’s development? Twin studies have shown that there are often surprising similarities between the lives, preferences, careers and so on, of twins who have been separated.

Summary of nature on human behaviour AfL • There are many difficulties with such studies on twins. It has been said that it is to simplistic to say that nature and genetics have shaped twin human behaviour , but there are occasions when research has proved this theory to be correct. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

The nurture viewpoint • The word nurture refers in particular to the care received by a child from her parents. Nurture in this sense is one important part of the environment in which human growth takes place and few would argue that nurture in this sense dose not make a difference to the kind of person we become. • But when we speak of ‘nurture’ in the context of nature-nurture debate, we are talking more generally about any kind of environmental influence, which may include anything from events before, during and after birth, to factors as diverse as cultural expectations, nutrition, education, political circumstances and so on. • Karl Marx (1818-1883) also regarded human thought and consciousness as being shaped by the society in which it took place. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

In this discussion the word ‘nurture’ will cover all the factors other than biological inheritance (the genetics we inherit) which might make a difference to who we are and what we become. • Pavlov (1849-1939) and Watson and Skinner are other well-known names that studied human behaviour. Much of their work has accumulated impressive evidence that the environment shapes behaviour according to certain predictable rules. • Behaviours which are rewarded in some way, tend to be repeated (they become ‘conditioned’), behaviours which are not rewarded, or which lead to a negative outcome, will become extinguished. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Task – list all the positive human development features that are taught through nurturing an infant then through childhood and the adolescent life stage. • Start from the very beginning! • By its nature nurturing is a creative and spontaneous activity that can take many forms. Most or any activity parents engage in that shows children that they are loved will be an effective act of nurture. • It is important that parents encourage and select nurturing activities that will help young children to develop properly, but in most cases, parents will naturally and spontaneously be drawn to select and provide children with nurturing activities that will accomplish this goal. • Children will just think that Mum, Dad, and Grandpa want to play and to enjoy time together. They won't know that parents are actually trying to teach loving lessons.

AfL • Bonding with your child and listening to them • Taking an interest in all the things they do. • One of the greatest attributes a child can possess is the belief that they have potential. But a child will only believe about himself, what his parent believes about him. • Help your child experience the joy found in the "give-and-take" of relationships. • Help your child feel safe. • Show your child that she is part of a larger network of love and relationships. • Nurture your child's respect for differences. • Promote an appreciation for your own, and others', culture. • Social-emotional wellness is often known as infant mental health by early childhood professionals. In a nutshell, it is the developing capacity to experience and regulate emotions, form secure relationships, and explore and learn—all in the context of the child's family, community and cultural background. • Understanding good diet • Feeding your child a balanced nutritious diet every day • Keeping your child safe and free from all times of harm • Listen to what your children talk about. • Provide lots of guidance and initiate sharing and turn-taking games. • Understand that toddlers are less willing to be compliant when they are tired or not feeling well. • Use distraction or redirection to calm or avoid disputes. • Model positive social and sharing behavior in your everyday interactions with children and parents. Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

Lesson Objective – to learn how different cultural attitudes and religion can affect human development and to investigate the nature versus nurture theory.

PPT 3b - Culture and human development