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Culture

Culture. Early Years Lecture 14. This lecture. What do we mean by ‘culture’? How is culture different from context? Why study cultural differences? How does culture influence development?. What is ‘culture’?. .... how long have you got?

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Culture

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  1. Culture Early Years Lecture 14

  2. This lecture • What do we mean by ‘culture’? How is culture different from context? • Why study cultural differences? • How does culture influence development?

  3. What is ‘culture’? .... how long have you got? Write down as many things as you can that contribute to ‘culture’

  4. What is ‘culture’? “a relatively organized system of shared meanings” (Smith & Bond, 1998, p. 35) “A culture is a socially transmitted or socially constructed constellation consisting of such things as practices, competencies, ideas, schemas, symbols, values, norms, institutions, goals, constitutive rules, artefacts, and modifications of the physical environment” (Fiske, 2002, p. 83)

  5. What is ‘culture’? How does it differ from context? Is it possible to separate them out? Culture A Culture B Context 1 Context 2

  6. Why study cultural differences? • Psychology is dominated by UK, USA, & Europe... .... implications for research findings? > theories? • Highlights assumptions made by researchers from within the same culture ..... like air? • Allows us to ‘flesh-out’ theories • Acts as catalyst for research

  7. Impact of cross-cultural research Cross-cultural research is useful for testing theories founded on Western behaviour (i.e., behaviour within a Western culture) in order to examine their applicability in different ‘circumstances’. This can reveal otherwise hidden assumptions that are nonetheless implicit in psychological theory. But it can also reveal regularities across cultures.

  8. Influence of culture: 1 Mother-Child relationship From earlier..... Strange Situation. 2 cultures separated by geographical distance - Takahashi (1986; 1990). Greater % of Resistant types in Japanese study. - Grossman et al., (1985). Greater % of Avoidant types in German study. Do Germans encourage independence while Japanese parents value clingy (i.e., ‘needy’) behaviour?

  9. Influence of culture: 1 Mother-Child relationship When to wean? Sears & Wise (1950) older @ weaning > emotionally disturbed Single sample – Kansas City (65/70 < 7 months) Whiting & Child (1953) Worldwide sample – 52 societies S & W correct... but only up to 18 months. After that, ED not associated with age @ weaning Conc? Single sample gives narrow range of variation

  10. Influence of culture: 1 Mother-Child relationship Rabian-Jamin (1989) 2 cultures operating in the same geographical location French vs West African mothers (all in Paris) Infants (10 -15 months) French Mum > more talking to infant + verbal and nvc integration African Mum > toys to play with Why? African = wait until able to learn i.e., different cultural expectation

  11. Influence of culture: 1 Mother-Child relationship Different cultural expectations re. language So what? 3 types of family 1. Welfare (i.e., DHSS); 2. Working-class; 3. Prof. Amount of language exposure; 3 > 2 > 1 Speed of lexical development? 3 > 2 > 1 (Hart & Risley, 1999)

  12. Influence of culture: 1 Mother-Child relationship In most cultures = ‘motherese’ (child-directed speech - CDS). CDS > rate of language acquisition. Correlation or cause? Kaluli parents (NG) = no CDS... but lexical development = normal (Schieffelin, 1990) Q. Does language development require adult ‘scaffolding’?

  13. Influence of culture: 2 Motor development Orphaned children (Iran; Dennis, 1960) No self-initiated motor movement until 2 years (compare with normal development; @ 6 months; sit upright; crawling; @12 months; walk-like behaviour – see Lecture 3) Result? no crawling > hit obstacles with feet > no ‘pull-up’ > delayed walking

  14. Influence of culture: 2 Motor development Q. Should early crawling/walking be encouraged? Intuitive answer = YES. But... in Indian culture in Mexico... NO. Why? Not old enough to have learned to keep away from dangerous places (e.g., fireplace) Babies are dangers to themselves and others!

  15. Influence of culture: 3 Perceptual development ‘Carpentered’ world hypothesis (Segall et al., 1988) Those raised in an environment shaped by carpenters (i.e., rectangular) will interpret non-rectangular figures as rectangles in perspective

  16. Influence of culture: 3 Perceptual development Segall et al., (1988) 3 x Western samples 14 x non-Western samples > presented with visual illusions e.g., Same length?

  17. Influence of culture: 3 Perceptual development In general, non-Western samples were less susceptible to vis. illusions. Samples from ‘open-vista’d’ environment more susceptible to the illusion below. Same length?

  18. Influence of culture: 3 Perceptual development Depth cue (remember Gibson & Walk?) Hudson (1960; 1967) Which animal is being hunted? (Which is closer?) S. Africa School children = 3D Non-school = 2D

  19. Influence of culture 4: Informal learning Carraher, Carraher & Schliemann (1985) Brazilian ‘street kids’ vendors in Recife (migrant workers; poor) 5 children (9-15 years) M = 11.2

  20. Influence of culture 4: Informal learning Interviewed [1] Informal test e.g., “How much is one coconut?” “35” “I’d like 10. How much is that?” “3 will be 105; with 3 more, that will be 210.....I need 4 more. That is....315.... I think it is 350”

  21. Influence of culture 4: Informal learning [2] Formal test (pencil/paper) Two types of Q. [a] “What is 35 x 10?” [b] “Mary bought 10 coconuts. Each coconut cost 10 cruzeiros. How much did she pay altogether?”

  22. Influence of culture 4: Informal learning Results? % Correct Informal test (IT) = 98.2 Word problems (WP) = 73.7 Formal maths (FM) = 36.8 IT > FM = significant difference ... but in school, children taught to master computation BEFORE applying skills to real-world problems?

  23. Influence of culture 5: Gender id Some additional brief words about Freud .. remember Boys = Oedipus complex? Why? Boys envy Father’s relationship with Mother Malinowski (1927) – studied Trobriand islanders (NG) children disciplined by Uncle (cult. different roles) boys anger directed at Uncle > relationship with Mother as a cause of anger/envy is unfounded

  24. Influence of culture 5: Gender id Gender stereotypes? Cross-cultural? Williams & Best (1990) – 27 countries (3 x Africa; 10 x Europe; 6 x Asia; 2 x NA; 6 x SA) List of adjectives. Does this word apply more to: [1] Men? [2] Women? Results....?

  25. Influence of culture 5: Gender id Criteria: within country > 66% agreement x-cult > 19 countries 49 adjectives = ‘male’ e.g., ‘adventurous’ (25); ‘aggressive’ (24); ‘dominant’ (25); ‘unemotional’ (23) 25 adjectives = ‘female’ e.g., ‘affectionate’ (24); ‘emotional’ (23); ‘sentimental’ (25); ‘submissive’ (25).

  26. Influence of culture 6: Morality Already seen differences between Canadian and Chinese children (see Lecture 11) ... subtle difference? Schweder et al. (1990) Should widows eat fish? USA = ok Orrissa = No! not simply different moral force

  27. Influence of culture 7: Intelligence Glick (1975) - Anthropologist Understanding of taxonomic categories Studied Kpelle people in Africa. • asked adults to sort items into categories – sorted along functional lines (e.g., hoe grouped with potato) Glick tried, and failed, to teach them to categorize items his way. Eventually he decided they simply didn't have the mental ability to do this. As a last resort, he asked them how a stupid person would do this task. At this point, without any hesitation, they sorted the items into taxonomic categories!

  28. Culture: Selects tasks for members Social interaction = guide to success Who’s intelligence is the benchmark? Remember from Lecture 7

  29. Context & Culture: Are we getting anywhere? Example from Luria (1976) Peasant farmers “All bears in the North are white... If you were up North, what colour bears would you see?” “I don’t know what colour the bears there are; I never saw them” .. but with training... thought became abstract... answers based on logic.

  30. Context & Culture: Are we getting anywhere? Meaning....? ... are context and culture determining variables... or simply differing degrees of experience? How differently does culture make us think – if at all?

  31. Conclusions Development is guided (shaped?) by opportunities provided by culture... to learn and practice particular skills & behaviour Context and culture are not dissociable – they are ‘woven’ together.

  32. Reading • Eysenck, M. W. (2005). pp. 227-229; 432-433; 564-565.

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