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Where babies come from 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company Slide 2 Chapter 5 Slide 3 Universal Brains, Cultural Minds How do cultures get inside peoples 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) Slide 4 Facets of Culture Slide 5 Role of Sensitive Periods Sensitive period = span of organisms life when it can gain a new skill relatively easily E.g., kittens and vision Humans: especially evident with language Slide 6 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 Slide 7 Language = Culture? Edward Sapir: language as the single greatest force of socialization Linguistic relativity hypothesis (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) Language thinking Slide 8 Sensitive Periods Language Acquisition & Culture Genie Wild Boy of Aveyron Slide 9 Sensitive PeriodsCulture Cheung, Chudek, and Heine (2011). Studied Hong Kong immigrants to Canada for their cultural identification with both Chinese and Canadian culture Results Slide 10 Slide 11 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 Slide 12 Slide 13 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) Slide 14 Folk theories of development VS. Slide 15 Variations in Infants Worlds Movie Babies (2010) Slide 16 Variations in Infants Worlds Kellers (2007): 3 month olds in 5 cultural contexts Unannounced visits were videotaped- ~100 min each Revealed differences in Slide 17 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 Slide 18 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! Slide 19 Indian solution: MF 3girl / 14girl 8boy / 15boy 11girl OR F 8boy / 15boy 11girl / M 3girl 14girl How is this incest avoidance?!? Slide 20 Cultural Psychology, 2 nd Edition Copyright 2012 W. W. Norton & Company Slide 21 Parenting Styles Baumrind StyleAccep- tance Parental Control Autonomy Granting Authoritative+++ Authoritarian-++- Permissive++- Uninvolved--- Slide 22 Growing PainsToddlers West: Terrible twos = developmental milestone An assertion of autonomy and individuality Foundation for future mature relationships Japan: noncompliance = immaturity Slide 23 Slide 24 Growing PainsAdolescents Adolescent rebellion = a developmental milestone A biologically triggered period of storm and stress Hall, Freud, etc Slide 25 Growing PainsAdolescents 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 Slide 26 Effects of Education Flynn effect- due to education, healthy, environment Slide 27 Vgotskys SocioCultural Theory And Lurias work with Russian peasants mind is culturally constituted Slide 28 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 Goddards tests of immigrants- invalid Slide 29 Slide 30 Case Study: East Asians and Math Stevenson and Stigler (1992): 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company Slide 31 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 Slide 32 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.