PSYSCHOLOGY PSY101
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PSY101Lecture5.pptxPSY101 Introduction to Cultural Psychology
Lecture 5
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Developmental Processes Outline
Culture and Temperament
What is Temperament?
The Goodness of Fit between Temperament and Culture
Cross-Cultural Studies on Temperament
Temperament and Learning Culture
Dimensions of Temperament: A Focus on Behavioral Inhibition
Sources behind Temperament Differences
Culture and Attachment
Bowlby's Theory of Attachment
Bowlby and Ainsworth's Classification System of Attachment
Cross-Cultural Studies on Attachment
Temperament and Attachment: A Summary
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Outline (cont’d.)
Cognitive Development
Piaget's Theory
Piaget's Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Piaget's Theory: Summary and Discussion
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development
Moral Reasoning
What is Moral?
Kohlberg's Theory of Morality
Cross-Cultural Studies of Moral Reasoning
Three Ethics Approach to Moral Reasoning
Other Developmental Processes
Conclusion
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Culture and Temperament
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Human development
Change over time that involves greater complexity, organisation and competencies across the following domains:
Biological
Physical
Cognitive
Emotional
Social
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Culture and Temperament
Process of socialization starts from very first day of life
Characteristics we are born with determine how our caregivers react and interact with us, initiating lifelong process of socialization
Children of different cultures are born with different biological predispositions to learn certain cultural practices
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What is Temperament?
Temperament: biologically based style of interacting with world that exists from birth
Easy temperament: adaptable, mild,
positive, responsive
Difficult temperament: intense, irregular,
withdrawing style, negative mood
Slow-to-warm-up: needs time to make
transitions
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The Goodness of Fit between Temperament and Culture
How well does a child’s temperament match the expectations and values of the parent?
Good match: better child outcomes are expected
Mismatch: more negative child outcomes are expected
Dispositions and behaviours must be considered in relation to specific culture
Same dispositions and behaviours may have different meanings in different cultures
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Cross-Cultural Studies on Temperament
Temperament affects the way children respond to their environment
If there are cultural differences in temperament (i.e. temperaments that are more or less common depending on the culture) then children of different cultures will respond to environment differently
Children of different cultures will also evoke different responses from caregivers and environment
Consequence: fundamental differences between cultures in learning, social experiences, worldview, and culture of children as they grow
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Dimensions of Temperament
Activity level
Smiling and laughter
Fear (Behavioural Inhibition)
Distress to limitations
Soothability
Duration of orienting
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Dimensions of Temperament: A Focus on Behavioural Inhibition
Behavioural inhibition: the consistent tendency of some children to demonstrate fear and withdrawal in novel situations
“Shyness”, more common in China than USA
Undesirable trait in individualistic cultures
A “poor fit” between culture and temperament leads to more negative outcomes
Desirable trait in collectivist cultures
A “good fit” between culture and temperament leads to more positive outcomes
Culture provides the meaning and consequences of temperament
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Sources Behind Temperament Differences
Developmental contextualism perspective: genetics, reproductive histories, and environmental and cultural pressures over generations
Complex interplay between multiple factors
temperamental styles valued in each culture
specific environmental demands
physiological aspects of mother
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Culture and Attachment
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Culture and Attachment
Attachment: special bond that develops between infant and caregiver
Attachment provides child with emotional security
Once attached, babies are distressed by separation from caregiver
Quality of attachment has lifelong effects on relationships with loved ones
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Bowlby's Theory of Attachment
Infants must have a preprogrammed, biological basis for becoming attached to their caregivers
Smiling and cooing elicits physical attachment behaviours on part of caregiver
Attachment relationship between caregiver and child is survival strategy
There are a couple of important names in Attachment theory and the first is John Bowlby.
In the 1930’s he worked as a psychiatrist treating emotionally disturbed children in London. He observed the child’s relationship with their mother in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development and it led him to formulate his attachment theory.
SO it’s a evolutionary theory- a set of behaviors in the child, which elicits behaviour in the caregiver that will keep the child safe- so attachment as a survival strategy.
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Bowlby and Ainsworth's Classification System of Attachment
Tripartite classification system of attachment relationships
Secure: infant distressed when mother leaves but easily comforted when she returns
Ambivalent: infant is distressed when mother leaves but sends mixed signals upon return
Avoidant: not distressed when mother leaves and upon return, avoids reuniting with mother
The next big name is Mary Ainsworth- she was a development psychologist- she was a colleague of Bowlby- and she had done observational research on mothers and babies in Uganda. And form that research she came up with three distinct styles of attachment.
Secure: infant distressed when mother leaves but easily comforted when she returns
Ambivalent: infant is distressed when mother leaves but sends mixed signals upon return (Anxious-resistant insecure attachment)
Avoidant: not distressed when mother leaves and upon return, avoids reuniting with mother (Anxious-avoidant insecure attachment)
Both ambivalent and avoidant are insecurely attached.
Since then Disorganized/disoriented attachment style has been added, which capture the ones that don't fit the other patterns
Now you can tell from the names that one of those attachment styles is considered to be better than the others.
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The Strange Situation
The most common way to assess attachment is Strange Situation protocol
child and caregiver place in a playroom
child’s behaviour is observed through a series of eight steps:
Caregiver, Baby, Experimenter (30 seconds)
Caregiver, Baby (3 mins)
Caregiver, Baby, Stranger (3 mins or less)
Stranger, Baby (3 mins)
Caregiver, Baby (3 mins)
Baby Alone (3 mins or less)
Stranger, Baby (3 mins or less)
Caregiver, Baby (3 mins)
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Cross-Cultural Studies on Attachment
Meaning of separation may differ across cultures
Researchers have questioned appropriateness of different categories of attachment
Maternal sensitivity has not been consistently linked to secure attachment
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Figure 4.4 - Cultural Models of Attachment
Temperament and Attachment: A Summary
Optimal style of attachment in one culture may not necessarily be optimal across all cultures
Children can be born with differences in biological predispositions or temperament
Helps in cultural learning through socialization and enculturation
Close interaction between infant’s temperament, attachment with caregiver, and broader environment that contributes to development
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Cognitive Development
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Piaget's Theory
Sensorimotor stage: (birth to 2 years)
Children understand by perceiving and doing
Preoperational stage: (2 to 6 or 7 years)
Conservation, centration, irreversibility, egocentrism, and animism
Concrete operations stage: (6 or 7 years to 11)
Thinking skills to work with actual objects and events
Formal operations stage: (11 years through adulthood)
Think logically about abstract concepts
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Piaget's Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Piaget's stages occur in same fixed order in other cultures
Variations in ages at which children in different societies reach third and fourth Piagetian stages
Considerable variation in order in which children acquire specific skills within Piaget's stages
Different societies value and reward different skills and behaviours
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Piaget's Theory: Summary and Discussion
In some cultures, very few people complete fourth-stage Piagetian tasks
Are Piagetian tasks culturally appropriate?
Do Piagetian tasks depend on previous knowledge and cultural values?
Within-culture differences hinder inferences about differences in cognitive development between cultures
Universality of fourth stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is questionable
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Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development
Cognitive development is inseparable from culture
Culture’s symbols and generational knowledge structure cognition
Zone of proximal development: Gap between the actual developmental level of a child versus the potential level that the child is capable of, with some assistance by knowledgeable others
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Moral Reasoning
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Moral Reasoning
Moral principles and ethics provide guidelines for people's behaviours with regard to what is appropriate and what is not
Morality is heavily influenced by underlying, subjective, and implicit culture
Morality serves as basis of laws, and thus culture also affects laws of society
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What is Moral?
Types of rules children as young as three can differentiate:
Moral: applies to everyone; cannot be changed; based on values
Conventional: applies to certain groups; changeable; based on agreed-upon norms
Personal: applies to individuals; changeable; based on preferences of specific person
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Kohlberg's Theory of Morality
Preconventional morality: compliance with rules to avoid punishment and gain rewards
Conventional morality: conformity to rules defined by others' approval or society's rules
Postconventional morality: moral reasoning on basis of individual principles and conscience
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Cross-Cultural Studies of Moral Reasoning
Some aspects of Kohlberg's theory of morality are universal
Many studies on moral reasoning raise questions about universal generalizability of Kohlberg's highest stage (postconventional)
Cross-cultural studies have shown that people from different cultures do reason differently about moral dilemmas
Fundamental differences in morality as a function of culture form the basis for the possibility of major intercultural conflicts
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Three Ethics Approach to Moral Reasoning
Ethic of autonomy: emphasizes individual rights and justice
Ethic of community: emphasizes interpersonal relationships and community
Ethic of divinity: centrality of religious beliefs and spirituality in moral reasoning
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Conclusion
Two key issues concerning human development:
Whether developmental pathways are universal or culture specific
How development occurs
All people are born into specific cultures with unique set of characteristics and predispositions
Each culture exerts influence, and in combination with each unique cultural member, produces specific tendencies, trends, and differences in members
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