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How does one’s Culture or Family Influence his or her Identity?

The family is the most significant foundation of society. The breakdown of people’s family structures enables them to understand their culture and family virtues. Fundamentally, cultural beliefs and ethics are sourced from the ancestors and passed down the family tree. Hence, families have a significant influence on our values and expectations. For instance, the family is the first social environment where the child grows up. On this note, this essay evaluates how family and culture influence people’s identity. Psychological studies prove that environmental and biological factors influence one’s personality and culture is an essential factor that shapes identity. Identity is defined as a stable profile of moods, beliefs, and behaviors that differentiate between individuals.

The family is the first environment when one is born. Psychological studies conducted by Galvin and colleagues (276) explained that the family environment shapes one’s identity through the promotion of occupational identity, political identity, and self-confidence. In essence, children quickly form their attitudes and beliefs from their parents; therefore, family relationships can break or build one’s self-confidence. For instance, a united family with effective communication skills can help its children develop self-confidence by helping them express themselves clearly. Furthermore, Weston (302) explains that when children are encouraged to conduct their personal choices, they acquire a greater sense of individuality and confidence. On the same note, Kwame (102) shows that family activities such as hunting and animal husbandry essential in training children to develop the right skills. In comparison, a family that is consistently criticizing their child’s performance may make them develop low self-esteem levels (Galvin et al. 456).

Parents’ expectations greatly influence their children’s motivation. For instance, parents that have high expectations of their young ones’ learning are likely to influence their children’s learning positively. In essence, parents that expose youngsters to new experiences and that encourage curiosity to enable their children to develop the right cognitive skills (Narayan 110). Notably, parental guidance is important in nurturing the right behavior among children because they can reform from bad habits (Kittleson, 325). Research findings conducted by Galvin et al. (698) show that teens that have been raised by alcoholic parents are likely to engage in adult misconducts such as physical confrontations and dropping out of school. Moreover, parents’ values and opinions can influence a child’s mindset as either free or fixed (Narayan 121).

Furthermore, Kwame suggests that families manipulate their children’s political identity by reducing their chances of embracing cosmopolitanism. Apparently, in most cases, parents incite their children to become engaged in politics. Families that focus on politics also enable their children to think more broadly about political events. Similarly, Galvin and colleagues (936) argue that family and culture largely determines a youngster’s religious beliefs. Precisely, most individuals were born in their current religion and they would like their children to grow up in the same faith. Correspondingly, a study conducted in the Middle East by Narayan (846) showed that most children would never consider changing their religion because of their parents’ influence in a particular faith.

Ostensibly, biological studies indicate that parents and children possess various hormonal reactions that are also similar (Moran et al. 312). In essence, parents transfer most of their emotional reactions to their children. For instance, children raised by parents that are constantly angry are likely to develop an anti-social personality in the future, while those that are raised by jovial parents have a high probability of embracing the same emotions. Nonetheless, Galvin et al. (877) suggest that youngsters may also learn some of their emotional reactions at school when relating with their peers although parents are still considered as the largest influence on the behavior.

Fundamentally, the biological composition of an individual may cause him or her to establish different personalities from cultural expectations. Psychologists explain that most gay men possess hormonal structures of the female gender and the aspect cultivates their personality traits to be different from normal children (Narayan 563). Understandably, the family’s culture may fail to understand the sexual orientation of gay men and lesbian women because they are innate. For instance, most gay male children admit that they feel as if they were born in the wrong bodies.

Essentially, parents can promote their children’s personality traits using the right nurturing techniques. Authoritative parents tend to raise strict children while responsive parents bring up confident kids (Weston 908). Therefore, parenting encourages the development of various personality traits. Scholars have evaluated the conditions that the family can correct to mitigate negative personality traits in their children (Hollins 1236). For instance, responsive parents can correct negative personality traits through early intervention, which helps in improving a child’s personality traits, whereas sympathizing parents can encourage the development of negative attributes such as laziness and poor academic performance.

Consequently, Hollins (909) realizes that the culture of an individual determines his or her religious identity. Hence, religious beliefs are commonly passed down through one’s lineage. Narayan (282) defines culture as a combination of patterns of human knowledge, behavior, and beliefs, which depend on people’s ability to learn and transfer knowledge to future generations. On this note, we have inherited most of the ancestors’ beliefs and customs while adding new elements from one generation to another. This notion explains why most if the children that act out of their culture end up with poor behavior (Narayan 301). Notably, the strength of our personality traits depends widely on our culture, and it is the reason that they differ across various communities (Narayan 312).

Cultural influences on personality can be studied by analyzing individualist and collectivist cultures. Kwame (122) suggest that people that belong to individualist cultures, such as European, Australian, and North American communities, tend to portray competition, independence, and personal achievement traits. In contrary, individuals that belong to collectivist cultures such as Africa and South America value social harmony, sharing, and mutuality over individual needs. Weston (984) explains that these values define our social behavior in the community. Moreover, cultural norms widely enhance our gender expectations such that the society has different behavioral expectations for male and female children, which promotes the development of various traits among genders. For example, assertiveness and aggression are mostly considered to be common male traits in western cultures, whereas hospitality and submissiveness are majorly regarded as feminine attributes.

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart explains the how culture influences our personality and expectations in the future (Ojaide, 319). In the book, Okonkwo is determined to live up to his cultural expectations as an Igbo leader; however, his cultural affinity limits his way of thinking such that he fails to appreciate other cultures and forms personal principles based on his ethnic beliefs and practices. On the other hand, Okonkwo’s son has a different personality because he is born in a different generation from his father, which embraces diversity; hence, he can develop an open mind to learn from other cultures.

Things Fall Apart shows differences in personality traits due to unique environmental factors. For instance, Okonkwo is born in a conservative community that focuses on their cultural expectations. Furthermore, the account shows how the social class of a family affects the way values and practices are passed on to the child. On this note, Narayan (746) postulates that learners from middle-class families are likely to achieve higher grades than those from lower-class households. Thus, the social environment where children are raised determines their personality in the future. Similarly, Hollins et al. (1987) point out that the social status of a family determines the parenting resources available for teaching the child. To illustrate this concept, their study in the U.S. showed that children from white families were relatively prosperous compared to those from minority communities because of their economic status.

Nonetheless, social psychologists are burdened with the challenge of identifying cultural differences without using stereotypes (Hollins et al. 2134). Variations also occur within cultures in terms of subcultures and individuals. Therefore, cultural influences on identity are limited because other factors such as individuality can influence people to avoid conforming to their cultures (Ojaide 890). For instance, in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s son refrained from conforming to his cultural beliefs and practices because of individuality. Moreover, the rise of popular culture has led to the development of different personalities without cultural or family influences.

Notably, children can learn from the diversity of different cultures to develop the right personalities; moreover, appreciating cultural diversity helps in making families unique. Thus, children benefit from families that embrace cultural diversity. Furthermore, the impact of technological innovations has enabled individuals to go out of their culture and appreciate diversity. The rise in technology has changed our social environment since individuals can easily share ideas using different communication platforms. This aspect has improved our interactions with other people and cultures such that children can now learn from various cultures to become diverse thinkers. In this case, the environment that the child grows in is not the only determinant of a youngster’s personality because he or she can learn other things from the internet.

There is a common trend of economic integration among countries. Thus, the modern society had gone against cultural relativism to introduce new lifestyles, which have led to the development of different personalities that are not influenced by culture. The media also plays a crucial role in the spread of information and popular culture. For instance, children that have grown up in modern societies are influenced by movies, TV programs, and newspapers to try out new things outside their culture. This aspect has promoted the autonomous character of the modern society where individuals base their beliefs and values on their personal beliefs rather than their culture.

Thus, families play a major role in determining their children’s personalities and identities. Good personality traits largely indicate proper parenting skills while poor personalities indicate bad nurturing skills. Consequently, biological aspects such as hormones and the sex of an individual determine people’s identities, for instance, makes tend to be aggressive because of their masculinity. The culture of an individual also influences his or her values and beliefs and that of the family; hence, cultural diversity is necessary to provide children with a wide knowledge of the world, which will enable them to develop essential skills required in adulthood.

Works Cited

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.

Galvin, Kathleen M., Dawn O. Braithwaite, and Carma L. Bylund. Family Communication: Cohesion and Change. Routledge, 2015.

Hollins, Etta R. Culture in School Learning: Revealing the Deep Meaning. Routledge, 2015.

James M Kittelson. Luther The Reformer: The Story of the Man and His career. FORTRESS PRESS. 2003.

Moran, Robert T., Neil Remington Abramson, and Sarah V. Moran. Managing Cultural Differences. Routledge, 2014.

Ojaide, Tanure. "Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart in World Literature." Indigeneity, Globalization, and African Literature. Palgrave Macmillan U.S., 2015, pp. 75-86.

Weston, Kath. Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. Columbia University Press, 2013.