Chapter 4 Flashcards
Define cultural beliefs and explain how they reflect a culture’s symbolic inheritance?
Cultural beliefs are the commonly held norms and moral standards of a culture, the standards of right and wrong that set expectations for behaviour. those beliefs are usually rooted in the culture’s symbolic inheritance, which is a set of learned assumptions about persons, society and natural and supernatural forces.
Describe the process of socialisation and the three main outcomes
Socialisation is the process by which people acquire the behaviours and beliefs of the culture they live in. three outcomes central to this process are self-regulation, role preparation, and the cultivation of sources of meaning.
Define individualism and collectivism and explain how they foster independent and interdependent selves
Cultural beleifs usually tend toward either individualism or collectivism, with individualistic cultures giving priority to independence and self-expression and collectivist cultures placing a higher value on obedience and conformity. collectivist cultures place a strong value on cooperation, mutual support, harmonious social relations, and contributions to the group. In contrast, individualistic cultures promote the development of an independent self, such that people place a strong value on independence, individual freedoms and individual achievements.
Distinguish broad and narrow socialization and specify how they are related to individualism and collectivism
broad socialisation and narrow socialisation are the terms for the process by which cultural members come to adopt the values and beliefs of an individualistic or a collectivist culture. cultures characterised by broad socialisation favour individualism. they encourage individual uniqueness, independence, and self-expression. cultures characterised by narrow socialisation favour collectivism. they hold obedience and conformity to be the highest values and discoruage deviation from cultural expectations.
Identify the eight sources of socialisation and describe the broad and narrow forms of each one takes.
Sources of socialisation include family, peers and friends, school, community, media, the workplace, the legal system, and cultural beliefs. each has a characteristic ‘broad’ or ‘narrow’ form, with the broad forms emphasizing choice and allowing for diversity, based on the values of independence and self-expression and the narrow forms specifiying a limited range of options controlled by authorities based on values of obedience and conformity.
Explain how the teaching of the law to adolescent Aborigines represents socialisation for cultural beliefs.
The law is a symbolic inheritance, in that it contains ideas about social relations, divine forces, the proper behaviour of individuals. it promotes self-regulation of sexual desire, and specifies the role responsibilites boys will have as adult men. in addition, it provides sources of meaning by explaining the origin of the world, and gives boys a clear vision of their place within it.
Summarise the change in values shown in the two middletown studies.
in the 50 years from 1928 to 1978, the importance of childrearing values such as loyalty to church and strict obedience fell, whereas the importance of indepedence and tolerance rose.
Define custom complex and give your own example of how it operates in adolescence
A custom complex consits of a distinctive cultural practice and the cultural beliefs that are the basis for that practice. Many aspects of development and behaviour in adolescence and emerging adulthood can be understood as custom complexes.
Describe the main variations in the cultural beliefs among american immigrant groups.
many studies have shown that the cultural beliefs of american minority cultures tend to be less individualistic and more collectivistic than the cultural beliefs of the american majority. african american families especially emphasize obedience and respect for elders, whereas latinos and asian americans emphasize family obligations
Specify the features of american adolescents’ religious beliefs and practices including moralistic therapeutic deism.
american adolescents are more religious than adolescents in other developed countries in their beliefs and practices, with most stating a belief in God and at least occasional involvement in religious practices. most embrace what researchers call ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ which includes the belief that God wants us to be good people and to feel good about ourselves, as well as a general ‘deistic’ belief in God rather than embracing a strict doctrine of any particular denomination.
Summarise the similarities and differences between american adolescents and emerging adults in their religious beliefs and practices.
In american studies, religiousity generally declines from adolescence through emerging adulthood. Both religious participation and religious beliefs decline throughout the teens and are lower in the late teens and early twenties than at any other period of the life span.
Describe Kohlberg’s levels and stages of moral dvelopment and the evidence supporting the theory
Kohlbergs theory of moral development proposed that moral development occurs in a universal sequence regardless of culture. Kohlberg developed a system for classifying their explanations into three levels of moral development (preconventional, conventional, and postconventional), with each level containing two stages. Research generally shows that people progress through stages 1 and 4 from adolesence through young adulthood but few people have been found to reach the highest stages.
Identify the main points of the cultural critique of kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Although Kohlberg did not deny that culture has some influence on moral development, in his view the infleunce of culture is limited to how well cultures provide opportunites for individuals to reach the highest level of moral development. However, some critiques; the most extensive and penetrating critique by cultural psychologist richard shweder who has disupted kohlbergs theory in research comparing indian and american adolescents.
Describe the worldviews theory of moral development including the three ehtics and the template model
according to lene jensen, the ultimate basis of morality is a person’s worldview - a set of cultural beliefs that explain what it means to be human, how human relations should be conducted and how human problems should be addressed. worldviews provide the basis for moral reasoning. the outcome of moral reasoning is moral evaluations, which in turn perscribe moral behaviours. moral behaviours reinforce worldviews. the three ehtics are autonomy, community and divinity. universal template for these three, but it is influenced by cultural context.
Describe Adelson’s view of how cognitive changes from early to late adolescence result in changes in political beliefs
Adelson described a change in cognitive mode from early to late adolescence. which included more use of abstract ideas and a greater tendency to see laws and political systems as human creations rather than as absolute and unchangeable. Late adolescents were less authoritiarian than early adolescents and more likely to be able to articulate a political idealogy as the basis of their views.
