enculturation Flashcards
enculturation intro
Schemas built through experience
e.g boys watching superhero movies, adverts,
reinforcement- direct reinforcement. get rewarded and praised for doing gendered things. - NOT vicarious reinforcement. Operant conditioning. conditioning theory
Enculturation- reductionist
A significant part of the development of our personal identity is the learning and maintenance of the necessary and appropriate behaviours and norms of our own culture. This is a process called enculturation. For example, for Asian American families, enculturation refers to the process of becoming socialized into and maintaining the norms of the Asian culture.
Enculturation can occur through direct tuition – that is, your parents tell you what you are supposed to do-, observational learning, participatory learning- when kids do an activity and transfer that learning to later situations
Enculturation (in relation to gender identity)
learning characteristics & norms of culture/group by a person/culture, what’s appropriate for culture
classical conditioning - associate things together
operant conditioning - rewards/punishment
social cognitive theory - learn from role model
socialization - process of being taught appropriate behaviour e.g parents tell you to be nice
primary - parents
secondary - media, TV
williams et al
ocial cognitive theory - williams et al (gcse) (social identity theory)
watching tv increased levels of aggression, creativity, perceived gender differences
direct (not vicarious) reinforcement - getting praised acting like boy/girl - operant conditionaing
if introduction of tv would affect children’s behaviour and how it compared to towns who already had tv
children saw increased gender differences between boys and girls after watching tv
may have been because differences emphasized on tv, may have been unnoticed in children growing up without tv
Aim- Williams wanted to measure children’s behavior before and after TV was introduced to the town and compare it to children’s behavior in other towns that did have TV
A natural experiment
1) they measured range of behaviors before and after town received TV: aggression of kids in playground/classroom, leisure activities community were involved in, IQ of the kids, creativity and reading ability of the kids
2) To measure aggression, 2 observers watched kids in playground and classroom (only started observing once kids were used to them). Physical and verbal acts of aggression counted.
4) this town, Notel, was compared to 2 other studied towns: Unitel and Multitel
5) all 3 towns studied before TV introduced to Notel, and for 2 years after
Results
1) Children in Notel twice as aggressive after TV
2) Children and adults spent less than half the time they did before on other leisure activities
3) Children saw increased gender differences between boys and girls
4) Children less creative
5) Children IQ dropped slightly
6) Aggression in Notel increased far more than Multitel and Unitel, which were quite similar- suggests 1 channel/ many channels have similar effect
Conclusions
Notel showed increased levels of aggression due to introduction of TV, and reduced time on leisure activities and lowered creativity and IQ
strengths
natural experiment - television introduced naturally, greater ecological validity
same children followed over two year period - behaviour before and after tv directly compared
children observed in natural surroundings - researchers didn’t make any recordings for a whole week to make sure children were used to them being around - control for children changing behaviour because they were watched
weaknesses
researchers did not control what or how much tv children watched, nor adult supervision or viewing control
researchers may have made biased observations because they expected to see higher levels of aggression after children watch tv
hupp et al enculturation intro
Schemas and gender identity can be explained by enculturation
Enculturation on identity/ gender identity
evidence: HUpp et al- children that came from families with only one mother were less likely to follow gender roles, as the mother needs to do both father and mother things. SIngle parent families lead to different levels of stereotyping?
can enculturation influence culture identity?
Hupp et al - family structure - SUPPORT role of enculturation (environment) on gender identity (SIGNPOST - ANSWER QUESTION NOT WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS)
dr Money study
Dr. Money
Case study: Money (biological male twins, changed one to female and brought up as one)
strong biological element
https://lca-psychology.weebly.com/dr-money-the-case-of-bruce-reimer.html
Aim- to see if children are born gender neutral and explain that gender is a result of upbringing. Wanted to support his theory of gender neutrality
Case:
Bruce and Brian- twins taken to be circumcised. An accident led to Bruce’s penis being completely burned off. Their parents contacted Dr. Money, who told them to raise Bruce as a girl as he was under 2 yrs old and supposedly “gender neutral”.
“Brenda” dressed in female clothing, encouraged to play with ‘girls’ toys’ and always told she was girl. Not aware of accident at all
Money tracked Brenda’s development by asking her questions about her preferences and behaviour
Analysis:
MOney said Brenda adapted to female role- was consistent with his theory
Brenda liked wearing dresses, wanted to be doctor or teacher when she grew up. Brenda’s brother wanted to be fireman.
Money believed comparisons abt boys and girls showed Brenda knew gender was female and this helped Brenda to adapt.
Conclusion:
Money concluded it is possible to raise a boy as a girl
CASE UPDATE- NOT INCLUDED IN ORIGINAL STUDY
Brenda considered tomboy, liked brother’s toys and aggressive play.
She reported feeling “different”
Money either did not know or chose to ignore evidence
Brenda threatened to commit suicide if she had to see Dr. Money again
Parents told her the truth and Brenda then lived as David from then on. David had plastic surgery to create penis. Identified as a man
David reported Money used unethical practices to encourage development of their diff . gender identities
David became depressed after Brian’s death and committed suicide
Method-
Strengths
Case study- in depth and detailed
High ecological validity- life and events are real. Means conclusions drawn abt importance of biology on gender identity based on real experiences
Weaknesses
Generalisability- followed one child. Not applicable to others.
Reliability- behaviour of twins misreported by Money- claimed study was successful. Conclusions from original study false. Money may have encouraged parents to change Bruce’s gender to support his own theory
Application
Suggests gender reassignment surgery not always successful. Careful consideration should be taken over what gender to raise child. If biology likely to have biggest effect, this should be taken into consideration first.
Ethics
Money used unethical practices. Encouraged twins to pose in naked sexual positions.
Case led to mental breakdown of Brian and the suicide of David
No protection from mental harm
enculturation eval
Our general sense of being a boy or a girl may be biological, but we may learn schemas and a stronger sense of gender identity from the environment.
Biological elements- SDN. A part of the brain that is different in men and women
cant tell whether that part of the brain dictates your behaviour, or your behaviour changes the physical structure of your brain
TEACUP
Testable: a good theory has to be falsifiable
Empirical support: a good theory has evidence to support it. good empirical is not from a highly artificial situation and is reliable (evidence can be replicated)
Application: a good theory can be applied to many different situations or it improves a very specific behaviour (e.g alleviates behaviour)
Clearly defined variables: a good theory makes sure its variables are clearly defined so they can be reliably measured
Unbiased: a good theory does not show bias towards a gender or culture - many early theories in psychology were androcentric (research only done on/applied to men) or ethnocentric (very culturally biased, focused only on Western culture)
Predicts behaviour: a good theory does not just describe what is happening, it predicts behaviour. if a theory simply labels behaviours but does not predict when or why a person might demonstrate that behaviour with any reliability, then the theory has low predictive validity
strengths
theory helps to explain the rigidity of gender stereotypes held by children
schema resistant to change
weaknesses
vague and unmeasurable to see if children are actively seeking information about gender
reductionist - don’t account for biological differences - explain gender identity with one theory
most caregivers still women - if boys and girls both have same gender caregiver they should act more feminine according to SCT
difficult to measure media - children watch different shows
correlational studies - question bidirectional ambiguity
schema cause you to choose what to watch, or what you watch cause schema?
Gorski???
gender differences consistent around the world, different cultures - is gender identity biological
hard to narrow down one part of culture and say it causes gender identity
