Sociocultural Approach: Enculturation Flashcards
What is enculturation?
- the learning and maintenance of the behaviors and norms of our own culture
- it is a significant part of the development of our personal identity
- it is a constant process that reinforces your identity as a member of your culture
- you are not born with a “culture” - you learn via gatekeepers such as parents, guardians, media, school, etc
- it can occur through direct tuition (ie. your parents telling you what to do)
- social cognitive theory plays a key part in this development as it assumes that humans learn behavior through observational learning (watch models and imitate)
Odden & Rochat (2004) can be used for…
enculturation and SCT
Odden & Rochat (2004) - aim
- to study the role of social cognitive theory on the development of cultural norms in Samoa
- behavior of line fishing and conceptual understanding of rank and hierarchy
Odden & Rochat (2004) - procedure
- a longitudinal study on children in a Samoan village
- Samoan culture is very hierarchical - high power distance index
- parents spend limited time with children, thus they’re left to learn things on their own without adult encouragement
- children do not participate in fishing with adults
- conducted interviews and observations
- children filled out a basic knowledge multiple choice test about the chief system
Odden & Rochat (2004) - findings
- young males observed adult males fish, but with no direct instruction
- children around 10 years old borrowed adult’s fishing equipment and experimented without adult supervision
- by age 12, most could fish independently
- majority had a broad understanding of concepts/rituals
Odden & Rochat (2004) - conclusion
- it seems that this is how they learn to interact with those of higher rank - chief system
- appears that cultural norms are learned through active observation by children of the adults in the community rather than through direct teaching
Odden & Rochat (2004) - evaluation
strengths:
- longitudinal design - by collecting observations over a period of 25 months, researchers were able to observe children acquire new skills (such as fishing) over the course of the study
limitations:
- study only involved participants from one Samoan village, so it is not certain that observational learning plays such a significant role in other cultures
Fagot (1978) can be used for…
- enculturation & research methods
Fagot (1978) - aim
- to look at the role that parents may play in gender-role development
Fagot (1978) - procedure
- sample: white families (12 with a boy and 12 with a girl - only child)
- both parents lived at home
- sample was varied in income; some parents were still students
- observers used an observation checklist of child behaviors and reactions by parents
- observations were completed for each family over a 5-week period
- observer used time sampling, making note of the child’s behavior and then noting the parents’ response
- 2 observers were used to establish inter-coder reliability
- after the observations were finished, each parent was asked to rate the behaviors as more appropriate for girls, for boys, or neutral
- each parent also filled out a questionnaire on the socialization of sex roles
Fagot (1978) - findings & conclusion
- boys were more likely to be left alone by their parents than girls
- parents gave boys more positive responses when they played with blocks than they did girls
- parents gave girls more negative responses when they manipulated an object than they did boys
- parents gave more positive responses to girls for playing with dolls and more negative responses to boys
- parents criticized girls more when they participated in large motor activities – e.g. running and jumping
- parents gave more positive responses to girls when they asked for help and a more negative response to boys
- fathers were more concerned with appropriate sex-typing than mothers and both parents found more behaviors appropriate for girls only than for boys only
- parents reacted significantly more favorably to the child when the child was engaged in same-sex preferred behavior; children were more likely to receive negative responses to cross-sex-preferred behaviors
- parents gave girls more positive responses when they engaged in adult-oriented, dependent behavior
- on the questionnaire, parents did not see asking for help as a sex-preferred behavior; however, they were more likely to act positively toward a girl than a boy asking for help - which suggests that the parents were not fully aware
Fagot (1978) - evaluation
strengths:
- naturalistic study: done in the natural environment of the family, rather than in a lab - high ecological validity
- use of 2 observers means that we can verify that the observations are not influenced by personal biases
- high inter-rater reliability - they both recorded the same data during the observations
limitations:
- sampling bias: families were all linked to the university, they were all white Americans
- very small sample: limits ability to generalize
- researchers found a short list of behaviors that result in the parents criticizing the child - however, the families knew that they were being watched - they demonstrated demand characteristics
- in reality, there may be more or fewer behaviors that the parents would normally criticize when they are not being observed
