Culture, Socialization, and

Human Development
Socialization and Enculturation
 Socialization is the process by which we learn
and internalize the rules and patterns of
behavior that are affected by culture (refers to
society).
 The actual process

 Enculturation is the process by which youngsters

learn and adopt the ways and manners of their
culture (refers to culture)
 Product of the socialization process
 Models of Culture and
Socialization
 Psychoanalytic
 According to Freud and his followers,
socialization plays a key role in human
development, and specifically in shaping
personality and mental health/illness.
 Culture is all-powerful in shaping biological
predisposition.
 What takes place during socialization is
determined largely by culture.
 Culture and Developmental
Processes
 Even if Freud’s theories are discounted, much of
what he proposed concerning the impact
biological factors on development has passed
the test of time.
 That we are born with certain genetically
transmitted predispositions is no longer debated.
 Recall that, according to Freud, we are born with
an ID, the biologically based component of the
human personality.
 The other two components, the EGO and the
SUPEREGO, are the products of socialization.
 Current Perspectives on
Genetically base Factors
 As noted in your text, without getting into
specific theories, there is widespread agreement
that we are born with different “temperaments”.
 These biological predispositions interact with
socialization to produce individual differences in
personality and adjustment.
 In other words, our styles of interacting with the
world that exists from birth.
 Temperament Types
Difficult Temperament
 intense, irregular, withdrawing style, negative
moods.
Easy temperament
- very regular, adaptable, mildly intense
behavior that is positive and responsive.
Slow to warm up
-will withdraw initially but will adapt with time.
 Baumrind’s Parenting Styles
 Authoritarian Parents-unquestioned obedience,
child must be controlled.
 Permissive Parents-few guidelines, but warm
and nurturing.
 Authoritative Parents-sensitive to child’s maturity
and firm, fair, and reasonable.
 Uninvolved Parents-indifferent parents who are
too involved in their own lives.
 Culture and Attachment
 Attachment-the special bond that develops
between the infant and its primary caregiver,
provides the child with emotional security.
 According to Bowlby’s Evolutionary Theory of
Attachment, infants must have a pre-
programmed, biological basis for becoming
attached to their caregivers (survival strategy).
Culture and Attachment (cont.)

Ainsworth’s Classification System

 Secure

 Ambivalent

 Avoidant
 An Overview of the Enculturation
Process

 Culture  mother  infant

 Parenting styles

 Genes  infant  mother  culture

 Temperament and attachment

 Parents and children interactive partners

in joint creation of cultural meanings
 Early Anthropological Models
of Culture and Socialization
 Kardiner (1939) Propose first theoretical model

- Not concerned with how culture shapes

personality across cultures

- Studied the role socialization within a specific

culture
 Primary and Secondary
Institutions
Primary Institutions:

 Socioeconomic framework

 Child Rearing Practices

 Basic Personality Structure

Secondary Institutions:

 Projective Systems
(art, religion, rituals, customs)
Whiting and Child (1953)
 Maintenance Systems

 Child Training Practices

 Personality Variables

 Projective Systems