Cultural influences on individual attitudes, identities, and behavior—culture and cultural norms

Culture and its influence on behaviour & cognition - Cultural norms - Essay Required Response

Culture is a way of life of a group of people or even an entire society, and it affects the norms and behaviors of the people who follow that culture. A cultural norm is a set of rules that are based on socially or culturally based beliefs and must be followed by an individual in order to be accepted by a group. If a cultural norm is not followed by an individual, they may be punished, stigmatized, marginalized, or they could be seen as a creative and affecting change in the community. Hence, culture plays an important role in how individuals may behave or conform to cultural norms. Culture also plays a role in conformity, as humans are social beings with a need to belong, and hence, they will conform to cultural expectations. Culture also plays a role in creating our schemas, which affect our memory or cognition.

A study was conducted by Cole and Scribner to study the effect of culture on memory. They investigated the effect that schooling would have on the strategies that children used to memorize test words. They studied the development of memory among tribal people in rural Liberia compared to children in the US. They looked at both Liberian children in school and those that were not attending school.

Participants were given a free-recall task, in which they were shown many objects, one at a time, and then asked to remember them. Results showed that participants not attending school remembered very few items on the first trial and recalled a few items, even after many trials. The Liberian children who were attending school learned the materials rapidly, similar to how schoolchildren of the same age did in the United States. School children in Liberia and the United States not only learned the list rapidly but used the categorical similarities of items on the list to aid their recall. After the first trial, they clustered their responses. The non-schooled Liberian participants did very little clustering, showing that they were not using the categorical structure of the list to help them remember. In a later trial, the researchers varied the recall task so that the objects were now presented meaningfully as part of a story. The unschooled children recalled the objects easily and chunked them according to the roles they played in the story.

The study concluded that, even though the ability to remember is universal, strategies for remembering are not universal. Schooling presents children with several specialized information-processing tasks. Hence, we can see how the culture of the schooled and non-schooled children affected the way they remembered things, and how they clustered or clumped together information as part of their memory. Thus, this study highlights how culture influences memory under cognition.

This study cannot be replicated or generalized, as it is isolated only from one particular culture. The study has ecological validity, as it was conducted in the natural environment of the participants. This study also understood the culture well, and it could draw significant conclusions based on the culture.

Another study conducted by Kearins et al. investigated the effect of culture on spatial memory. A quasi-experiment was conducted that aimed to investigate why Aboriginal children score low on Western verbal intelligence tests. Kearins wanted to see how the Aboriginal people's spatial memory compared with those of non-Aboriginal Australian children.

Kearins placed 20 objects on a board divided into 20 squares. Aboriginal and white Australian children were told to study the board for 30 seconds. Then the objects were gathered together and placed in a pile in the center of the board and the children were asked to place the objects on the board in the same arrangement.  The results showed that the Aboriginals correctly placed more objects than white Australian children did. Their way of life has a significant impact on how and what they remember.

The study is a quasi-experiment, the independent variable - culture - cannot be manipulated. Therefore, the findings are correlational and we cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship. It is also a single sample. Replications of the study would have to be done with other indigenous groups to determine the extent to which this correlation is reliable.

Hence, we see how culture can affect cognition and behavior, in particular, different aspects of memory. Culture matters in one’s life, and it plays an important role in how people learn, remember, and store information as part of their memory. The culture one is a part of has an immediate effect on the schemas one forms, as well as what a person stores as memory.

Enculturation - Essay Required Response

Culture is a way of life of a group of people or even an entire society, and it affects the norms and behaviors of the people who follow that culture. A cultural norm is a set of rules that are based on socially or culturally based beliefs and must be followed by an individual to be accepted by a group. Enculturation occurs when schemas and norms of one’s own culture have been internalized. It is the process by which people learn the accepted norms of their society in their culture of origin. It happens involuntarily through observation, formal instruction, or experience. Enculturation affects schemas and cognition at a deep level.  \n

One study which investigated the effect of active learning on musical enculturation was conducted by Trainor et al. The experiment conducted aimed to test the idea that musical enculturation occurs through active learning. Western infants were randomly divided into two groups: one with six months of active participatory music class and another group that had six months of a class in which they experienced music passively while playing with toys. Dependent variable 1 was sensitivity to western tonality, which was measured by exposing the infants to two versions of a song; the tonal and atonal version. Infant preferences for the music were measured in a head-turn preference procedure. Dependent Variable 2 was the social development of the infants. The social development of the infants was measured using a questionnaire given to the parents.

The results showed that children in the active class group showed a preference for the tonal version, while the children in the passive group did not prefer one version to the other. The questionnaire showed that the infants in the active condition showed significantly less stress to limitations, less distress when they were exposed to novel stimuli, more smiling and laughter, and easier sociability. The study concluded that active music-making in a social context involving infants and parents promotes musical enculturation in infants, including their sensitivity to cultural tonality and social development. Hence, we see how enculturation plays a role in how infants learn and internalize schemas, and also how active learning played a role in causing the infants to internalize music, which is an important part of one's culture.

This study had a small sample size and was only infants hence it cannot be generalized to a larger population of adults. The infant preferences were measured using a head-turn preference and we cannot know whether the infants were interested in the music, or were just turning their heads in response to other stimuli. Also, as the infants were very young, informed explicit consent should have been obtained from the parents of the infants. This study used random sampling, and this increased the validity of the experiment. The social development was measured using only the questionnaire given to the parents, and this may not be fully valid or correct judgment. This study has ecological validity as the infants were placed in a room with toys, and this is like their naturalistic environment. However, the confounding variables are difficult to contain as other stimuli are present in the room, which may affect the infants’ response to the music. This could adversely affect the results of the experiment.

Another study conducted by Odden and Rochat studied the effect of observational learning on enculturation. The study aimed to investigate the role of observational learning as a mechanism of children’s enculturation in non-western cultural contexts. Observational learning is learning that occurs when the child observes everyday activities without directly participating in them. The researchers used a longitudinal naturalistic observation where semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used. One of the researchers lived in the village for 20 months. 

The observations and interviews showed high specificity of Samoan attitudes towards education and enculturation. As there was a high power distance in society, questioning in class was discouraged, as it was viewed as a sign of disrespect to the adult. Children were largely left to learn things on their own, and adults did not engage them or motivate them. Caretakers believed children learn via observing and listening to their elders. The observations also found that children and adults were allowed to freely observe the activities of others since the concept of privacy was viewed as secrecy or immorality. Adolescents spend a significant amount of time doing chores. However, parents were never seen explaining the chore to the child. Knowledge of the intricate societal hierarchy, ritual practice, and cultural concepts such as power and authority were also gained in the same way. The study concluded that each culture may emphasize different mechanisms of enculturation. In the Samoan context, observational learning plays a central role in children’s enculturation. Thus, this study displayed how observational learning played a role in how children learned what behaviors were part of their culture.

In this study, the researchers used a longitudinal observation which helped them understand the culture in-depth, and the researchers could witness how children acquired new skills and how observational knowledge played a role in their development. This study however cannot be generalized to a larger population because it focuses on only one Samoan village and the results can not be generalized. In this observation, the researchers assimilated into the culture, which may have caused researcher bias, where they might have focused on behavior that supported their hypothesis and ignored behavior that went against the hypothesis. As method triangulation was used, the data gathered would have been rich and dense, and this increased the validity of the data. Also, this study was naturalistic, and observations were conducted in the natural environment of the Samoans, increasing the ecological validity. 

Thus, it is seen from the two studies above how different learning affects enculturation, and how enculturation occurs in children when learning the behaviors of their cultures. The studies also show how enculturation occurs involuntarily, through either formal learning or through observation.

Acculturation - Essay Required Response

People may move into another culture voluntarily or involuntarily. When people move into a culture, they adopt the norms and behavior of the majority culture in a process called acculturation. Acculturation is the process of psychological and cultural change that takes place because of contact between two or more cultural groups. At the individual level, it involves changes in a person’s behavior. Berry identified four different strategies used by individuals: assimilation, marginalization, integration, and separation. Assimilation is when an individual abandons their original culture and adopts the cultural behaviors and values of the new culture. When there is an interest in adopting the behaviors and values of the new culture, while still maintaining the original culture, it is called integration. While migrants maintain their own culture and minimize contact with the new culture, it is called separation. Marginalization occurs when it is not possible to maintain one’s culture, but because of exclusion or discrimination, it is not possible to assimilate into the new culture.

According to Berry’s Acculturation Model:

A study conducted by Shah et al. investigated the effect of acculturation on obesity in South Asian workers in the UAE. It aimed to study the association between acculturation and obesity. A correlational study was conducted that investigated male South Asian workers in the UAE who were doing hard labor jobs. There was also a comparison group of men of the same age in their culture of origin. 

The results showed that migrants in the UAE had significantly higher BMI than in the comparison group. The longer the migrants stayed in the UAE, the higher their BMI became. The prevalence of obesity was higher in the migrants than in the comparison group. The study concluded that acculturation may contribute to unhealthy eating behaviors, resulting in obesity and being overweight. This may be explained as the migrants moving into a culture that promotes unhealthy eating behavior, compared to their culture of origin. Hence, we can see the effect that acculturation has on migrants’ eating behavior, and their health as well. It is seen from the study that acculturation does cause migrants to adopt the behavior of the new culture they are exposed to.

This study had some strengths which provide support for the study. This study used random sampling, and this increased the representativeness of the sample. However, this study had certain limitations as well. Years of residency are often used as an indicator of acculturation. However, it is a crude measure susceptible to some bias. This not being a true experiment, causation cannot be inferred. Results may be specific to migrant men and may not apply to South Asian women. 

A study conducted by Ishizawa and Jones studied obesity in Asian migrants in the USA. The correlational study aimed to compare obesity rates among second and third-generation migrants and identify potential moderating factors in developing obesity. The results showed that second and third-generation migrants had a higher chance of developing obesity than first-generation migrants or people from their country of origin. However, certain factors could protect migrants from obesity, such as living in a household that retained the original language or living in a neighbourhood with a high migrant density. The study concluded that retaining some ties with the original culture may help in protecting migrants from obesity. Thus, this study showed the correlation between obesity and migration, and the acculturation of eating habits developed due to association with the new culture.

This study had certain strengths which provide support for the effect of acculturation on obesity, and the effect of protecting factors. The study integrated or postulated protective factors, which could protect migrants from developing obesity. Thus, the study is helpful from a practical standpoint. These protective factors can be used to develop healthier populations in the future. However, the study is correlational, and no cause-effect relationship can be established between the two variables. Even the protective factors were only inferred or observed, and it cannot be proved without further research whether these would conclusively contribute to the reduction of obesity rates in migrants.

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