1. Culture and Developmental
Processes
Chapter 4

2. Outline
 Culture and Temperament
 Culture and Attachment
 Cognitive Development
 Moral Reasoning
 Other Developmental Processes
 Conclusion

3. CULTURE AND TEMPERAMENT

4. Traditional Knowledge
 Temperament: Biologically based style of
interacting with world
 Easy: regular, adaptable, mildly intense style
 Difficult: intense, irregular, withdrawing style
 Slow to warm up: need time to make transition
 Goodness of fit: interaction of child’s
temperament with that of parents

5. Cross-cultural differences in temperament
 Temperament: Biologically based style of
interacting with world
 Easy: regular, adaptable, mildly intense style
 Difficult: intense, irregular, withdrawing style
 Slow to warm up: need time to make transition
 Goodness of fit: interaction of child’s
temperament with that of parents

6. Cross-Cultural Studies on temperament
 Differences in temperament
 Chinese American babies
 Japanese and Navajo babies
 Cross-cultural studies using the Neonatal
Behavior Assessment Scale
 Differences due to cultural practices of
caregiving, cultural goals for appropriate
behavior, cultural ideas on capabilities of babies

7. Cross-Cultural Studies on temperament
 Temperament and learning culture
 Differences in temperament may reflect cultural
values on appropriate ways of acting and being
 The goodness of fit between temperament
and culture
 “Difficult” temperament may be adaptive in one
culture
 Need to interpret infant disposition and behavior
in cultural context

8. Cross-Cultural Studies on temperament
 Sources behind temperamental differences
 Cultural values, environmental demands, cultural
experiences (diet and culture-related
practices), physiological aspect of mother

9. CULTURE AND ATTACHMENT

10.  Attachment: Special bond between infant and
caregiver
 Provides child with emotional security

11. Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment
 Infants must have preprogrammed, biological
basis for becoming attached to caregivers
 Attachment is survival strategy

12. Ainsworth’s Classification System
of Attachment
 Ainsworth’s study in Uganda
 Three attachment styles:
secure, ambivalent, avoidant
 Replicated in Baltimore
 Similar distribution of attachment styles in other
cultures
 But, in Dogon of Mali, no avoidant infants; in
Israel,more ambivalent babies

13. Cross-Cultural Studies on Attachment
 Hundreds of studies on attachment conducted in
cultures all over the world
 Weak association between parent sensitivity and
security of attachment
 Cultures differ in conceptualization of sensitive
parenting

14. Cross-Cultural Validity of Assessing
Attachment
 Meaning of Strange Situation
 Meaning of separation different across different
cultures
ex) Japanese babies
 Avoidant attachment as an indicator of
insecure attachment
 Reliance on nonparental caregivers for Chinese
may account for avoidant attachment behavior
 Subtle attachment behaviors difficult for coders
from different cultures

15. Is secure attachment a universal ideal?
 In United States, secure attachment ideal
 Some cultures differ in what is considered ideal
Ex) German mothers, Israeli children, Japanese
children
 Nonetheless, many cultures consider secure
attachment ideal

16. Attachment and Child Development
 Attachment predicts child competence and
health
 Relationship between temperament and
attachment
 More research needed in this area

17. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

18. Piaget’s Theory
 Cognitive Development: How thinking skills
develop over time
 Piaget’s theory based on observations of Swiss
children
 Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
 Preoperational stage: 2 to 6-7 years
 Conservation, centration, irreversibility, egocentris
m, animism
 Concrete operations stage: 6-7 to 11 years
 Formal operations stage: 11 years to adulthood

19. Piaget’s Theory
 Mechanisms for moving from one stage to
next
 Assimilation: fitting new ideas into preexisting
understanding of world
 Accommodation: changing one’s understanding
of world to accommodate ideas that conflict with
existing concepts
 Piaget believed these stages are universal

20. Piaget’s Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspective
 Do Piaget’s stages occur in the same order
in different cultures?
 Yes
 Are the ages that Piaget associated with
each stage of development the same in all
cultures?
 No, cultural variations exist (but children may
have potential to solve tasks sooner)

21. Piaget’s Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspective
 Are there variations within, rather than
between, Piaget’s stages?
 Yes, cultural variations in order in which acquire
skills within one stage
 Do non-Western cultures regard scientific
reasoning as the ultimate developmental end
point?
No
Ex) Islamic educational systems

22. Piaget’s Theory: Summary and Discussion
 In some cultures, very few complete fourth-
stage Piagetian task
 Cultural appropriateness of tasks
 Skills being tested
 Role of previous knowledge and cultural values
 Universality of fourth stage has not been
demonstrated

23. Other Theories of Cognitive Development
 Great divide theory
 Separates Westerners from those in primitive
societies
 Non-Westerners’ development seen as inferior
 Justification of colonial imperialism, ethnocentric
 Non-westerners also have ethnocentric
assumptions

24. MORAL REASONING

25. Kohlberg’s Theory of Morality
 Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
 Preconventional morality: compliance with
rules to avoid punishment and gain rewards
 Conventional morality: conformity to rules
defined by others’ approval or society’s rules
 Postconventional morality: moral reasoning on
basis of individual principles and conscience

26. Cross-Cultural Studies of Moral Reasoning
 Cross-cultural studies suggest many aspects of
Kohlberg’s theory of morality are universal
 Snarey (1985), Ma (1988)
 Cross-cultural studies also raise questions about
universal generalizability of Kohlberg’s higher
stages
 Cultural biases
 Moral reasoning at higher stages is culture-
specific

27. Cross-Cultural Studies of Moral Reasoning
 Miller
 Moralities of community
 Moralities of divinity

28. OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL
PROCESSES

29.  Developmental research offer insights into
causes and contexts of ontogenesis of cultural
differences
 Cross-cultural developmental research in many
areas such as future-oriented goals and
commitments, social expectations, affective and
romantic relationships in adolescence, etc.

31.  Universal:
 Order of stages
 Culture-specific:
 Age of 3rd and 4th stage
Ex) Children who constantly move were better
accomplished spatial task sooner than
conservation task whereas children who had to
fetch water and store grain, they accomplished
grain task sooner

32.  Culture-specific:
 Importance of scientific reasoning
Ex) Islamic educational system: transmit
faith, general knowledge and appreciation for
poetry and literature
 Reaching 4th stage