Chapter 4 Cultural Beliefs PDF

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Notes from Professor Stephen Bernardini's class, based on the textbook Adolescence and emerging adulthood: A cultural approach by Arnett, J. J....

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Book notes ● Terms ● Cultural beliefs - the predominant beliefs in a culture about right and wrong, what is most important in life, and how life should be lived. They may also include beliefs about where and how life originated and what happens after death ● Symbolic inheritance - the set of ideas and understandings, both implicit and explicit, about people, society, nature, and divinity that serve as a guide to life in a particular culture. It is expressed symbolically through stories, songs, rituals, sacred objects, and sacred places ● Roles - defined social positions in a culture, containing specifications of behavior, status, and relations with others. Examples include gender, age, and social class ● Gender roles - cultural beliefs about the kinds of work, appearance, and other aspects of behavior that distinguish women from men ● Socialization - the process by which people acquire the behaviors and beliefs of the culture in which they live ● Self regulation - the capacity for exercising self control to restrain one’s impulses and comply with social norms ● Role preparation - an outcome of socialization that includes preparation for occupational roles, gender roles, and roles in institutions such as marriage and parenthood ● Sources of meaning - the ideas and beliefs that people learn as part of socialization, indicating what is important, what is to be valued, what is to be lived for, and how to explain and offer consolation for the individual’s mortality ● Bar mitzvah - jewish religious ritual for boys at age 13 that signifies the adolescents’ new responsibilities with respect to jewish beliefs ● Bat mitzvah - jewish religious ritual for girls at age 13 that signifies the adolescents’ new responsibilities with respect to jewish beliefs ● Interdependent self - a conception of the self typically found in collectivistic cultures, in which the self is seen as defined by roles and relationships within the group ● Independent self - the conception of the self typically found in individualistic cultures, in which the self is seen as existing independently of relations with others, with an emphasis on independence, individual freedoms, and individual achievements ● Broad socialization - the process by which people in an individualistic culture come to learn individualism, including values of individual uniqueness, independence, and self expression ● Narrow socialization - the process by which people in a collectivistic culture come to learn collectivism, including values of obedience and conformity ● Custom complex - a customary practice and the beliefs, values, sanctions, rules, motives, and satisfactions associated with it; that is, a normative practice in a culture and the cultural beliefs that provide the basis for that practice ● Ontogenetic - something that occurs naturally in the course of development as part of normal maturation; that is, it is driven by innate processes rather than by environmental stimulation or a specific cultural practice

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First generation families - the status of persons who were born in one country and then immigrated to another Second generation families - the status of persons who were born in the country they currently reside in but whose parents were born in a different country Secular - based on nonreligious beliefs and values Ramadan - a month in the Muslim year that commemorates the revelation of the Koran from God to the prophet Muhammad, requiring fasting from sunrise to sunset each day and refraining from all sensual indulgences Koran - the holy book of the religion of Islam, believed by Muslims to have been communicate to Muhammad from God through the angel Gabriel Social desirability - the tendency for people participating in social science studies to report their behavior as they believe it would be approved by others rather than as it actually occurred Preconventional reasoning - in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, the level in which moral reasoning is based on perceptions of the likelihood of external rewards and punishments Conventional reasoning - in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, the level of moral reasoning in which the person advocates the value of conforming to the moral expectations of others. What is right is whatever agrees with the rules established by tradition and by authorities Postconventional reasoning - in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, the level in which moral reasoning is based on the individual’s own independent judgments rather than on egocentric considerations or considerations of what others view as wrong or right Worldview - a set of cultural beliefs that explain what it means to be human, how human relations should be conducted, and how human problems should be addressed Templates - the basic human pattern of moral development for the three ethics, subject to variation depending on the beliefs and values of a specific culture

Powerpoint ● Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach

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Chapter 4 Cultural Beliefs Chapter Overview

Cultural Beliefs are… Rooted in Symbolic Inheritance – beliefs, “ideas and understandings, both implicit and explicit, about persons, society, nature and divinity”

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Norms and moral standards that arise from these beliefs, ideas, and understandings Cultural belief systems also include roles and gender roles Discussion Stop Why do adolescents become increasingly aware of their cultural roles and what is expected of them? Socialization is… The process by which people acquire the behaviors and beliefs of their culture Discussion Stop Why is adolescence such an important life period in relation to the three socialization outcomes? Discuss and explain. Cultural Values Socialization: Broad & Narrow Cultures define the range and focus of acceptable personal variation Cultures differ in the degree of restrictiveness they impose Narrow socialization is to collectivism as Broad socialization is to individualism Socialization: Sources Defining Custom Complex

“Is it Ontogenetic?” Discussion Detour Living in America – Majority and Minority Cultures Research has shown that cultural beliefs of American minority cultures tend to be less individualistic and more collectivistic than the beliefs of the American majority culture. What happens when the socialization young people experience is not consistent across sources? Discussion Stop Consider Feldman’s et al., 1992 study of adolescents living in the USA and Australia who have emigrated from China. How might the length of time lived in the new culture (i.e., first or second generation) influence cultural beliefs? Cultural Differences: Family as Residential Unit Religious Beliefs are Cultural Beliefs Virtually all cultures have religious beliefs of some kind

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The content of cultures’ religious beliefs is diverse Typically contain prescriptions for socialization – roles, self-regulation, sources of meaning Typically specify a code for behavior Religious Beliefs & Cognitive Development Discussion Detour Industrialized countries tend to be more secular (based on non-religious beliefs). Why do you think Americans generally are more religious than people in other industrialized countries? Moral Development (Piaget) Piaget observed children play games and practice and discuss rules. Two Stages Based on cognitive development: Heteronomous Morality (ages 4–7)

“You can’t change the rules! The rules were made by my Mother!”

Autonomous Morality (reached at age 10–12) “I dropped the glass by accident, that wasn’t as bad as when Julie tore up her book because she was mad.” Moral Reasoning (Kohlberg) Kohlberg presented his participants with hypothetical moral dilemmas, asked them to make a judgment and explain their reasons for their decision. Whether a person judged the actions of the main character in the dilemma as right or wrong was not important. Rather, his* reasoning for the judgment was key to determining the stage of moral reasoning.

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Moral Reasoning Stages

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Constructing Ideas

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Worldviews Approach Worldviews Approach: 3 “Ethics” Political Beliefs (Adelson) Key Chapter Ideas Socialization is the process by which people acquire the behaviors and beliefs of their culture. Three outcomes are self-regulation, role preparation, and cultivation of sources of meaning. Cultural beliefs usually tend toward individualism or collectivism; individualistic cultures value independence and self-expression; collectivist cultures value obedience and conformity. Broad socialization and narrow socialization are processes by which cultural members adopt the values and beliefs of an individualistic or collectivistic culture. A custom complex consists of a distinctive cultural practice and the cultural beliefs that are the basis for that practice. Key Chapter Ideas Cultural beliefs are often based on religious beliefs. Most industrialized countries today tend to be secular, but religiosity is stronger in the United States than in European countries. Ideas about religious faith tend to become more abstract in adolescence, compared with pre-adolescence. Kohlberg’s theory proposed that moral development occurs in a universal sequence regardless of culture. Shweder has disputed this assumption, and Jensen has proposed a worldviews theory as a culturally-based alternative to Kohlberg’s theory. Key Chapter Ideas In the course of adolescence, political beliefs also become more abstract and complex. Emerging adults are often disengaged from conventional politics, but many of them are involved in organizations working toward change in a specific area, and some are attracted to extreme political movements....