Enculturation and Cognition of Children - Coursework Example

Running head: ENCULTURATION AND COGNITION OF CHILDREN Enculturation and Cognition of Children Insert Insert Insert 31 July 2011 Enculturation and Cognition of Children Introduction Enculturation is a term that was coined and has widely been used in the field of anthropology, specifically in the study of cultural anthropology. This term has similar meaning with the word socialization that mostly has been used by sociologists. Cultural anthropology is a sub-field of anthropology that studies society’s culture and how culture is transmitted from one generation to another. People or individuals belong to communities that have cultures which in essence prescribe individuals expected behavior and conduct in the society. Learning of culture in any community or society takes place at an early stage when a child is born and may continue throughout the lifetime of the individual. Therefore, the aspect of learning and using key aspects of a particular culture constitute a process to an individual, which anthropologists have termed as enculturation. Therefore, this research paper will explore the concept of enculturation and how it impact or influence the cognition process of children. Research methodology to be utilized will largely constitute qualitative research techniques. Secondary data will be relied upon in generating useful information for this study and reliable library books, electronic books, journals and useful websites will be utilized. Enculturation and Cognition of Children Talcott Parsons, one of the credited scholars in the field of sociology is remembered for noting that new generation of children being born are as a result of a process known as ‘recurrent barbarian invasion’ (Grunlan and Mayers,1988, p.77). The scholar went ahead to explain this concept by stating that children being born into this world do not have culture of their own. Such children have no any idea of the world they are coming into, do not have any language they can communicate into, and even they lack basic moral concepts that society require them to have. Due to this, Parsons makes the use of the word barbarian to describe such children since they manifest themselves to lack culture and socialization aspects (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). As they enter the world, the children slowly are expected to live and cope within the different cultural context they find themselves in and to do this they require to adopt certain and specific cultural aspects. Therefore, such children have to go through a process of acquiring these cultural aspects and it is this process anthropologists have termed as enculturation while sociologists have termed it as socialization (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). What is enculturation? The concept of enculturation was originated by an anthropologist known as J.M. Herskovits. In a scholarly work published in 1948 and titled ‘Man and his Works, the Science of Cultural Anthropology’, Herskovits defines and describes enculturation as “the aspects of the learning experience that mark off man from other creatures and by means of which he believes competence in his culture” (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.15). Herskovits went further to expound on this definition by stating that, enculturation constitute a process that is characterized by conscious and unconscious conditioning that is carried out by any particular society’s set customs limits. As this process takes place, Herskovits observes that apart from achieving all adjustments to social living, there is also derivation of all kinds of satisfaction that constitute part of social experiences and in most cases are achieved from individual expression and not from association with others in the group (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As a procedure, Herskovits contend that all individuals in one way or the other have to go through the process of enculturation in order for such individuals to fit well and become members of any particular society. According to the writer, the enculturation process commence when a child is born into the world and such child has to be exposed to fundamental conditioning aspects such as eating, sleeping, speaking and also hygiene (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). When this enculturation process is taking place, there is a fundamental significance of the process whereby the individual is able to shape his or her personality and as a result be able to form the habit patterns of the adult in later life (Herskovits, 1955 cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). Another scholar by the name Margaret Mead while acknowledging the work of Herskovits observed that there was a tendency in the social science discipline of using the terms enculturation and socialization interchangeably (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As a result, the researcher criticized Herskovits’ work of manifesting in wide measure this ‘mistake’. In turn, Margaret Mead made effort of distinguishing the two terms by observing that socialization means the learning process that accommodates and utilize universal aspects (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). On the other hand, the researcher defined enculturation as “the process of learning culture as it takes place in a specific culture” (Mead, 1963, p.185 cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.17). Providing support and demonstrating that there needs to be a difference between enculturation and socialization, Shimahara (1970) observed that enculturation constitute a tool for analyzing and deriving understanding of the cultural processes and the concept originated and applies to anthropology (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008 ). As a result, the writer defined enculturation as “the behavioral process of acquiring the existing culture and the process of socially changing through teaching and learning also in the existing culture” (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.17). While agreeing to definitions provided by Herskovits and Shimahara, Johannes Wilbert (1976) in scholarly work titled ‘Enculturation in Latin America: An Anthology’, observed that the term enculturation constitute a universal process of behavior (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As universal process of behavior, enculturation is likely to appear and take place in all societies since it is largely a process by which culture is passed from one generation to another (Wilbert, 16 cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). The writer goes ahead to observe that enculturation in its nature is not synonymous with growing up but in essence, enculturation has the capacity to generate culture-related changes manifested n an individual during his or her lifetime (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). More so, the culture-related changes only constitute part of the total changes that generally take place during the process of personality formation. In expounding on the concept of enculturation Coombs and Ahmed (1974) noted that enculturation takes place in two modes that are informal and non-informal education (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). The informal modes constitutes, “the lifelong learning process by which every person acquires and accumulates knowledge, skills attitude and insights from daily experiences and exposure to the environment” (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.18). On the other hand the non-formal mode of enculturation constitute, “ any organized systematic educational activity carried on outside the framework of formal system to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups n the population adults as well as children” (Coombs and Ahmed, 1974 cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.18). Cognition in children and enculturation process Kim (2001) developed the cultural adaptation process model which explains how enculturation takes place. By developing the cultural adaptation process, Kim as a first step explained what culture is. According to the author, culture is, “imprinted on each individuals a pattern of perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors that s accepted and expected by others n a given society below the level of conscious thought” (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.22). According to the author, once individuals are born they immediately become programmed by the culture in which they are born. In most cases, the individuals do not realize the power of cultural programming on them and how such cultural programming is able to shape their mind-sets and behavioral patterns (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As it was expressed earlier in the paper infants are born in societies as ‘barbaric’ species that lack almost everything apart from the oxygen they breathe. But due to fact that they belong to societies in which people are, such infants are forced to learn and acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, aspects that in turn become fundamental in equipping them as functional members of the their societies (Lane and Pumain, 2009). In its nature, society is composed of culture that prescribes an ordered way of life. Given that the children are born with certain possibilities of processing information, it becomes necessary for the infants to develop desires that make it possible to adapt and lead the ordered way of life that society expects them to lead (Lane and Pumain, 2009). When children are born, it becomes paramount upon them to gain or access information that will enable them to define, explain, learn, and understand their environment. All these takes place in a society where the infants with the help of members of the society take part in cognition process of their environment. As a result cognition process may be viewed to involve activities that members of a society especially children take part in order for them to acquire information about their environment (Goswami, 1998). It constitutes processes such as learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. Therefore, the cognition process as it takes place is aimed at enabling the infants to have control and that capacity to manipulate the environment in which they live in. Given that cognition process takes place in society, it become evident that enculturation largely constitute a process or a mechanism in which the infants have the ability to develop a broad sense of knowledge about the environment they inhabit and more so the societies they become members to (Goswami, 1998). Enculturation as it has been defined above constitute both conscious and unconscious processes that enable infants to achieve competence of their culture. Consequently, the infants become accustomed to internalizing the cultures of their societies a situation that enables them to become fully enculturated (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). How enculturation enables cognition among children As children become members of any given society they are largely required to internalize the overall dreams and expectations of that society. At the same time, the children are required to internalize the set rules and requirements of the given society. In this circumstance, the society in which the children are born into put in place all the necessary help measures that become pivotal in providing help and guidance to the children in their cognition process (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). The society directs that the children as its members have to learn proper and accepted behavior that become important in fulfilling certain social setting and in meeting the demands of any challenge. Therefore, enculturation become a pivotal process that starts when a child is born and continues throughout the life of the child. Through enculturation children are able to learn respect for the symbols of the society’s culture through imitation, recitation and so on. Further, the children are able to learn behaviors that are appropriate and required by society concerning sex, social class, and the peer groups they belong to (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). To further reinforce their cognition in the society they belong, children through enculturation become aware of their reciprocal rights and privileges the way the society may determine and enforce them as well as their overall responsibilities in the society. In learning all these, the society will depend and rely on individuals such as parents, teachers, friends, strangers, and many more as the agents of enculturation process (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). In any given society, culture becomes a mechanism or tool in which individual’s personality become created, molded, and developed. In developing this personality, a child has to participate in a continuous process of learning, memorizing, reasoning, and problem solving that will combine to create and reinforce the personality of the child. As a result, the child has to recognize and identify what his or her society has set as the best elements in developing personality. The society’s set elements may also constitute goals that prescribe and articulate the kind of a person the society through learning would want the child to become. Consequently, children become the subject upon which society’s culture has to be transmitted. In doing so the children will need to participate, a process that will lead them to learn, memorize, reason and find solutions within the set limits of the society’s culture (Eller, 2009). Childrearing practices have been identified as the activities parents engage in with their children, which in turn reinforce the cognition process of children (Eller, 2009). Through child rearing processes, children under the guidance of adults are able to reinvent themselves via appropriate learning environment and subsequently acquire necessary personality traits of the society. Childrearing processes that are fundamental aspects in cognition process among children can be divided into three categories (Eller, 2009). The first category constitutes the explicit instructions where cognition process of children develops through formal institutions that acculturate explicit instruction such as discipline, obedience and even competition (Eller, 2009). The second category constitute modeling where parents become key agents of cognition process for the child especially in shaping the child’s behavior and personality (Eller, 2009).The last category is the exercises where the child is allowed to practice what he or she learns and imitate from adults and teachers. Throughout the process, the society is able to give the child the opportunity to develop his or her cognition aspects of skills, talents and habits (Eller, 2009). Conclusion Culture has become a formidable aspect that defines individual’s behaviors, shapes personality and provides limits in which individuals can act and operate as functional members of any given society. Enculturation as a concept is the mainstream in which children and adults of any given society are able to learn, memorize, reason and solve problems in the environments they inhabit. As a result, enculturation is seen to be part and parcel of cognition process especially for infants of any given society. More so, for adequate enculturation to take place, learning environment has to be created and key agents in creating this environment are parents, teachers, peers, strangers and relatives. To this extent, this study has been able to find that indeed enculturation as an aspect of cultural anthropology has influence on the cognition processes of children in different cultures and societies. References Eller, J. D. (2009). Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives. NY: Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=AgJ0oI9hBNkC&pg=PA105&dq=enculturation+in++cultural+anthropology&hl=en&ei=jME1TvWaLYaGhQfkmvCrDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=enculturation%20in%20%20cultural%20anthropology&f=false. Goswami, U. (1998). Cognition in children. London: Psychology Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=DbqXSdMHIh0C&pg=PA1&dq=Cognition+process+of+Children+and&hl=en&ei=0Ds1Tqy_M4HChAfL3bSACw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Cognition%20process%20of%20Children%20and&f=false. Grunlan, S. A. and Mayers, M. K. (1988). Cultural anthropology: a Christian perspective. MI: Zondervan. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=qvsrgl91TFsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Cultural+Anthropology:+A+Christian+Perspective&hl=en&ei=CLI1ToK_I8OEhQeY7pHcCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Lane, D. and Pumain, D. (2009). Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change. NY: Springer. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=8KDdodrTBI8C&pg=PA52&dq=enculturation+in++cultural+anthropology&hl=en&ei=jME1TvWaLYaGhQfkmvCrDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=enculturation%20in%20%20cultural%20anthropology&f=false. Somani, I. S. (2008). Enculturation and acculturation of television use among Asian Indians in the U.S. MI: ProQuest LLC. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=unPaevMDN2wC&pg=PA17&dq=The+Process+of+Enculturation&hl=en&ei=Uzc1TqOIAcGJhQfOqrSRCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=The%20Process%20of%20Enculturation&f=false. Read More