Culture's influence on social and developmental processes - Assignment Example

Culture’s Influence on Social and Developmental Processes There are two most important thrusts in life that form the human behavioral trends ranging from universality to exceptionality. One of these thrusts certainly concerns culture, and in a general term, nurture. The other thrust in life is nature. It forces things like biological givens and other traits that are not knowledgeable (Berry et al., 1997). These two prevailing influences are in a constant interaction state to the extent that is nearly impossible to ascertain that nature is only responsible for a particular aspect of an individual and nurture is the only cause of another aspect.

The particular psychological makeup of any person is the outcome of both culture transmission (nurture) and biological transmission (nature). There are different factors that combine in shaping and creating a person. These factors are cultural and biological factors. Parents are seen to be a proximal influence as the genetic composition of every person comes equally from either the biological father or mother (Berry et al., 1997). In addition, the distant relatives of an individual and the particular biological blend formed by them are substantial factors contributing to the biological uniqueness.

Also, blood quantum or race may contribute to uniqueness. In conclusion, factors that contribute to the distal cultural transmissions which shape directly the person are things like cultural beliefs that regard the worth and nature of children, gender related tasks to people or assignment of a precise age. Above all, the parents are proximal influences who play a great role to the child by socializing the increasing members of culture (Berry et al., 1997). Additionally, there are a lot of indirect cultural influences which may be powerful and passive.

They include; mentors, neighbors, grandparents and teachers. Work CitedBerry, John W., Ype H. Poortinga, and Janak Pandey, eds. Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology: Basic processes and human development. Vol. 2. John Berry, 1997.