Cognitive Development across Cultures

Parental Belief Systems Across Cultures (Position Paper 1)– January 28th, 2014 The cultural approach to cognitive development focuses on how experiences of a certain culture affects how people think and develop. It has been established that the majority of cultures contribute to cognitive development through learning social processes and encouraging engagement in daily activity.1 I feel that parental beliefs systems in various cultures strongly impact children’s psychological development. This can be demonstrated through comparing the parental belief systems of two vast cultures— Somali and French— by examining what are perceived as the most important aspects of raising children. Moreover, parenting is parenting and there will be similarities among all cultures, but certain values implemented in parental beliefs within a culture absolutely resonate in the psychological development of their children. The psychological development of any child is shaped by early experiences. To examine sociocultural systems and a specific child’s psychological development the approach ‘Cultural construction of Child Development’ was created based on the developmental niche.2 It focuses on children’s physical and social setting, rearing practices and customs, as well as the beliefs and values of caretakers while sociocultural experiences work to teach children where to focus their attention.3 To demonstrate that psychological development of children is influenced by parental beliefs it is crucial examine cultures independently as well as cross-culturally. In other words, to be correct in saying parental belief systems impact children’s psychological development, the values of parents should be reflected in the values of children. The reflection of parental beliefs in the psychological development of children is exceedingly apparent while examining the Somali culture. The opened ended nature of the questions asked to both mothers and children surrounding daily difficulties/pleasures and normative parenting were crucial in being able to prove that parental beliefs resonate within the psychological development of their hildren. Early in any child’s life they are exposed to routines, rituals, and practices that demonstrate guidance toward becoming a more mature and functional member of a certain culture.4 This is highly demonstrated within the Somali culture as the qualities valued in children reported by mothers are actually outlined in the daily activities reported by the children. Obedience was of the highest value for mothers with 80 percent of mothers expecting children to look after younger siblings while children reported that they spent time helping their family and looking after younger children. 5 Alongside this, both mothers an children reported lack of money as a difficulty. Thus, overall the study demonstrated that the parental belief systems— obedience, working together to help the family function, caution when it comes to money— resonated within the children. A larger study conducted surrounding parental belief systems focused on Parisan families. First, because socioeconomic status has been found to be a predicting factor in the variation of parental beliefs it must be taken into account these two cultures differentiate in regards to living conditions whether it’s housing, financial, number of children etc.6 The study of Parisian parenting has a significantly larger sample than the Somali study. Since French is a highly industrialized society a lot of the results are consistent with individualistic ideals.7 The study also focused on the most valued childrearing practices, but in addition examined the variation as a result of the sociodemographic characteristics of parents.8 The positive relationship between family size and education levels with the importance of a variety of stimuli was interesting to consider because parents with high-level schooling were evidently intrigued by various stimuli, therefore by reporting this as an important childrearing technique demonstrates they are influencing their children directly with the beliefs they are instilled with. The parental beliefs of both cultures encourage independence and individualism in children, but in different ways. The example of the Somali culture, more specifically the way the study was conducted, was more effective in demonstrating the relationship between parental beliefs and psychological development of children because you could see the values mother’s held were portrayed in the actions of their children as both parties were interviewed. Although it is important not to exclude the fact the sample was small, I feel that it is crucial both parties are interviewed to demonstrate this relationship.