Essay On Behaviour Is A Socio Cultural Construct

Behaviour is a socio cultural construct. An individual’s behaviour and their level of acceptance of certain behaviours will vary based on their reality, which is shaped through their societal constructs, environments and rules (Morrow, 2011). The care and guidance an adult provides a child directly impact the child’s behavioural development (Porter, 2008). An adult’s beliefs and perceptions about children’s behaviour relate directly to the quality of care that is delivered to children (Porter, 2008). The argument of this essay is that children’s behaviour is impacted by the care, guidance and influences from their ecological systems. This essay will discuss different behaviours identified by children in learning environments and formulate

There are numerous influences within a child’s environment that can impact their behaviour such as; economics, education, gender and religion (Morrow, 2011). All these factors combined can shape a child’s belief system and determine an individual’s acceptance and tolerance of certain behaviours. For example, if a student has a strict routine at home where they must take their shoes off before entering the house and no other students abide by this rule in the classroom, the student may take offence to this and lash out at those students. A teacher observing this behaviour may perceive the child’s emotion as misbehaving because they may not understand the student’s cultural values. It is important that caretakers and teachers are aware of the social constructs that impact students so they can be aware of the possible reasons behind student’s behaviours. Behaviours displayed by a child can be explained by looking into their ecological systems to understand why the behaviour is

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory will be applied throughout this essay to delve into the reasoning behind particular behavioural issues. According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, an individual has multiple environments known as their ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Bronfenbrenner (1994) suggests that a developing child is influenced by the relationships surrounding them and the best way to understand a child’s behaviour is to look at the numerous aspects of the child’s environment and how they interact with each other. The relationships and environments that the child interacts with have been separated into layers known as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the overarching chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The microsystem is the environment where the child has direct face-to-face relationships such as at home, day care and school (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The relationships formed within the microsystem directly impact the development of a child (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). It is through the processes of repeated interactions with people, objects and symbols that the human develops (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The second layer in the ecological model is the mesosystem, which is the interaction between two of the microsystems such as the relationship between a parent and a teacher (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The exosystem is an external environment, with which the