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Relationship between culture and behavior
Relationship between culture and behavior
Parenting styles and socioeconomic status
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Newborns do not contribute much to society at large. In fact, they do not do much in general. It is impossible to know the details of what goes on in an infant’s mind. One of the things we do know about newborns is that sleep is crucial and they spend an average of 16-18 hours each day sleeping (Ward, 2015). This paper will examine the experiences of one mother’s decisions in regard to sleeping arrangements and the values, both cultural and personal, that support these arrangements. It will also compare her decisions to the decisions of U.S. and Mayan mothers discussed in the research article “Cultural Variation in Infants’ Sleeping Arrangements: Questions of Independence.” The mother who was interviewed for this paper is 54 years old and …show more content…
In many cultures it is customary for newborns to sleep in the same room as their mother, if not sleep in the same bed (Morelli, Rogoff, Oppenheim, & Goldsmith, 1992). The Mayan mothers slept in the same bed as their infants, also known as cosleeping following Lozoff et al.’s 1984 definition) (as cited in Morelli et al., 1992). Most of U.S. families in the study temporarily shared a room with their newborn. The newborns slept in a bassinet or crib near the parents’ bed. None slept with their newborns consistently (Morelli et al., 1992). A survey found that of 100 societies American parents were the only ones to keep separate rooms for their infants (as cited in Morelli et al., 1992). Previous research indicates that in middle- to upper-class U.S. families cosleeping is an uncommon practice (as cited in Morelli et al., 1992). Aside from the sleeping arrangements, U.S. and Mayan mothers differ in practices regarding feeding. Mayan mothers nursed their child on demand until the child was about 2 or 3 years old and did not have to actively think about feeding their infant in the middle of night. In contrast, 17 of the 18 U.S. mothers reported staying awake during night feedings, which lasted roughly 6 months. The method of feeding for U.S. mothers varied with some breastfeeding and some bottle-feeding their child (Morelli et al., 1992). Mayan mothers did not have bedtime routines and their infants would often fall asleep with the rest of the family. In the United States, bedtime routines were influential in the families’ nighttime activities (Morelli et al., 1992). While there are variations in the child rearing practices amongst cultures, the excitement and happiness a child brings is
In different countries and cities, infant caretaking styles can differ widely due to varying cultures and values. For example, the study done by Morelli, Rogoff, Oppenheim and Goldsmith in 1992 revealed differences in the infant sleeping practices between Mayan parents and U.S. parents from Utah. While more Mayan parents preferred to let their infants sleep on their bed to develop a close mother-infant bond, more U.S. parents preferred to keep their infants on a separate bed and to let them sleep alone as soon as possible in order to allow their child to become independent (Morelli et al., 1992). The purpose of this study is to examine the caretaking practices of a current parent through an interview and to compare and contrast the parent’s
Many of us can relate to baby Hattie and baby Mari, being raised with developmentally appropriate resources. However, this film has shown me that all cultures and family dynamics are different and there is no wrong way or right way. All four babies received all basic needs and were nurtured by their parents, which made them all the same regardless of their culture or
...r members of the animal kingdom, humans have not evolved any longer with such strong maternal instinct. Nurseries probably trapped and imprisoned many a young mother who listened to society and did what she thought she was supposed to. And once they got there, maybe they realized it was not how they wanted to live their life. Yet, they could not abandon their families and children, and so they were trapped by the cradle, the toys, the bottles, the nursery.
Sears, William. Nighttime Parenting How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep. Franklin Park Illinois. Le Leche League International, 1990. Print.
“Babies”. Is a documentary made by the Thomas Balmés. It offers a window on the lives of four infants in four completely different cultures. This is not a usual kind of documentary; there are no narration, no subtitles and actual dialogue was very minimal. The film explores childhood rituals, enculturation, socialization and parenthood. I will try to explore each of these themes and try to make the case that behaviors, values and fears are learned not something congenital. It has, in my opinion, comparative perspectives and different methods in rearing children in different societies. It achieves this by cutting the scenes in certain ways to show the differences between these different children. For example, in one part of the film, both Bayarjargal (the Mongolian child) and Mari (the Japanese child) were playing with their pet cats and then the two scenes were edited to a shot of Ponijo (the Namibian child) looking interested in flies. The four children developed in somewhat similar ways. However, there are differences in their behaviors due to the enculturation by seeing their parents or siblings who were doing what they thought to be the norms and the obvious landscape in which they are brought up. Two of the kids were born in rural areas (Namibia and Mongolia) and two were born in urban areas (the United States and Japan). The mothers of these infants were interviewed and chosen to be in the film
The short-term benefits to infants of co-sleeping with their mothers would be increase breast feeding which promotes bed-sharing, increase sleep interval and duration, less crying time, increase compassion to mother’s communication (McKenna, Mosko , & Richard, pg. 604). Short-term benefits to mothers who co-sleep with their infants would be more sleep time with gratification, increase sensitization to infant’s physiological-social status, increase wellbeing and the ability to understand developmental signals from the infant, and improved skill to supervise and accomplish infant wants (McKenna, Mosko , & Richard, pg. 604). Long-term benefits of co-sleeping for infants are under-represented, but it can spread relief with sexual identity, infants become independent and increase control of their reactions and anxiety, and they become more self-determining in task problem solving and initiating because they are better at being unaccompanied (McKenna, Mosko , & Richard, pg. 604). Parents should know the benefits of co-sleeping either long-term or
Among all different developmental fields, emotional expression plays a very important role for people to understand infants and toddlers’ feelings before they can express their thoughts accurately by language communication. In simple words, emotion means the rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation, which prepares people for action. For example, happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, and sadness are the six basic emotions in humans (Berk, 2012); people can easily identify one’s emotional state by observing his or her facial expression in many situations. Although the expression of emotion is universal, much research shows that emotional development can vary quite a bit by culture.
The French documentary Babies shows the first year of development of four different babies who live in four completely different environments. The film follows Ponijao, a little girl from Namibia, Bayar, a little boy from Mongolia, Mari, a girl from Tokyo, and Hattie, a girl from San Francisco. Even though the babies live in very dissimilar parts of the world, their physical, cognitive, and social development seem to all follow a set pattern. On the other hand, the babies learn to do some activities distinctive to their environment by watching their parents and siblings. Therefore, Babies provides evidence to support both the nature and nurture sides of the debate.
Cultures are a complicated characteristic to understand. Living in the United States all of my life I never truly understood other cultures. When I would see people from other cultures come into my work or see them at school I thought they were bizarre. Last summer I went overseas to England, Ireland, and Wales. There I observed that the customs overseas are very different. One facet I noticed was their alcohol consumption. In the United States the law says you have to be twenty one or older to consume alcohol. In Europe the legal drinking age is suppose to be eighteen, but I found that as long as you have money and can see over the bar you are able to purchase alcohol. I assumed that since they are able to drink sooner, they would have more alcoholics then the United States, but this is not the case. Under serious thought I came to the conclusion that since it is their culture to be able to drink at younger ages they learn to not abuse it. After visiting Europe and seeing the differences between our cultures and theirs, I decided I wanted to lea...
After reading the book which mentions the maternal and neonatal situation in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, is pitiable. (1) Child birth takes place under lantern light, in Mud bricks with profuse sweating without electricity, no running water, no emergency backup. With only the grace of God and the skill of a midwife that child birth takes place in remote villages in the country of Mali, West Africa, having the third highest total fertility
In the movie “Babies” I witnessed cultural differences between four babies lives. In the beginning of the film it started off showing all of the babies, including introducing them; Mari from Japan, Hattie from San Francisco, Ponijao from Namibia and Bayar from Mongolia. These babies coming from 4 divergent countries will be growing up differently; the video will show them from the beginning of their precious lives up until they start walking. The 2010 film Babies demonstrates the cultures of Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the US from the Conflict Theorists perspective. I witnessed many cultural universals in the movie Babies.
The purpose of this essay is to expose the dangers of allowing a child to sleep over at someone’s house without either the mother or father being present. A sleepover might be at a longtime family-friend’s house or just at a classmate's house. You might know the parents well or you may have never met them. Either way, the danger of a sleepover far outweighs any benefit.
Sociocultural is defined as relating to, or involving a combination of social (relating to human society) and cultural (taste in art and manners that are favored by a social group) factors.” (Socialcultural , 2010) You might ask why we are defining these words. It gives a better understanding of Vygotsky beliefs “that children seek out adults for interaction, beginning at birth, and that development occurs through these interactions.” (Morrison, 2009 sec 14.6) I agree that his theory is the best process for learning. Many people feel that social interaction and learning begin at birth, but there have been research conducted that fetus can learn through parental interaction. According to Fetal memory “Prenatal memory may be important for the development of attachment and other maternal recognition. There is much evidence that the fetus learns the speech characteristics of its mother prenatally and prefers its mother's voice to other female voices after birth. It may be that by learning to recognize its mother prenatally the newborn infant has a "familiar" stimulus in its environment after birth to respond to.” (Hepper, 2005, para 18).
The distinction between nature versus nurture or even environment versus heredity leads to the question of: does the direct environment or the nature surrounding an adolescent directly influence acts of delinquency, later progressing further into more radical crimes such as murder or psychotic manifestation, or is it directly linked to the hereditary traits and genes passed down from that individual adolescent’s biological parents? To answer this question one must first understand the difference between nature, nurture, environment, and heredity. Nurture, broken down further into environment, is defined as various external or environmental factors one is exposed to which can be more specifically broken down into social and physical aspects. Nature, itself broken down into heredity, is defined as the genetics and the individual characteristics in one’s personality or even human nature.
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).