How culture influences human development Essay

This essay is an attempt to show how acculturation influences forgiving study and counselation of the world. at that placefore, to initiation with this essay pull up stakes define horti agri coating by different scholars. It allow for then show the parts of gardening and give a brief account on what culture constitutes (characteristics of culture). Furthermore, the concept of human development will be discussed briefly to give the reader a more clear understanding of the topic at hand. With clear examples, the essay will then show how culture influences human development and their interpretation of the world. Finally, a conclusion summarizing what the essay will discuss will be drawn.The attempt to define culture is elusive as legion(predicate) another(prenominal) may suggest. Nevertheless, there are certain paradigms that constitute the sum total of culture and underlie cultural images and identity construction. It is the close affinity amidst cultural image and human identity that makes the definition of culture complex. The most complex and as yet comprehensive definition of culture is that arrived during the Mondiacult in Mexico city which has continued to be the most practicableised definition of culture Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, hearty and intellectual features that charactorise a nine or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of biography, the fundamental rights of human beings, value systems, traditions and beliefs.Young Kate (1993) in a report said, culture is seen in the African social context as transcending the arts or arti items, folklores, literatures, music, dance and other artistic paraphelia.According to Taylor (1996) culture refers to the patterns of air and thinking that tribe living in social groups learn, create, and share. Culture distinguishes one human group from others. It also distinguishes humans from other animals. A mickles culture includes their bel iefs, rules of behavior, language, rituals, art, technology, styles of dress, ways of producing and preparation food, religion, and political and economic systems.Culture can also be defined as a set of values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors dual-lane by a group of people, communicated from one generation to the next via language or some other means of communication (Barnouw, 1985).An American sociologist Ogburn has divided culture into two parts Material culture which consists of tangible things and tools used to express the way of life such as machines, dwellings, manufacture of goods and transportation and Non material culture which consists of non tangible aspects such as norms, values, customs and practices that are exhibited in social institutions such as the family, religion, economy and education.Some of the characteristics of culture is that it is symbolic, meaning it is based on symbols or abstract ways of referring to and understanding ideas, objects, feelings, or beh aviors-and the ability to communicate with symbols using language it is shared meaning people in the same society share common behaviors and ways of thinking through culture(Bodley ,1997) it is learned socially (Archer, 1996) it is adaptive, that is to say people use culture to flexibly and quickly adjust to changes in the world around them (Findely, and Rothney, 2006) it is social meaning culture does not exist in isolation it is transitive as it is transmitted from one generation to other and it is continuous and cumulative because it exists as a continuous process.Various people understand human development on a wide variety of aspects. pitying development can be intellectual, biological, social, economical, and m either others. Human development involves all the individuals activities starting from birth, infancy, minorhood, adolescence, through to adulthood. Therefore, human development and peoples view of the world during all these stages of a persons life is influenced by peoples exposure to various cultures in so many ways.Usually when a child is born, it is born into a particular family that has a certain way of life. Members of this family will have a language they usually use, type of food they usually eat, religion or church they are part of, a way they dress, a type of people they interact with, types of socialactivities they interlock in, and so on. All this is part of their culture as a family. That child will grow up and adapt to that culture because the family is its first agent of socialization. As the child grows and develops into an adolescent, then into an adult, his or her view of the world will with child(p)ly be influenced by this socialization of the family. The way in which he or she will interact with others will depend on how he or she has been brought up to do. Some individuals are shy and reserved while others are talkative.In the past, the African culture socialized girls and women to maintain their place which was in the ki tchen and to be respectful towards men. In as much as this was a form of gender inequality, this culture also brought some form of human development as the men went out to provide for their families as well as develop their communities, while the women stayed at home cooking, taking care of the children and doing household chores which is a form of human development (social) were socializing of the children is involved. So, in this type of way of life the women interpreted or viewed men as being superior over them and the men viewed the women as being their helpers. However, over the years this sort of view has changed (though not everywhere) due to the fact that culture is not static, it is an adaptive mechanism that constantly adjusts to satisfy human biological and social needs.Because of this dynamic tendency of culture, cultural communities continue to change as do individuals. A communitys history and relations are part of cultural process which intern lead to various human de velopments. A good example that can be cited is that of the Khoi Khoi and san people of the past who hunted and gathered food for their survival. It is very rare to find any kind of people in this day and age who still follow that kind of lifestyle.Culture is not the same everywhere, it varies greatly and this great diversity can sometimes be confusing to others. For instance, the thought of children handling knives makes many American parents very nervous, yet toddlers in some parts of Africa safely use machetes. Similarly, infants in middle-class communities in the United States are often expected to sleepalone by the time they are only a few months old while many low and middle-class Zambian children typically share their mothers bed through their toddler years. These striking exits in child rearing practices bound the diverse range of what is considered developmentally appropriate for children around the world, depending on their cultural circumstances (Roggof, 2003). Therefor e, people from, say, these two types of societies will interpret child rearing practices otherwise from one another.Another example by Barbara Roggof (2003) which results in a great difference in interpretation due to the diversity of culture is the comparison between the United States and Mayan community in Gautemala. The United States is a highly age-segregated society, with children spending much of their time away from activities of adults.That segregation removes children from important opportunities to observe and learn from elders by participating in valued community activities, said Roggof. In contrast, in the Mayan community in Gautemala, children often learn through the process of observation and auxiliary guidance as they engage in community activities. Young Mayan girls, for instance, regularly observe women weaving complicated patterns because weaving is a daily household activity. experienced weavers watched for their daughters to express interest and then set up a s imple project beside their own which allows them to offer, what Roggof calls guidance embedded in activity.So dissimilar in the United States community were learning is often pegged to age and managed in specialized child settings, instruction in this Mayan community is generally triggered by the childs interest in becoming involved in valued family community activities. This shows that human development in some cultures is influenced by age, while in others by interest. Cultural diversity shows that there are different viewpoints and ways of interacting with the world as there are cultures (Young, 1993).However, cultural difference may sometimes become problematic. Because different people are part of different cultures and punctuates, people tend to see or interpret things through their background. That is, culture acts as a filter, not only when perceiving things, but also when thinking aboutinterpreting events. For example, Mary Banda may interpret Aisha Yusufs habit of over s picing her food whenever she is cooking as a sign that Aisha is not a very good cook as she uses these spices as a disguise of her lack of talent.Mary capacity even conclude that people from her own culture are better cooks than that of Aishas because she does not need spices to make her food taste good. Mary Banda, in this example, is interpreting someone elses behavior from her own cultural background and based on her own beliefs of culture and behavior. This is an act of ethnocentrism, which is the viewing and interpretation of the behavior of others through ones own cultural glasses (Giddens, 1989). This is a form of biasness which is also closely linked to stereotypes.For example, suppose someone is having a conversation with another person from a culture different from their own. While he is talking to this person, he notices that she does not really make eye contact with him when he speaks. Also, she does not really look at him when he speaks. On the few occasions when her e yes look his way, she quickly averts her gaze if their eyes meet. From his cultural background he may interpret that she does not feel very positive about his interaction.He may even put off and reject any attempts at future interactions. He may not feel trusting or close to her. But she may come from a culture were purpose gazing is discouraged or even a sign of arrogance. She may actually be avoiding eye contact not because of any negative feelings, but because of difference and politeness to him. Of course these potential problems have real and practical implications in everyday life. Such scenarios may occur in a job interview, in a teaching or learning situation at an elementary school, at a business negotiation, or even in a chatter with a doctor.It is always hard for people to separate themselves from their own cultural backgrounds and biases to understand the behaviors of others.However, this is not to say that all cultures are different or diverse. There are always cross- cultural tendencies or behaviors that are shared in most cultures. For instance, in most cultures people burry their dead, celebrate at weddings, deplore at funerals, name their children, wear clothes (do notmove naked), and many others.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, culture is basically peoples way of life or way of doing things or even way of thinking. Be it how they comb their hair, dress, worship, eat, time they sleep at night, and so on. Culture is material and non material, and therefore, influences a great deal of peoples lives. This influence of culture can be on their human development from birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, through to adulthood. Jean Piaget talked about four stages human beings pass through as they develop.These include the sensory motor stage (0-23 months old), pre-operational stage (2-7 years old), concrete operational stage (7-11 years old) and formal operational stage (11 years and above). Through all these stages, human development occurs in various w ays. And this can be intellectually, socially, economically, and biologically. It can also influence how people interpret the world or other people around them as illustrated in the few examples in mentioned in the text.REFERENCESArcher, M. S. (1996). _The place of culture in social theory_. new-sprung(prenominal) York Cambridge University Press.Barnouw, V. (1985). _Culture and personality (_4th edition_)._ Wales Dorsey Press.Bodley, J. H. (1997). _Ethnology_ (4th edition). Mountain View cliff Mayfield Publishers. 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