Question

how does culture impact the way infants learn

Answer 1

Child development is a dynamic, interactive process. Every child is unique in interacting with the world around them, also what they invoke and receive from others and the environment also shapes how they think and behave. Children growing up in different cultures receive different inputs from their environment. In the case of infancy, it is the developmental period from birth to 18 or 24 months. It is the time of extreme dependence upon adults, where the beginning of many psychological activities such as language, symbolic thought, sensory motor coordination, social learning, etc. according to piaget, children actively construct their own cognitive world. They organize and coordinates sensation with physical movement. They also learn, remember, and conceptualize information. Parents in different cultures also play an important role in moulding a child’s behaviour and thinking patterns. According to erik Erickson, if the child’s needs are met consistently, child will trust people who are caring him and feel safe and secure in the world. And in the case of language, parents should be an active conversational partner. Parents in different cultural settings have different goals for their children. In a study conducted in American parents, not a single family reported bringing their newborn into bed with them. But they interact with them actively. These children are active, and learning occur faster because of their interaction with parents. So, it is evident that how parents care for and play with their babies influence their personality development and also their temperament. The repertoire of basic emotions seems to be universal, but there are individual and cultural variations in their expressions. And also, parenting practices, quality of parent child relationship across the culture also varies their success in socialization and way of learning.