# Enculturation of social norms

> IB Psychology · IB Psychology 2027 First Assessment
> Source: https://www.owlsprep.com/study/ib-psychology-hd-enculturation-of-social-norms/

The role of enculturation of social norms in the development of self.

## Learning objectives

- The role of enculturation of social norms in the development of self.

## Core concept

Enculturation is the process by which a child absorbs the norms, values and expected behaviours of the culture they are born into, and so develops a self that fits that culture. Much of it happens without direct teaching — through observation, imitation and everyday participation. Children not only learn norms but come to treat them as binding, even enforcing them on others, which shows how deeply a culture's rules become part of the developing self.

## Key studies

IB Psychology answers must be supported by named studies. Learn these to cite as evidence:

**Odden and Rochat (2004)** — Over years in a Samoan village, children acquired complex skills and social/moral knowledge largely by observing adults, with little direct instruction. — *Shows enculturation working through observation and participation rather than explicit teaching.*

**Gockeritz, Schmidt, and Tomasello (2014)** — Five-year-olds picked up even arbitrary social norms and then actively enforced them on others as 'the way things are done'. — *Shows norms become internalised and normative — children treat them as binding, a sign the culture's rules are now part of the self.*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — explains a huge amount of learning cheaply** — Observational enculturation accounts for how children pick up vast amounts of culture-specific behaviour without formal teaching, and Gockeritz shows the norms are genuinely internalised, not just copied.

**Limitation — mostly naturalistic or on arbitrary rules** — Field observations (Odden & Rochat) cannot isolate cause, and norm-enforcement studies are usually lab tasks with made-up rules, so how far each captures real-world enculturation is uncertain.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> Enculturation as it builds the developing self is the focus. The general mechanism is SOC_6, social learning theory is SOC_10, and acculturation models are SOC_8.

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Enculturation and acculturation are the same thing.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: Enculturation is absorbing your FIRST/own culture as you grow up; acculturation is adjusting to a SECOND/new culture later (e.g. as an immigrant). Development of the self through norms is enculturation.

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