# Sociocultural factors in development

> IB Psychology · IB Psychology 2027 First Assessment
> Source: https://www.owlsprep.com/study/ib-psychology-hd-sociocultural-factors-in-development/

The influence of one or more sociocultural factors in human development.

## Learning objectives

- The influence of one or more sociocultural factors in human development.

## How often is this tested?

Based on OwlsPrep's analysis of official CIE IB_PSYCH P2 past papers (2019–2025): **Sociocultural factors in development** appears **21 times** in the last 7 years — **7.3%** of all P2 questions (21 of 288).

Most-tested forms: Essay: Discuss (22 marks) (10), Essay: To what extent (22 marks) (8), Essay: Evaluate (22 marks) (3).

## Core concept

Development does not happen in a vacuum: the culture a child grows up in shapes which behaviours are encouraged, valued or seen as a problem. The same trait can be adaptive in one setting and maladaptive in another, so judgements about 'normal' development carry the values of the observer's culture. Recognising this guards against imposing one culture's developmental yardstick on another — an ethnocentric or 'imposed-etic' error.

## Key studies

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

**deVries (1984)** — Among Maasai infants during a drought, those with 'difficult', demanding temperaments were more likely to survive than 'easy' infants. — *A trait Western norms label negative was adaptive in this context — culture, not a universal standard, decides what 'good' development looks like.*

**Tronick, Morelli, and Winn (1987)** — Efe infants were cared for by many adults and comforted quickly, a caregiving/attachment pattern unlike the Western single-caregiver model. — *Even the most basic developmental experience — who raises a child — varies culturally, so developmental 'norms' are culture-bound.*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — corrects ethnocentric bias** — Cross-cultural cases like deVries and Tronick expose assumptions built into Western developmental research and give a fairer, more valid picture of development.

**Limitation — hard to isolate 'culture'** — Culture is bundled with ecology, economics and history (drought, subsistence), so attributing an outcome to one specific sociocultural factor is difficult, and small field samples limit generalisation.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> The influence of culture on development is the focus. The sociocultural mechanisms themselves (cultural dimensions, emic/etic, acculturation) are the sociocultural approach (SOC_4–SOC_8); norm-acquisition is HD_6.

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Developmental milestones and what counts as a 'good' temperament or parenting style are universal.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: They are partly culture-relative. deVries shows a 'difficult' temperament can be adaptive; treating a Western standard as the human default is an ethnocentric (imposed-etic) bias.

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