Sociocultural factors in development
IB Psychology· Human development· 14 min read
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Scope
5. Common Pitfalls
Wrong move:
Developmental milestones and what counts as a 'good' temperament or parenting style are universal.
Why:
A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
Correct move:
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.
Going deeper
- Etic approachjudging another culture by your own standard is the etic/imposed-etic issue (SOC_7); the culture-insider view is the emic approach (SOC_5).
- Enculturation of social normshow children actually absorb their own culture's norms is enculturation (HD_6).