# Enculturation

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

The role of enculturation in one or more human behaviour.

## Learning objectives

- The role of enculturation in one or more human behaviour.

## How often is this tested?

Based on OwlsPrep's analysis of official CIE IB_PSYCH P1 past papers (2019–2025): **Enculturation** appears **10 times** in the last 7 years — **4.4%** of all P1 questions (10 of 228).

Most-tested forms: Essay: Discuss (22 marks) (4), SAQ: Explain (9 marks) (4), SAQ: Describe (9 marks) (2).

## Core concept

Enculturation is the process of learning and absorbing the norms, values and behaviours of your OWN (first) culture as you grow up. It happens largely through observation and imitation of the people around you — parents, elders, peers — often without any formal teaching. Through it, children come to share the expectations of their culture, from everyday manners to gender roles. It is how a culture is passed from one generation to the next.

## Key studies

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

**Odden and Rochat (2004)** — Years of fieldwork in a Samoan village found that children acquired complex skills and social knowledge mainly by observing adults, with little or no direct instruction. — *Shows enculturation working through observational learning — children absorb their own culture's practices largely by watching.*

**Gockeritz, Schmidt, and Tomasello (2014)** — Five-year-olds not only learned arbitrary new social norms but transmitted them to others and treated them as binding. — *Shows the transmission side of enculturation — children take on their culture's norms and actively pass them on.*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — naturalistic, cross-cultural evidence** — In-context fieldwork shows enculturation as it really happens, and the same observational learning appears across very different cultures.

**Limitation — hard to isolate** — Enculturation overlaps with biological maturation and with deliberate teaching, so it is difficult to prove that observation alone produced a given behaviour.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> Learning one's first/native culture is the focus. Adapting to a second culture after contact is acculturation (SOC_8); the underlying learning mechanism is SLT (SOC_10).

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Enculturation and acculturation are the same thing, and their research can be used interchangeably.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: Enculturation = absorbing your OWN/first culture (usually in childhood). Acculturation = changing after contact with a DIFFERENT/second culture (e.g. after migrating). Use enculturation studies only for enculturation questions.

---

From [OwlsPrep](https://www.owlsprep.com) — free study guides for A-Level, IB, AP and IGCSE, written against the official syllabus. Canonical page: https://www.owlsprep.com/study/ib-psychology-soc-enculturation/