Enculturation of social norms

Key idea: Enculturation is how a child learns what is expected, allowed and admired. Gender norms are a clear example.

Smith and Lloyd (1978) asked mothers to play with a six-month-old baby they had not met. Dressed and named as a boy, the baby was more often offered a hammer and urged to move; as a girl, the same baby was more often offered a doll.

Go further: higher-level insight: This is enculturation (2.3.7) through social learning (2.3.2): norms are taught through what adults reward, and copied from the models children see.

Key idea: Norms shape how children see themselves, but children also choose, resist and change the norms.

Norms change over time: what parents expect of boys and girls is different today in many countries, which itself shows that these parts of the self are learned. Gender is only one example: Wang (2004) found young American children described themselves mostly by personal qualities, and Chinese children mostly by roles and relationships, matching the norms their parents stressed.

Watch out: Enculturation is two-way. Say how children take part in it, not only how it shapes them.