Language Acquisition

After reading my cultural psychology chapter involving development and socialization, I gave some thought to the sensitive periods for language acquisition section. As someone who has learned a second language and did so early on in my life, I can relate to and understand the concept mentioned and the findings of the studies done make perfect sense. There is indeed a period of time where language acquisition will be found easier, and after this period of time it will be more difficult to retain and understand a second language (or maybe a third or fourth for some).
From personal experience, I am glad now as a 21-year old that my parents encouraged me to participate in the French immersion program as a child in grade one when I was six years old. Although I grew up in rural New Brunswick and rarely needed to use my French in the community I grew up in aside from in school, I have gained skills which will help me in the future as far as communication as well as finding a career. Because I was so young when I began to learn a second language, I feel that I have a faster reflex when processing and responding in a second language than someone who learned a second language later on in life. For example, speaking the French language is now something I can do without too much thought or effort, even though it is not the language I learned primarily. I can understand and reply quickly in both English and French. On the other hand, my brother learned French as he got older and was a teen, and often finds it a bit difficult to just start up a conversation in his second language.

Cultural Norms

When considering what traditions and events I celebrate with my family and friends, I am forced to realize what has become culturally accepted and what has not. Most of my family and friends consider birthdays to be a special day, including all of their closest relatives and having tons of food and celebrations. Birthdays are generally a good excuse to have a party, or go out for dinner and a movie with your loved ones.
In my circle of friends, we have two types of social interactions. The first, a more traditional one, being that we physically are together and participate in events such as dinner, watching movies, going shopping, or being active together. The second type of social interactions I participate in are through social media. Although many believe that the technological advances are the greatest thing to ever happen, sometimes I have mixed emotions. I realize that I may sound hypocritical by stating that opinion, as I sit here on my laptop to publish this post for an online course. But as much as I appreciate and love the help and quickness the internet provides, it comes with many negative aspects. One of these is that our culture is accepting of using texts or Facebook messages as the primary means of communication. Whatever happened to walking to someones house and asking them if they want to go for a walk or hang out? Another is that it encourages laziness. It prevents us from wanting or having to spend our free time outside or actually seeing our friends, because we are so preoccupied with Netflix or researching a certain topic.
Along with both physical social interactions and social media interactions comes the new term "first world problems.' Our culture, developed in a first world country, is accepting of having to have exactly what we want and having it the moment we want it. 'First world problems' include things such as when your webpage wont load, or when your cell service is crappy. Of course I complain about these sorts of things too, even though I should know better. Sometimes I am forced to take a step back and just think about how the culture I live in considers something a problem when that specific thing is not even known about in another culture.

Cultural Views

Personal views and perspective always have and always will vary across cultures. Growing up as a Canadian in a small anglophone rural community, I have experienced different expectations and personal opinions than would someone of another culture, whether it be because they speak another language or because they live in a different setting or climate. Because of the country I am from, I am already considered a part of a particular culture. I fell into the classic stereotype of a hockey player when I was younger, and I also have an interest in the outdoors. Coming from the family I did, I had expectations to attend some sort of post-secondary education once I completed high school, as my parents as well as society have pushed young individuals to be as successful as they can. 

I am fortunate that my parents themselves have been successful enough to appreciate and understand the importance of higher education. Especially as a female, I have had opportunities that have been beyond what some may ever imagine. Although typically Canadians are encouraged to participate in post secondary education and to take the opportunities available to them, many places in the world do not. Some countries have the expectation or mind set that women should stay home with the children, and their daughters should stay home to help as well while the men go to work. I am by no means stating that this is right or wrong. I am however comparing what is culturally acceptable in different parts of the world and I am amazed at how much they differ. 

Much of my identity is defined by the culture where I was raised and continue to live in. If I had not grown up in a rural, Christian community in eastern Canada, I likely would not have the same beliefs and opinions that I do today. Culture may often be looked at from the outside as something specific to countries or climate, or race or religion. At least that is what I assumed before learning more about cultural psychology. Now I realize that culture can vary simply by moving towns in the same area, or making a small change in your life. For example, the university culture is much different form the 'real world.' I say this because I never imagined that my views, thoughts, and opinions would improve or change so greatly when I moved to begin university. The university culture has forced me to make friends with people I had not imagined having anything in common with beforehand. It has also given me countless opportunity to meet so many interesting people from cultures all around the world. Because of this, I feel as if I am more educated on a variety of cultures. I look back at the person I was in high school and realize how narrow minded I was, and how I had beliefs and opinions on areas that I didn't have nearly enough education in. 

Culture and its variations of traditions is intriguing and I hope that at some point, everyone has the chance to experience a culture different from their own. Sometimes it is difficult to step outside of the box and try something new, but it is so important to understand the meanings and stories behind different cultures. 

Theory of Mind

A topic in cultural psychology that captured my attention is theory of mind. This is a theory which means that there is an understanding between individuals that everyone has their own minds which differ from one another. Just because someone has been raised the same way and in the same cultural setting as you have, does not mean that their perspectives and opinions will be identical to yours. It is actually quite common for people who grew up in similar environments to have different thoughts and views on the world.
A personal example of this concept would be that my brother and I, who grew up in the same household, raised by the same parents, and shared almost all of our life experiences together, have completely different interests and opposing point of views. However, we both are understanding of each others goals and views on life even though they are not compatible with one another. When he has an idea of what he wants, whether it be a video game or making a decision as big as choosing a career path, there is no changing his mind once he has it made up. He does not depend on the opinions of others nor does he go back and forth weighing his options. He is able to make a decision quickly and that is that. On the other hand, when I am making any sort of decision I spend a good amount of time analyzing each of my options and weighing out the pros and cons of all of them. My brother is also very much a homebody and enjoys spending most of his time alone. I however am very social and always have plans with friends or family to fill my spare time.
Despite our differences, my brother and I have an understanding and acceptance of each other. I understand that he wont have the same interests and feelings toward certain things or situations that I might. His mind simply works differently than mine, and that does not make us enemies or ruin our relationship as siblings.
Having an understanding of theory of mind is definitely important in life as a whole because as we encounter individuals from other cultures we are bound to have clashing perspectives and interests with them. When traveling, I have noticed that cultures can vary from small changes to large changes and the way things are done one place are likely done in a different fashion than another. For example, when I travel to the Caribbean I am always amazed at how they build their structures and their modes of transportation. Obviously they have a warmer climate, making both of those things different from here in Canada but it is interesting to me how a variation of culture causes such changes.

Imitative vs. Emulative Learning

In cultural psychology, I have learned about imitative and emulative learning. Imitative learning is defined by Tomasello et al. (1993) as a situation when the learner internalizes something of the model's goals and behavioural strategies. I have utilized this type of learning through observing and imitating my parents as well as other role models as I have grown up. Examples of this type of behaviour and how it is linked to my personal experiences vary from how I learned to tie my shoes to how I learned to do larger tasks such as how I cook a certain meal or how I drive my car. I would have to say that my parents have had the biggest impact on me as far as imitative learning goes, and through their skills I have adapted identical ways and processes of doing things.
A common critique when it comes to almost any task is "why do you do this task this particular way?" In many situations, I simply respond by saying "that is how I learned through observation." When learning to drive, both of my parents took turns giving instructions and having patience while I learned the rules and ways of the road. I remember clearly that I began driving with two feet opposed to using the same foot for both the gas and the break. My reasoning for this was because that is how I had observed my father driving for as long as I had remembered. However, when my mother got in the car with me one day to go for a drive, she realized what I was doing and immediately critiqued the way I was choosing to drive. Of course her reasons were fair; she was concerned it was an issue of safety and I could not argue with her over that. Learning through imitation can certainly lead to positive outcomes, but bad habits also have a tendency to sneak in there as well.
Emulative learning is defined by Heine (2012) as a type of learning focused on the environmental events that are involved. Although I have also experienced this type of learning, I have not experienced it as frequently as imitative learning. A personal experience with emulative learning would be when I played hockey and I was learning to shoot a puck. My father tried countless times to show me the steps he takes to complete a slap shot. No matter how many times I tried, I could not seem to be successful with my shot by following the exact same steps he was taking. So instead, I changed my form a little bit as well as the way I moved my body to complete the same task as he was performing, but in a slightly different way.
When looking at different types of learning as a whole, it is interesting to see how people can perform the same task in so many different ways. The way we go about doing things will likely depend on how those around us are doing them as we are constantly being influenced by the culture we live in.