Eculturation and Cognition of Children Research Paper

Eculturation and Cognition of Children - Research Paper Example Learning of culture in any community or society takes place at an early stage when a child is born and may continue throughout the lifetime of the individual. Therefore, the aspect of learning and using key aspects of a particular culture constitute a process to an individual, which anthropologists have termed as enculturation. Therefore, this research paper will explore the concept of enculturation and how it impact or influence the cognition process of children. Research methodology to be utilized will largely constitute qualitative research techniques. Secondary data will be relied upon in generating useful information for this study and reliable library books, electronic books, journals and useful websites will be utilized. Enculturation and Cognition of Children Talcott Parsons, one of the credited scholars in the field of sociology is remembered for noting that new generation of children being born are as a result of a process known as ‘recurrent barbarian invasionâ€℠¢ (Grunlan and Mayers,1988, p.77). The scholar went ahead to explain this concept by stating that children being born into this world do not have culture of their own. ... As they enter the world, the children slowly are expected to live and cope within the different cultural context they find themselves in and to do this they require to adopt certain and specific cultural aspects. Therefore, such children have to go through a process of acquiring these cultural aspects and it is this process anthropologists have termed as enculturation while sociologists have termed it as socialization (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). What is enculturation? The concept of enculturation was originated by an anthropologist known as J.M. Herskovits. In a scholarly work published in 1948 and titled ‘Man and his Works, the Science of Cultural Anthropology’, Herskovits defines and describes enculturation as â€Å"the aspects of the learning experience that mark off man from other creatures and by means of which he believes competence in his culture† (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.15). Herskovits went further to expound on this definition by stating that, enculturation constitute a process that is characterized by conscious and unconscious conditioning that is carried out by any particular society’s set customs limits. As this process takes place, Herskovits observes that apart from achieving all adjustments to social living, there is also derivation of all kinds of satisfaction that constitute part of social experiences and in most cases are achieved from individual expression and not from association with others in the group (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As a procedure, Herskovits contend that all individuals in one way or the other have to go through the process of enculturation in order for such individuals to fit well and become members of any particular society. According to the writer, the