Culture and Personality
Personality is the key factor in defining individual uniqueness and shaping an individual's course through life. Psychological anthropology focuses on enculturation, the process by which culture is passed from one generation to the next. The study of culture and personality, enables us to learn about cross-cultural similarities and differences in human development, as well as their consequences for characteristic styles of psychological adaptation. Through the study of child-rearing practices, anthropologists are better able to understand the relationship between culture and personality. "The first agents of enculturation in all societies are the members of the household into which a person is born" (Haviland 2002: 120). This enculturation process primarily begins with the mother and father. Depending on the society, siblings, grandparents and family members may be brought into the enculturation process, as well as other individuals as the child matures. In the United States professionals are brought in to provide children with form instruction for enculturation, while other societies allow children to learn at their own speed through observation and participation. A child's environment and e
The process of enculturation can determine the type of behavior a child's personality will promote, whether it be controlling and aggressive or passive and nurturing. The younger children are not assigned chores and spend most of their time playing with others. For instance, they are included in making decisions about what type of food and entertainment the family will have on a night out. Children are also given allowances and small jobs around the house to teach them how to be responsible for themselves. For example, the Faces of Culture videotape on Psychological Anthropology, demonstrates the dramatic enculturation a young boy undergoes to become a Buddhist Monk. He will have a teacher who will instruct him on "the forms of meditation, the forms of reverence, even the forms of debate that are an important part of monastic life and are valued in the rest of the society as well" (Abrams & Bishop 1994: "Psychological Anthropology"). Even though the boy is of a very young age, his behavior will be shaped to that of the group. In order for a child's behavioral environment to fully emerge, the child must "learn about a world of objects other than self," gain "a sense of both spatial and temporal orientation", as well as a "normative orientation, or understanding of the values, ideals, and standards that constitute the behavioral environment" (Haviland 2002: 146). Additionally, child-rearing practices can reflect and emphasize cultural values in many different ways. Through the study of culture and personality, we are able to better understand the cross-cultural similarities and differences in human development. The children also spend a great deal of time apart from both their parents, because they usually work. " (Abrams & Bishop 1994: "Psychological Anthropology"). The boy "lives in a community where every fifth male must become a monk and where all activities and experiences are seen as having spiritual dimension and significance" (Abrams & Bishop 1994: "Psychological Anthropology").
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