This essay focuses on broad array of cultural environments. into some kind of cultural environment that influences how they perceive and understand
our experiences, such that we are able to thrive in an extremely broad array of cultural environments. Who we are is greatly influence by the cultural worlds into which we are socialize. And all humans have been socialize into some kind of cultural environment that influences how they perceive and understand themselves and their worlds. Sensitive Periods for Cultural Socialization.
It would seem that if humans evolved as cultural beings, we should see evidence that the human brain is preprogrammed to learn cultural meaning systems. One such source of evidence would be an indication that there is a sensitive period for being enculturate. A SENSITIVE PERIODS FOR CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION. 163 sensitive period is a period of time in an organism’s development. This is that allows for the relatively easy acquisition of a set of skills. If an organism misses that chance to acquire those skills, it would have a difficult time doing so later, after the sensitive period has expired.
There is a trade-off between an organism’s ability to learn new behaviors that suit its new environment and its abilities to specialize in behaviors that are effective in particular environments (see Auld, Agrawal, & Relyea, 2010; Pigliucci, 2005). Some organisms specialize shortly after birth, such as goslings imprinting. This is on the first caretakers they encounter and following. This is them as though they were their mothers. Other organisms, such as humans, can continue to specialize throughout their lives. It is in some domains, as your ability to learn cultural psychology demonstrates. Indeed, human cultural learning continues throughout the lifespan, although the developmental . These developmental transitions indicate the existence of a sensitive period.