Environment & human social development

• Environment plays a key role in human development, shaping biological and mental aspects
• Humans adapt and survive through their biology and environment
• People develop unique characteristics through interactions with traditions, customs, and culture.

Culture

• Culture encompasses social interactions, attitudes, values, norms, beliefs, knowledge, habits, and artifacts
• It is acquired after birth and passed down through language.

Cultural Standard

• Cultural standard is a specific way of thinking, feeling, and acting within a culture
• Common elements include:
• Language
• History
• Organized religion or beliefs
• Core values
• Common morals
• Social organization
• Accepted habits
• Unique objects

Social Development

• Includes socialization and individuation

Socialization

• Socialization integrates individuals by passing down sociocultural elements
• Individuals internalize cultural patterns and collective behaviors
• Yields social identity and a sense of belonging and individuals can also produce culture

Primary Socialization

• Occurs in childhood with family, educators, and peers
• Involves basic knowledge acquisition like language and behavior rules
• Imitation plays a central role

Secondary Socialization

• Socialization complements and changes life
• Is triggered by significant shifts in one's social context like job changes, marriage, divorce, emigration, etc.
• Requires new adaptations and learned behaviors due to interactions with new groups

Individuation

• Individuation differentiates each person, shaping identity and purpose
• It presupposes and complements socialization by forming uniqueness through interpersonal relationships and self-perception

Wild Children

• Socialization and individuation are severely compromised meaning social interactions are essential for identity and basic skills

• Wild children exhibit resistance to climate, animal-like habits, lack of emotional control, difficulty socializing, absence of symbolic language, and isolation

Sensation

• Sensation is a sensory organ's reaction to environmental stimuli

Perception

• Perception involves processing, interpreting, and organizing sensory information, giving it meaning

Perceptual Grouping

• How perception separates figure from background
• Perceptions organize objects into a coherent whole

Proximity

• Closer figures are more likely to be grouped together

Similarity

• Like objects are grouped by color, shape, or size

Continuation

• Perception prefers continuous lines

Closure

• Perception has a tendency to complete figures

Depth Perception

• Two kinds of depth cues exist:
• Binocular cues (using both eyes)
• Monocular cues (using one eye)

Monocular Depth Cues

• Interposition: Blocking objects are perceived as closer
• Linear Perspective: Parallel lines converging indicates distance

Relative Size

• Smaller retinal images suggest distance

Texture Gradient

• Denser image textures suggest distance

Motion Parallax

• Closer objects move faster when in motion

Influences on Perception

• Perceptual processes construct our physical world perception through learning, cultural, and psychological elements that affect how we interpret sensations

Perception and Reality

• Perception selects and organizes elements based on cultural influences, affecting the nature and individuality of subjective experiences

Emotions

• Dominant emotion is essential for human adaptation, communications, and decision-making

Emotional Characteristics

• Intensity: Emotions vary in energy consumption
• Durability: Emotions have a beginning and end, and usually aren't prolonged
• Polarity: Emotions range from positive to negative with varying intensity
• Expressivity: Emotions manifest through physiological changes
• Versatility: Emotions arise and dissipate spontaneously

William James

• In William James' view, emotions come from initial stimuli that trigger physical responses

Perspective Cognition

• Cognitive processes like perceptions, memories, and learning influence emotions
• Emotions like anger, fear, and joy, are influenced by the interpretation of a subject's situation, cognitive frameworks, context, and personal history

Primary and Secondary Emotions

• Primary Emotions (Paul Ekman): Six basic emotions include sadness, happiness, surprise, anger, repulsion, and fear
• These are innate and universal to each individual, improving adaptation

Secondary Emotions

• Secondary emotions are acquired and learned over time through social context
• They are conditioned by culture and associated with individual interpretations of the world, contributing to personal traits like shame, pride, guilt, and jealousy
• Human interaction creates secondary emotions that rely on cognition and understanding of reality
• Emotions are distinctly human, experienced universally, and may have some innate nature, making a person authentically human