Effects Of Enculturation Research Articles

The role of human behaviour in activist content sharing on social media

PurposeSocial media (SM) platforms tempt individuals to communicate their perspectives in real-time, rousing engaging discussions on countless topics. People, besides using these platforms to put up their problems and solutions, also share activist content (AC). This study aims to understand why people participate in activist AC sharing on SM by investigating factors related to planned and unplanned human behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a quantitative approach and administered a close-ended structured questionnaire to gather data from 431 respondents who shared AC on Facebook. The data was analysed using hierarchical regression in SPSS.FindingsThe study found a significant influence of both planned (perceived social gains (PSGs) , altruism and perceived knowledge (PK)) and unplanned (extraversion and impulsiveness) human behaviour on activist content-sharing behaviour on SM. The moderating effect of enculturation and general public opinion (GPO) was also examined.Practical implicationsSharing AC on SM is not like sharing other forms of content such as holiday recommendations – the former can provoke consequences (sometimes undesirable) in some regions. Such content can easily leverage the firehose of deception, maximising the vulnerability of those involved. This work, by relating human behaviour to AC sharing on SM, offers significant insights to enable individuals to manage their shared content and waning probable consequences.Originality/valueThis work combined two opposite constructs of human behaviour: planned and unplanned to explain individual behaviour in a specific context of AC sharing on SM.

The function of timbre in the perception of affective intentions: Effect of enculturation in different musical traditions

Timbre has been identified as a potential component in the communication of affect in music. Although its function as a carrier of perceptually useful information about sound source mechanics has been established, less is understood about whether and how it functions as a carrier of information for communicating affect in music. To investigate these issues, listeners trained in Chinese and Western musical traditions were presented with Phrases, Measures, and Notes of recorded excerpts interpreted with a variety of affective intentions by performers on instruments from the two cultures. Results showed greater accuracy and more extreme responses in Chinese musician listeners and lowest accuracy in nonmusicians suggesting that musical training plays a role in listeners’ decoding of affective intention. Responses were more differentiated and more accurate with more musical information. Excerpts were also analyzed to determine acoustic features that are correlated with timbre characteristics. Temporal, spectral, and spectrotemporal attributes were consistently used in judging affective intent in music, suggesting purposeful use of these properties by listeners. Comparison between listeners’ use of acoustic features reveals a greater number of shared features between Western musicians and nonmusicians compared to Chinese musicians for valence, although the three groups shared more features for arousal. How timbre is utilized in musical communication appears to be different across musical traditions, and valence responses seem to be more culture-specific and arousal responses more similar across cultures.

Cultural efficacy as a novel component of understanding linkages between culture and mental health in Indigenous communities.

We used a novel measure of cultural efficacy to examine empirical pathways between enculturation, efficacy, and two wellbeing outcomes. Cultural factors are not consistently linked to better wellbeing in the academic literature despite widespread understanding of these processes in Indigenous communities. Healing pathways is a community‐based participatory study with eight reservations/reserves in the upper Midwest and Canada. This study uses data collected in 2017–2018 (n = 453, 58.1% women, mean age = 26.3 years) and structural equation modeling to test the relationships between enculturation, cultural efficacy, and mental health. The direct effect of enculturation on anxiety was positive. The indirect effect of enculturation via cultural efficacy was negatively associated with anxiety and positively associated with positive mental health. Cultural efficacy is an important linking variable through which the protective effects of culture manifest. The complex nature of culture must be met with innovative measures and deep understanding of Indigenous peoples to fully capture the protective role of culture.

The impact of social networking sites on socialization and political engagement: Role of acculturation

This research examines the extent to which immigrant consumers' use of social networking sites affect their socialization and political engagement in the Netherlands. The study uses self-administered questionnaires to collect data from 514 Turkish-Dutch respondents of various ages, occupations, levels of education and locations in the Netherlands. The study finds that the propensity to share information, the intensity of use, and privacy concerns positively impact socialization on online social networking sites. In addition, a significant positive relationship between socialization and political involvement positively impacts voting intentions. The study also examines the interaction effects of enculturation and acculturation orientations on the relationship between socialization and political involvement. The study's findings point to a positive moderating role of acculturation in this relationship but a negative one for enculturation. The study is the first to investigate simultaneously the drivers of socialization on social networking sites in the context of immigrant consumers and the impact of their socialization on political involvement and voting intention. The research further contributes to the scholarly work by exploring the interaction effects of acculturation and enculturation orientation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Impact of youth cultural orientation on perception of family process and development among Korean Americans.

This study examined how cultural orientations influence youth perception of family processes in Korean American families and how these family processes, in turn, predict depressive symptoms and antisocial behaviors among youth. Family processes were examined separately for maternal and paternal variables. This study used survey data from Korean American families living in the Midwest (256 youth and their parents) across 2 time periods, spanned over a year. At the time of the first interview, the average age of youth was 13 (SD = 1.00). Using structural equation modeling, this study tested the hypothesized associations concurrently, longitudinally, and accounting for earlier outcomes. Results show that identity and behavioral enculturation in one's heritage culture are predictors of bonding with parents, which is notably protective for youth. The results highlight the critical effect of enculturation in enhancing youth perception of the parent-child relationship. Behavioral acculturation to mainstream culture, in contrast, predicts youth problems, although the effect may not necessarily always be via family processes. Similarly, Korean and English language proficiencies predict fewer youth problems, but not always by way of family processes. A few differences emerged across maternal and paternal variables, although there was much commonality in the hypothesized relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record

Effect of Intensive Instruction on Elementary Students’ Memory for Culturally Unfamiliar Music

Previous researchers have found that both adults and children demonstrate better memory for novel music from their own music culture than from an unfamiliar music culture. It was the purpose of this study to determine whether this “enculturation effect” could be mediated through an extended intensive instructional unit in another culture’s music. Fifth-grade students in four intact general music classrooms (two each at two elementary schools in a large U.S. city) took part in an 8-week curriculum exclusively concentrated on Turkish music. Two additional fifth-grade classes at the same schools served as controls and did not receive the Turkish curriculum. Prior to and following the 8-week unit, all classes completed a music memory test that included Western and Turkish music examples. Comparison of pretest and posttest scores revealed that all participants ( N = 110) were significantly more successful overall on the second test administration. Consistent with previous findings, participants were significantly less successful remembering items from the unfamiliar music culture, a result that was consistent across test administrations and between instruction and control groups. It appears that the effect of enculturation on music memory is well established early in life and resistant to modification even through extended instructional approaches.

Effect of Enculturation on the Semantic and Acoustic Correlates of Polyphonic Timbre

polyphonic timbre perception was investigated in a cross-cultural context wherein Indian and Western nonmusicians rated short Indian and Western popular music excerpts (1.5 s, n = 200) on eight bipolar scales. Intrinsic dimensionality estimation revealed a higher number of perceptual dimensions in the timbre space for music from one's own culture. Factor analyses of Indian and Western participants' ratings resulted in highly similar factor solutions. The acoustic features that predicted the perceptual dimensions were similar across the two participant groups. Furthermore, both the perceptual dimensions and their acoustic correlates matched closely with the results of a previous study performed using Western musicians as participants. Regression analyses revealed relatively well performing models for the perceptual dimensions. The models displayed relatively high cross-validation performance. The findings suggest the presence of universal patterns in polyphonic timbre perception while demonstrating the increase of dimensionality of timbre space as a result of enculturation.

Social connectedness, discrimination, and social status as mediators of acculturation/enculturation and well-being.

The present study proposed and tested a conceptual model of acculturation/enculturation and subjective well-being (SWB) by including social connectedness in mainstream society, social connectedness in the ethnic community, perceived discrimination, and expected social status as mediators. Survey data from 273 Asian American college students in the midwest were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the effect of acculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in mainstream and ethnic communities and expected social status, whereas the effect of enculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in the ethnic community and expected social status. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, perceived discrimination did not mediate the relation of acculturation and SWB, but indirectly influenced SWB via a lowered sense of connectedness to mainstream society. Approximately 46% of the variance in SWB was accounted for by the variables included in this model. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Resilience among Urban American Indian Adolescents: Exploration into the Role of Culture, Self-esteem, Subjective Well-being, and Social Support

The effects of enculturation, self-esteem, subjective well-being, and social support on resilience among urban American Indian (AI) adolescents from a South Central region of the U.S. were explored. Of the 196 participants, 114 (58.2%) were female and 82 (41.8%) were male (ages 14-18 years). Thirty-three percent of the variance in resilience was accounted for by enculturation, self-esteem, and social support, while 34% of the variance in resilience was contributed by enculturation, subjective well-being, and social support. However, social support from friends remained the strongest predictor.

Raking it in: the impact of enculturation on chimpanzee tool use

Recent evidence for different tool kits, proposed to be based upon culture-like transmission, have been observed across different chimpanzee communities across Western Africa. In light of these findings, the reported failures by seven captive juvenile chimpanzees tested with 27 tool use tasks (Povinelli 2000) seem enigmatic. Here we report successful performance by a group of nine captive, enculturated chimpanzees, and limited success by a group of six semi-enculturated chimpanzees, on two of the Povinelli tasks, the Flimsy Tool task, and the Hybrid Tool task. All chimpanzees were presented with a rake with a flimsy head and a second rake with a rigid head, either of which could be used to attempt to retrieve a food reward that was out of reach. The rigid rake was constructed such that it had the necessary functional features to permit successful retrieval, while the flimsy rake did not. Both chimpanzee groups in the present experiment selected the functional rigid tool correctly to use during the Flimsy Tool task. All animals were then presented with two "hybrid rakes" A and B, with one half of each rake head constructed from flimsy, non-functional fabric, and the other half of the head was made of wood. Food rewards were placed in front of the rigid side of Rake A and the flimsy side of Rake B. To be successful, the chimps needed to choose the rake that had the reward in front of the rigid side of the rake head. The fully enculturated animals were successful in selecting the functional rake, while the semi-enculturated subjects chose randomly between the two hybrid tools. Compared with findings from Povinelli, whose non-enculturated animals failed both tasks, our results demonstrate that chimpanzees reared under conditions of semi-enculturation could learn to discriminate correctly the necessary tool through trial-and-error during the Flimsy Tool task, but were unable to recognize the functional relationship necessary for retrieving the reward with the "hybrid" rake. In contrast, the enculturated chimpanzees were correct in their choices during both the Flimsy Tool and the Hybrid Tool tasks. These results provide the first empirical evidence for the differential effects of enculturation on subsequent tool use capacities in captive chimpanzees.

Discrimination, historical loss and enculturation: culturally specific risk and resiliency factors for alcohol abuse among American Indians.

This report investigates the effects of discrimination, historical loss and enculturation on meeting diagnostic criteria for 12-month alcohol abuse among American Indians who share a common culture in the upper Midwest. We introduce an empirical measure of historical loss and hypothesize that historical loss will mediate the effects of discrimination on meeting 12-month diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse. We also hypothesize that enculturation will be negatively associated with 12-month alcohol abuse and mediate or moderate the effects of discrimination. A sample of 452 (351 women) American-Indian parents/caretakers (mean age: women = 39 years, men = 42 years) of children ages 10 to 12 years participated in diagnostic interviews for lifetime and 12-month alcohol abuse. The subjects' perceptions of discrimination, historical loss and enculturation were also measured. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate direct and potential mediating effects of latent constructs of enculturation (a resiliency factor) and historical loss (a risk factor) on the relationship between discrimination and meeting criteria for 12-month alcohol abuse. Historical loss mediated the effects of discrimination on 12-month alcohol abuse among women. Enculturation neither mediated nor moderated the effects of discrimination but had an independent negative effect on alcohol abuse. In a combined model comprising both enculturation and historical loss, the effects of discrimination on 12-month alcohol abuse were mediated. This study presents important new evidence that historical loss affects American-Indian alcohol abuse. It also provides evidence for the resiliency effects of enculturation on alcohol abuse.

A critical review of the "enculturation hypothesis": the effects of human rearing on great ape social cognition.

Numerous investigators have argued that early ontogenetic immersion in sociocultural environments facilitates cognitive developmental change in human-reared great apes more characteristic of Homo sapiens than of their own species. Such revamping of core, species-typical psychological systems might be manifest, according to this argument, in the emergence of mental representational competencies, a set of social cognitive skills theoretically consigned to humans alone. Human-reared great apes' capacity to engage in "true imitation," in which both the means and ends of demonstrated actions are reproduced with fairly high rates of fidelity, and laboratory great apes' failure to do so, has frequently been interpreted as reflecting an emergent understanding of intentionality in the former. Although this epigenetic model of the effects of enculturation on social cognitive systems may be well-founded and theoretically justified in the biological literature, alternative models stressing behavioral as opposed to representational change have been largely overlooked. Here I review some of the controversy surrounding enculturation in great apes, and present an alternative nonmentalistic version of the enculturation hypothesis that can also account for enhanced imitative performance on object-oriented problem-solving tasks in human-reared animals.