11 Parent-Child Interactions in Hawaii: Learning Social and Psychological Preferences

As Drs. Brislin, Casas, and McCaulley noted at the beginning of this conference, cultural norms may encourage one set of cognitive and social preferences while discouraging or peripheralizing others. If a person’s preferences match the cultural preferences, then it may be easier for that person to adapt, succeed, and see the beauty of this style in that cultural context. On the other hand, if the person’s preferences do not match the cultural styles, then the person may experience difficulties, and self-doubt and may need to develop less preferred skills to succeed. McCaulley’s view of the relationship between preferences and cultural upbringing, is that “people need to bloom in the ground in which they are planted. ” (See chapter 3 in this volume.) Adult members of cultural groups actively and indirectly encourage initiate members, such as children, to develop particular styles. Parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, elder siblings, masters in an apprenticeship system, and others, are major socializers who model, teach, and set up situations which encourage particular ways of perceiving and acting upon reality. I believe that culture, or the predominant social and behavioral patterns in a culture, and the meanings attached to these, influences th