Human development and culture

Human development has several relevant areas of study that can be considered through the lens of culture.  For example, the enculturation of social norms explains how each culture teaches its children and young people the values, beliefs, and standards of behavior appropriate for that culture. These vary between cultures, shaping human behavior differently in each.  The most apparent concepts to use here are change or perspective. A possible guiding question for this is, “How does culture influence cognitive and social development?”

Another question that could be investigated using the same context, concept, and extension, but this time focusing on attachment, is the relevance of Western development models to indigenous cultures. See Culture: Attachment. 

Remember that studies and content are not needed; what is necessary is for students to apply relevant arguments about psychological research. The goal of studying the extension is to understand how it affects the context. In Paper 3, students will be assessed based on their ability to apply their knowledge of one of the three extensions to unseen material.

It may help students if they sketch an overview of possible areas of study, such as the Venn diagram below, for culture. There is no need to use more than one area of study and one concept for each extension.