These guiding questions can be used to stimulate class discussion, encourage students to deepen their understanding of core concepts, and cultivate a culturally informed perspective to the study of psychology. After each question are bullet points related to the topic that teachers can consider, prompt for, or share with the class post-discussion.
Guiding Questions: Development and Learning Pillar
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Relevant points for teachers to consider:
- Encourage students to think of Erikson’s theory of development in multiple dimensions. For example, a student of a bicultural background (Spanish-speaking Hispanic living in the United States) may consider themselves industrious in one culture (speaking Spanish at home) yet inferior in another culture (struggling with English at school).
- Consider what it means to have generativity vs. stagnation in a cultural communal sense.
- Intimacy vs. isolation can be more than just romantic relationships. How does a person feel isolated with their cultural communities vs. intimate with their cultural communities? How can one develop intimacy with a community?
- Extension activity: Have a student interview an older adult about their cultural identity views and how it may have changed over a lifespan.
Additional resource:
- Gullan, R. L., Hoffman, B. N., & Leff, S. S. (2011). “I do but I don't”: The search for identity in urban African American adolescents. Perspectives on Urban Education, 8(2), 29–40.
To what extent do you think children are influenced by observational learning of people of similar cultural identities? Consider how you could design a study to test your belief.
Relevant points for teachers to consider:
- Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo Doll experiment ran multiple conditions in which children observed adults of the same perceived gender and the opposite perceived gender.
- Students can relate to their own experiences of learning in regard to feeling affiliation towards a model, and rate models in terms of strength of influence (television, community member, family member).
Additional resource:
- Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106(4), 676–713. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.676opens in new window
How does language shape the way people think about gender and race?
Relevant points for teachers to consider:
- The linguistic relativity hypothesis suggests the structure of language influences cognition.
- Examples of gendered vs. gender neutral language in English would be fireman instead of firefighter, mankind instead of humankind.
Date created: October 2023