Guiding Questions: Social and Personality Pillar

Relevant points for teachers to consider:

• Emotion socialization is the process by which children are taught by their parents how to understand different emotions and the rules for expressing emotions.
• Several dimensions of cultural identity impact this socialization process
  • For example, research suggests that white, middle-class parents living in the United States and other Western cultures may be more likely to socialize their children to develop something called individualistic emotional competence. This includes the ability to openly communicate and express one’s emotions. In contrast, parents in Asian, Middle-Eastern, and other non-Western societies may be more likely to socialize their children to develop relational emotional competence. This includes communicating emotions in ways that engage others socially and minimize conflict and distress.
• There are also gender norms related to the acceptability of showing emotions like sadness or fear.
• Parents who are under considerable stress (e.g., those living in poverty, exposed to chronic discrimination) may have less capacity to tolerate their children’s expression of negative emotions and may inadvertently teach their children to suppress their emotions.
• Members of communities that are at a heightened risk to be victims of stereotyping may be taught to inhibit their emotions to avoid being stigmatized as, for example, “an angry Black man.”

Relevant points for teachers to consider:

• Some common aspects of cultural identity include racialized identity, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, religion, ability/disability status.
• Subcultures are smaller cultural groups within a larger culture that share a distinct collection of values, beliefs, rituals and traditions. For example, someone might belong to the larger national culture of the “United States,” but identify more closely with a smaller subculture like “Southerner” or “New Englander.” Subcultures can also reflect musical interests, social beliefs, or hobbies. Some examples include hippies, hipsters, jocks, cosplayers, gamers, goth, punk, k-pop, and members of the military/veterans.
• Students might examine ways in which immigrants or children of immigrants might experience conflict in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors associated with their nation of origin (or the nationality of their parents) and the country in which they currently live. Another example might be conflict between a person’s religion and their gender identity or sexual orientation.