How children learn culture — and create it, with Dorsa Amir, PhD

About this episode

Dorsa Amir discusses how children learn and create cultural norms, emphasizing the role of peer cultures and diverse parenting practices worldwide.

Which aspects of human cognition are universal and which are shaped by the culture we grow up in? Dorsa Amir, PhD, director of the Mind & Culture Lab at Duke University, talks about how children learn cultural norms around things like sharing, risk-taking and cooperation; what she’s learned from her work with the Shuar people in the Ecuadorian Amazon; why children’s “peer cultures” may play a bigger role in human development than we realize; and why parents can take comfort from the vast variety of ways children are raised succesfully around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: American Psychological Association

Guest: Dorsa Amir, PhD

Topics covered

• cultural norms
• child development
• peer cultures
• cognition
• sharing
• risk-taking
• cooperation

Keywords

• culture
• children
• development
• cognition
• parenting
• Shuar people
• cooperation
• risk-taking
• sharing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Duke University

Places: Ecuadorian Amazon

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