Cultural Scripts

Cultural Scripts

Reply to The Two discussions (135 Words) for each reply).  Demonstrate more depth and thought than simply stating that “I agree” or “You are wrong.”. You can suggest links for more readings.

First Reply

Morgan posted Feb 4, 2022

Hello Class,

Discussion Reply (Cultural Scripts)

Reply to The Two discussions (135 Words) for each reply).  Demonstrate more depth and thought than simply stating that “I agree” or “You are wrong.”. You can suggest links for more readings.

The book used for the course

Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S. R. (2018). The Development of Children (8th ed.). Vital Source

Cultural scripts are known as event schemas that happen in a person’s life. These scripts could be fairy tales such as Santa or the Tooth-Fairy. Parents and family members are individuals who participate in these cultural scripts that teach children good things happen to good people. Growing up I would hear, “Maybe if you’re good Santa will buy you…” and I would get all excited but terrified if I made a mistake or did something bad. As I grew up, I never had the talk from my parents about how Santa wasn’t real. Instead, I wondered why Santa wanted to drink Bud Light with his cookies.

Teaching children that the Tooth-Fairy or Santa is real can seem like a harmless cultural script. That is until children start believing something is hiding under their bed or that monsters are goblins. Normally when children realize that the fairy tales, they have gone so many years believing in turns out to be a lie, they are upset for a number of reasons.

The scripts relate to Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, that human development is a social process where children develop their own beliefs, values, morals, and problem-solving skills.

References

Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S. R. (2018). The Development of Children (8th ed.). Vital Source

McLeod, S. (2020). Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Second Reply

Mitchell posted Feb 3, 2022

I hope all is well.

This reading was so interesting to me. I never realized that so much of my behavior is based off of cultural scripts. I can say that in familiar situations, I don’t have to do a lot of deep thinking to behave. Instead, I go into autopilot and follow a subconscious script in my mind that guides me. 

One cultural script that I can identify with because it followed me into adulthood is the pre process and post process of eating dinner. My grandmother would not compromise her process. I do not still follow ever step however, most.

  • I have to first wash my hands to ensure there were no germs from playing outside
  • Set the dinner table just because that was the thing to do
  • Pray before eating to thank God for the meal and ask him to bless it so that it in no way harms me
  • I had to eat all of my food because there are starving kids that wish they had it
  • After eating, clean up the table, push your chair back up to the table, and put your dishes in the sink.

Even if I am at a restaurant, I still was my hands, which I am sure we all do that especially in a pandemic; pray before eating; whatever food I do not eat, I take home (do not waste it); and I wipe my area of the table and push my chair in after eating.

Another cultural script is during all family reunions that are hosted in Virginia, we have a crab fest. This is because our family for some reason loves crabs from Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. They start from live crab.

Cultural scripts tie into Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory . Vygotsky viewed human development as a socially mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society (McLeod, 2020). 

Reference:

McLeod, S. (2020). Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html