The Importance Of Enculturation

Every culture has its own unique attribute and its way of expressing them. Some, more complex and sophisticated than others. Asian countries such as Korea, for example, tend to have a more complex way of delivering their thoughts, than Western countries. However, such cultural attributes and expression can evolve and change through time and human development. Consequently, human beings belongs to the Primate Order, which is known to consist mainly of apes, monkey and lemurs. These primates all share a similar evolutionary process as well as they all possess a characteristic present in humans, that is the enculturation process. For example, Koko the gorilla was taught sign language from an early age through exposition and nurture, resulting in mastering it perfectly. Hence, if primates are able to adapt and change to its culture, how is the enculturation process on human beings? I based the research on my own enculturation process, after being exposed to two different cultures, in order to perceive, how nurture affects

Migrating to a foreign country and once starting its own enculturation process, a different kind of process come across, called acculturation. Acculturation can be seen as the key factor of nurture when residing abroad. For instance, to adapt to a foreign culture and their way of living, one have to start to learn the appropriate behavior according to their culture. Hence, in El Salvador, it is inclined in addressing others by their name no matter their age, reflecting that there is no need to call someone in the grade above “senior”. Likewise, the social cultural background in terms of education is not as harsh as in Korea, learning another language was enjoyable within a relaxing atmosphere where there is no need to be constantly anxious about grades and tutoring