13Cultural Values and Human Development
Abstract: Cultural values – a set of values governing a society – guide individuals’ behaviors and define optimal pathways for human development. As such, differences in cultural values generate variations in learners’ attitudes, practices, and achievement. This chapter addresses the connection of cultural values with human development including learning, and its increasing complexity in the current era. First, the chapter provides conceptualizations of culture and cultural values and highlights national and ethnic variations in cultural values particularly relevant for learning and communication. Second, it explains that culturally informed feedback from parents, teachers, and peers regulate human development and learning. Finally, the chapter concludes with the ways in which economically driven social change, globalization, and multiculturalism modify learning environments and human development, along with suggestions for future research directions in this area.
Keywords: Culture, human development, values, cultural values, socialization, globalization, multiculturalism, individualism, collectivism
Differences in cultural values generate variations in learners’ attitudes, practices, and achievement. The cultural process of learning begins early on with parental socialization of infants and young children and continues over the course of a lifespan through various human interactions and exchange of culturally informed social feedback (Chen, 2012; Greenfield, Keller, Fuligni, & Mayard, 2003; Keller et al., 2006; Quinn, 2005). The linkage between cultural values and learning is deeply embedded in one’s cognition, values, and behaviors (Markus & Kitayama, 1991, 2010), rather than emerging abruptly with one’s entrance into formal education system. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the dynamic interaction of cultural values with learners’ characteristics and outcomes as shaped by rich cultural scripts and societal mores in diverse settings.
This chapter addresses the connection of cultural values with human development including learning, and its increasing complexity in today’s rapidly changing, globalized, and multicultural world. In the first section, I will conceptualize culture and cultural values, followed by highlights of national and ethnic variations in cultural values that are particularly relevant for learning and communication. In the second section, I will explain that culturally informed feedback from parents, teachers, and peers regulate human development and learning. Finally, I will discuss ways in which economically driven social change, globalization, and multiculturalism modify learning environments, along with suggestions for future research directions in this area.
Cultural Values and Messages
Humans live in culture, and the connection between person and cultural context is intricate and inseparable (Markus & Kitayama, 2010). As such, culture is not a single variable that can be manipulated; culture cannot be simply introduced to or removed from a person. The discussion in this chapter is anchored in two telling definitions of culture provided by a leading cultural psychologist Heine (2012): First, culture is information that is acquired from other members through social learning that is capable of affecting an individual’s behaviors (Boyd & Richerson, 2005; Heine, 2012). This conceptualization underscores that a set of values and norms are learned through human interactions in a given society. Therefore, I use the term cultural values to refer to a set of values governing a society. Cultural values are important as they guide individuals’ behaviors and define optimal pathways for human development (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003).
The second definition of culture is a particular group of individuals who exist within some kind of shared context (Heine, 2012). In the literature, cultural group contrasts have been largely based on nationality and ethnicity. Thus, many of the examples in this chapter will highlight robust patterns of cultural differences between Western and non-Western nations or between European Americans and ethnic minorities within North America. Nevertheless, the discussion will evolve to reason that the current and future directions for research face the need to diversify research samples and methodologies in suit with today’s changing demographics and cultural identities of individuals and communities nationally and globally.
The Self and the Group: Individualistic and Collectivistic Orientations
Individualism-collectivism has provided a key theoretical framework for understanding variations in cultural values. The main feature of individualism is self-orientation, based on the view that the self is an independent entity from others in the group (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Thus, individualistic orientation relates to a tendency to focus on personal desires, goals, and actions (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, Bontempo, Villareal, Asai, & Lucca, 1988; Triandis et al., 1990). Conversely, collectivistic orientation is a tendency to prioritize one’s group over the self (Triandis et al., 1990). The group-orientation stems from the view that the self is understood as a part of the group, a concept commonly referred as interdependent self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Therefore, collectivistic societies value relational attributes that promote group harmony and order, such as duty and obedience (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis et al., 1988; Triandis et al., 1990).
All humans inarguably recognize both the self and the group, but there are considerable cultural variations in relative emphases placed on the self versus the group, whether the self and the group are ultimately considered as independent or interrelated entities, and how the self and the group interact in sociocultural contexts (Markus & Kitayama, 1991, 2010). For example, Chiao et al.’s (2009, 2010) neuroimaging work has revealed that individualism and collectivism are differentially associated with neural activity. Young adults with individualistic cultural values demonstrated greater neural activation to general self-descriptions (triggering independent self-view), whereas those with collectivistic cultural values showed greater neural activation to contextual self-description (triggering interdependent self-view). These differences were observed in the brain region associated with formation, storage, and retrieval of self-knowledge, suggesting that cultural value orientation may come to shape the neural representations (Chiao et al., 2010).
Western nations such as the United States are generally considered as individualistic societies that are governed by independent self-construal and self-orientation. Non-Western nations, especially East Asian nations, are understood as collectivistic societies that orient towards the group rather than the self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis et al., 1988; Triandis et al., 1990). Research using ethnicity-based contrasts within North America has demonstrated similar patterns. European Americans often score higher than ethnic minorities on scales purported to assess individualistic orientation (Freeberg & Stein, 1996; Gaines et al., 1997; Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002), whereas ethnic minorities evidence a stronger sense of identity and obligation with the group – especially the family – than European Americans (Chao, 1994, 1995; Chao & Tseng, 2002; Freeberg & Stein, 1996; Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999).
For instance, Asian-American and Latin-American adolescents are more likely to value assisting, respecting, and supporting their families than European-American adolescents (Fuligni et al., 1999). Using a simulation task where participants could earn money for themselves or contribute to their family, Telzer, Masten, Berkman, Lieberman, and Fuligni (2010) showed that Latin-American youths showed more neural activity when contributing to their family, whereas European-American youths showed greater neural activity when gaining cash for themselves. The finding was interpreted as evidence for cultural variation of family assistance between the two ethnic groups. In an interview study with 98 mothers, Chao (1995) found that Chinese immigrant mothers were more likely than European-American mothers to focus on interdependent child socialization goals that promote family harmony. In another study, parental sacrifice emerged as a key component of parental support for Chinese-American and Filipino-American adolescents (Chao & Kaeochinda, 2010), indicating the importance of family interdependence in an Asian heritage value system. In sum, studies using various methodologies have supported the notion that one’s group such as the family is central to viewing the self in non-Western interdependent cultures.
Autonomy and Self-Assertion vs. Conformity and Obedience
Self-oriented individualism and group-oriented collectivism have implications for learners’ characteristics and outcomes, as cultural values reinforce specific attributes and guide everyday behaviors in various learning contexts including the classroom. In individualistic Western societies, self-assertion signals positive development, as it matches the cultural expectation of achieving independence and becoming an autonomous individual in the society (Cook & Lawrence, 1990; Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003; Kim, 2002). In line with the individualistic cultural emphasis on uniqueness of individuals rather than commonalities among group members (Fernández, Paez, & González, 2005; Kim & Markus, 1999; Oyserman et al., 2002; Park, Coello, & Lau, 2014), learners are encouraged to voice personal opinions (Kim, 2002), and standing out among peers is praised as a sign of positive development (Raeff, Greenfield, & Quiroz, 2000).
Conversely, self-assertion may risk being reproached as a sign of disrespect and disruption in collectivistic societies where members are expected to conform to group norms and preserve group harmony (Chen, Wu, Chen, Wang, & Cen, 2001; Kim & Markus, 1999). Asserting personal opinions, especially when in disagreement with the dominant opinion, is considered a threat to group harmony. Classrooms in Korea, for example, evidenced more harmonious climate and greater levels of children’s sustained attention compared to classrooms in the United States (Clarke-Stewart, Lee, Allhusen, Kim, & McDowell, 2006). As shown in studies with Chinese children and teachers, members of group-oriented cultures are more likely to appreciate quietness as an indicator of self-controlled thinking that contributes to group cohesion (Chen, 2010, 2012; Tobin, Wu, & Davidson, 1989).
Similar cultural differences tend to emerge within Western classrooms as a function of ethnicity. In a series of three experimental studies, Kim (2002) demonstrated that talking aloud to process one’s thinking in fact interferes with one’s thinking if the student comes from a cultural background where thinking is processed more internally and less through verbal speech. Specifically, she found that thinking aloud while solving reasoning problems impaired Asian-American undergraduates’ performance but did not interfere with European-American undergraduates’ performance. Interestingly, the negative effect of talking on Asian-American students’ performance appeared to be explained by their reduced use of internal thinking processes. Results highlight challenges for students whose cultural values do not match the classroom values. For instance, ethnic minority students who have been socialized with collectivistic and interdependent cultural values at home may underperform in classroom settings that expect students to assert personal opinions. Assessment of student engagement based on the frequency of voicing personal opinions, for example, may not fully capture the classroom dynamic and participation for students with different cultural values and backgrounds.
Emotion Expression and Self-Esteem vs. Emotion Restraint and Self-Criticism
Cultural expectations and values associated with self-orientation and group-orientation shape one’s learning of emotion expressivity and regulation, as well. In line with the independent self-construal model that views the self as ultimately separate from others in context, individualistic Westerners tend to express emotions that relate to personal attributes, which in turn leads to emotions that strengthen one’s identity and self-esteem (e.g., feeling proud for doing well; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). The cultural focus on one’s self-esteem and emotional expressivity shapes the definition of healthy socio-emotional development (Chen, 2012) and may reinforce praise and encouragement as valuable tools that foster motivation for learning (Henderlong & Lepper, 2002). In contrast to emotion expressivity, signs of emotion inhibition such as shyness are discouraged and considered maladaptive in societies where individualism is the norm, including in the United States and Canada (Chao, 1995; Chen & French, 2008; Rothbaum, Pott, Azuma, Miyake, & Weisz, 2000).
In collectivistic societies, interdependent self-construal is a dominant model; the self is viewed as intrinsically related to others and contexts. This view of the self as a contextual, dynamic entity encourages one to change the self to fit the group (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk & Gelfand, 1995; Triandis, 1990). That is, the self is believed to be flexible and malleable depending on the circumstances, which may foster the cultural valuation of training and effort to improve (Chao, 1994; Fung & Lau, 2009). Additionally, restraining emotional expression is considered a skill and asset for maintaining group unity (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), whereas a public display of negative emotions is a threat to group harmony that should be discouraged (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Rothbaum et al., 2000). When emotions are expressed, collectivistic Easterners are more likely than individualistic Westerners to demonstrate emotions that signal their concern for others, such as humility and sympathy, given that these types of emotions tend to foster interdependence among group members (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).
Culturally Regulated Learning: Interaction with Parents, Teachers, and Peers
How do children learn these cultural values and apply them in daily behaviors? Often, cultural values are not taught to learners through explicit messages but through common patterns of generational and social transmission. Cultural values and scripts are learned through social interactions, with various individuals providing cues and feedback for learners to regulate their learning in their cultural contexts. Parents, teachers, and peers are key individuals with whom children interact and exchange culturally informed communications. That is, feedback from parents, teachers, and peers regulates human development and learning in one’s cultural contexts.
Parental Socialization of Children
Early on, cultural values and societal norms guide parental socialization goals for their children and childrearing practices (Greenfield, Keller, et al., 2003; Keller et al., 2006). For example, it is normative for mothers in traditionally collectivistic societies such as Japan to sleep with their babies, guided by the belief and expectation that babies and mother are inseparable and interdependent (Caudill & Plath, 1966; Shimizu, Park, & Greenfield, 2014). Yet in individualistic societies such as the United States, co-sleeping is far less common and generally discouraged as a parenting practice, although not without controversy (McKenna & McDade, 2005). Furthermore, interdependence-promoting infant practice (e.g., bodily proximity and body stimulation) is found in societies where obedience and hierarchy are emphasized during childhood (Keller, 2007; Keller et al., 2009; Keller et al., 2006). As evidenced by such findings, children in collectivistic versus individualistic cultures receive quite different messages from their parents starting in infancy. Children in turn learn to enact their cultural scripts, such as demonstrated by prospective data showing that experience of proximal parenting in infancy is associated with the development of compliance among toddlers, such as the ability to inhibit a rewarding but forbidden act (Keller et al., 2004). These internalized messages from parental socialization come to shape children’s developmental trajectory.
Cultural values also play a role in parental influences on children’s attitudes toward academic goals, expectations, and achievement. In individualistic cultures, parents hold a great concern for children’s self-esteem and utilize words of affirmation and praise to encourage children’s achievement (Wang, Wiley, & Chiu, 2008). Parents in individualistic cultures are also more likely to focus on discovering and developing children’s innate talents, in line with the cultural emphasis on uniqueness and individuation (Chao, 1995). By contrast, collectivistic parents tend to focus on children’s effort and self-improvement. For instance, Chinese immigrant parents emphasize the notion of training in their socialization of children (Chao, 1994; Fung & Lau, 2009). Furthermore, Asian-American and Latin-American children of immigrant parents tend to associate academic achievement with a sense of family obligation, suggesting that these children may be motivated to do well in school not only for personal reasons but also for the sake of the family (Fuligni, 2001). Importantly, these cultural differences should not be viewed as an indication of positive or negative parenting without a careful consideration of culture-specific parenting ideologies and unique cultural contexts (e.g., Fung & Lau, 2009). One should refrain from evaluating parenting without a full consideration of cultural contexts that encompass multiple layers of cultural scripts, strategies, and adaptation.
Student and Teacher Expectations
It is well known that positive student-teacher relations influence academic motivation and achievement (Goodenow, 1993; Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch, 1994; Skinner & Belmont, 1993), but less is known about the role of cultural values in setting the expectations for ideal student-teacher relationship. In individualistic cultures, egalitarian relations are an ideal form of student-teacher interactions, and students have positive attitudes toward teachers who demonstrate caring and allow autonomy (Skinner & Belmont, 1993; Wentzel, 1997, 1998). Students are encouraged to express personal opinions to teachers, as well as ask questions and even challenge their teachers (Aguiar, Mortimer, & Scott, 2010; Chin & Osborne, 2008).
In collectivistic cultures, hierarchical relations are normative and shape student-teacher dynamics. A strong reverence towards one’s teacher is captured in a popular Korean proverb, “One should not even step on the shadow of the teacher.” Indeed, a cross-cultural examination of early childhood programs showed that Korean teachers were more likely than American teachers to endorse the belief that children should always obey the teacher. Korean teachers were also more likely than American teachers to believe that it is important to teach children to obey persons in authority. Furthermore, talking and playing were more frequently observed in student-teacher interactions in the United States, whereas in Korea, student-teacher interactions appeared more distant (Clarke-Stewart et al., 2006). These findings demonstrate cultural differences in student-teacher dynamics in classrooms driven by egalitarian values versus hierarchical relational expectations.
As societies around the world are becoming increasing multicultural, student diversity in classrooms presents added challenges to effective teaching and learning in cases of a cultural gap between students and teachers. For instance, while a student with collectivistic cultural values perceives the teacher as an authority figure and attends to the teacher by listening and internally processing information, the teacher with individualistic cultural values may perceive the student as disengaged in the classroom. Therefore, teacher-training programs must address cultural issues to equip teachers at all grade levels and promote effective teaching and learning. Likewise, sustainable programs in higher education should be in place to address and reduce cultural barriers to learning in colleges and universities.
Whereas teachers’ understanding of students’ cultural background may foster a positive student-teacher bond, teachers’ biases towards minority students present threats and should be avoided (Aronson, 2002, 2004; Steele, 1997). In a cross-ethnic and cross-national study of European-American and Asian-American children in the United States and Korean children in their homeland, Louie, Wang, Fung, and Lau (2014) found evidence for negative teacher evaluations of Asian-American and Korean preschool children who displayed high emotion expressivity. Specifically, Asian-American preschoolers who displayed anger received lower teacher ratings of peer acceptance and prosocial behavior. For Korean preschoolers in Korea, those who expressed sadness and happiness received higher teacher ratings on antisocial behavior scores. These associations were non-significant or reversed for the European-American preschoolers, suggesting that emotion expressivity does not have negative consequences on teachers’ evaluations of their European-American students. The differential associations of emotion expressivity with teacher rating for Asian-American and European-American preschoolers are particularly troubling as the findings suggest teacher biases towards ethnic minority children within the same classroom as early as in preschool.
Peer Evaluations
According to Chen’s (2012) contextual-developmental perspective, the link between cultural values and certain child outcomes is also mediated by peer evaluations. Specifically, peers evaluate the congruence of individual attributes with the cultural values and norms. In turn, the social evaluation (e.g., peer acceptance or rejection) regulates children’s behaviors. For example, research on peer evaluations of shy children reveals the role of culturally informed peer feedback in shaping children’s behavior (Chen, DeSouza, Chen, & Wang, 2006). Observing young children’s free play in Canada, Chen et al. (2006) found that shy children’s attempts to engage in social interactions with peers were met with peers’ responses of refusal and disagreement. However, in China, the same types of shy children’s attempts received peers’ approval and support. The authors interpreted the results as negative peer evaluations of shy children in Canada, in line with the cultural values of self-assertion, in contrast with positive peer evaluations of shy children in China where shyness is more likely to be viewed as signs of understanding and maturity (Chen, 2010, 2012). The contextual-developmental perspective helps to explain how variations in societal values and norms yield differential learning styles and outcomes as a result of social interactions in peer group.
Individuals in Changing and Globalized Cultural Contexts: Current and Future Directions
In addition to acknowledging cultural diversity and the resulting implications for learning and human development, it is also important to honor individual differences among the persons who make up any given society. Acknowledging intracultural diversity is a more sensitive and informed perspective than making immediate assumptions about an individual’s cultural values based on national or ethnic identification. Furthermore, social change, globalization, and multiculturalism in the current era engender multiple cultural value systems and identities. In this final section, I present some factors that are often entangled with ethnic cultural values and discuss current and future directions for studying the dynamic linkage of cultural values and human development.
Cultural Values and Personal Traits
Growth mindset and grit have gained increasing attention as important predictors of academic success (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007; Dweck, 2006, 2009, 2010). Growth mindset is the belief that capabilities can be improved and developed over time (Dweck, 2009, 2010), and grit is the ability to persevere for long-term goals (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007). These personal traits may interact with contextual cultural values to shape learning and success given that interdependent and collectivistic cultures are more likely to consider individuals as malleable, compared to independent and individualistic cultures where individuals are viewed as unique and fixed entities. Thus, it will be an important next step to examine whether and how cultural values interact with personal traits to shape learning and academic achievement.
Economically Driven Social Change
The interaction of cultural values with learning and human development is largely a process of sociodemographic adaptation (Greenfield, 2009). According to Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development, group-oriented collectivistic values are adaptive in small communities with rural and farming ecology where families and community members work together to fulfill their needs. These communities tend to have the characteristics of informal home education, simple technology, ethnic homogeneity, and less wealth. Conversely, self-oriented individualistic values are adaptive in a large, urban ecology where individuals have greater contact with non-related peers and strangers and compete in educational and economic arenas. This type of ecology commonly features nuclear-family residence, complex technology, ethnic diversity, and greater wealth. Greenfield (2009) asserts that each of these ecological factors pushes people’s values in the individualistic direction. For example, a positive association has been observed for two centuries between increasing urbanization and individualism in the United States and United Kingdom (Greenfield, 2013). This theoretical perspective has significant implications for learning and human development in light of the current worldwide shift of socioecology from rural to urban, from farming to commerce, from informal schooling to formal schooling, and from low technology to high technology.
Research conducted in rich cultural settings over generations demonstrate that economically driven social change alters the nature of learning environment and goals, as well as student-teacher dynamics. Following three generations over the course of 23 years, Rogoff, Correa-Chávez, and Navichoc-Cotuc (2005) examined children’s learning environments in a Maya town in Guatemala. The researchers noted that the town shifted from agricultural to commercial ecology, and during the time, children’s learning environments also shifted from informal home education to formal schooling. Increased schooling outside the family appeared to reduce the opportunities to observe and learn adult activities in the home environment, suggesting that children’s teachers shifted from parents at home to formal educators in the school setting. Furthermore, children’s social learning moved from interactions with extended family members and siblings to peer relations in the school.
Research with Maya families in Zinacantan, Mexico demonstrates similar associations between economically driven social change and shift in learning environment (Greenfield, 2000, 2004; Greenfield, Maynard, & Childs, 2003; Maynard, 2004). Between 1969 and 1991, the traditional practice of weaving in the Maya families shifted from personal to commercialized activities. The style of learning also shifted, from more interdependent learning and communal activity to more independent learning and personalized activity. The researchers attributed this change in learning style to the need for greater independence among daughters who were learning to weave, due to their mothers’ increased participation in commercial activity both inside and outside the home (Greenfield, Maynard, & Childs, 2003). Additionally, the physical distance between the learner and teacher in weaving practices increased in later generations (Greenfield, 2000).
Also in the Zinacantec Maya community, Manago (2014) examined interdependent and independent value orientations of adolescent daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. Utilizing hypothetical social dilemmas derived from ethnographic observations, she found that high school adolescents were more likely to endorse the character in the dilemmas articulating independent values, as opposed to non-high school adolescents who were more likely to endorse the other character articulating interdependent values. Furthermore, high school adolescents were more oriented towards the independent character than were their mothers, but there was no generational difference between non-high school adolescents and their mothers. The results suggest schooling as a powerful agent of cultural value shift towards individualism. She also found that involvement in a market economy was associated with higher levels of independent value endorsement in the mother and grandmother generations. Interestingly, it appeared that commerce drove value changes between grandmother and mother generations, and schooling seemed to drive value changes between the adolescent and mother generations.
Another example may be found in current Korean society, where education also appears to be a particularly robust factor that presses individualistic values. Park, Joo, Quiroz, and Greenfield (2015) found that higher maternal education level was associated with individualistic values for elementary school children and their mothers in Korea. However, rural versus urban residence did not distinguish the participants’ value orientations. The researchers noted startling similarities between rural and urban schools, suggesting that commonalties in school environments may have reduced the relevance of rural and urban ecology for the Korean families’ value orientations. For instance, due to a governmental effort to reduce education disparities between rural and urban schools, rural children were exposed to a high-technology classroom environment and received English language and Western culture education from a native English teacher from the United States.
China has also undergone rapid social change in recent decades, largely driven by economic development. Research in China shows that previously favored interdependence-oriented social goals may be losing relevance in the era of market economy. Shyness, consonant with hierarchical collectivistic values of deference and humility, was associated with positive social adjustment for children in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Chen et al., 1998). However, by the early 2000s, shyness correlated with poor social functioning in urban China as it was in North America. Bolstering the interpretation that economic growth and urbanization might have influenced cultural values in children’s attributes, shyness remained linked to positive adjustment in rural China (Chen, Cen, Li, & He, 2005; Chen, Wang, & Wang, 2009).
Economically driven social change often results in dramatic transformation in just a few generations, shifting children’s socialization environments. These economic and sociocultural shifts have implications for family relations as parents and children grow up in starkly different learning environments. Research has shown signs of both conflicts (e.g., Manago & Greenfield, 2011; Shimizu et al., 2014) and resolutions (e.g., Kağıtçıbaşı, 2005, 2013; Manago, 2014) in families at the forefront of social change. Future research utilizing longitudinal designs will help to deepen the understanding of adaptation processes of families in changing environments.
Globalization and Multiculturalism: Multiple Cultural Identities
Globalization and multiculturalism are partly related to economically driven social change, as increased economic resources afford more opportunities for cultural exposure such as traveling and studying abroad, as well as connecting with different cultures using technology. To understand the dynamic and complex interactions of cultural values and learning, future researchers should expand study samples and designs to capture diverse cultural identities of learners beyond relying on nationality or ethnicity. One valuable approach would be to compare individuals of the same ethnic group who differ in other sociocultural factors. For example, researchers can examine domestic and international students of ethnic minority groups in the United States (e.g., Chinese-American vs. Chinese-international students) to investigate the influences of heritage cultural value systems concurrently with other cultural factors such as national and ethnic identities. Additionally, examining ethnic minorities who vary in their socioeconomic status and historical contexts in the United States can provide insight on the role of resource barriers and perceived discrimination in learners’ motivation and achievement. As such, deeper understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity require moving beyond comparing ethnic minorities to European Americans as the reference group.
Future researchers should also aim to investigate the changing ways of communication particularly via social media and technology use. For instance, it will be important to understand how technology is integrated into daily classroom experiences and the resulting implications. Furthermore, cultural identities of youngsters may become more complex as various online tools provide them immense opportunities to gather information and communicate with different individuals miles apart. For immigrants and international students, expansion of technology use may mean a crucial way to maintain contacts with families and friends in their homelands. It will be also interesting to examine how online communication shapes the behavior and psychology of individuals with individualistic and collectivistic backgrounds.
Furthermore, increased presence of international students in colleges around the world calls for the need to understand effective multicultural and international classroom dynamics. Ample research on international students has focused on their academic adjustment and cultural adjustment (e.g., Andrade, 2006; Yeh & Inose, 2003), but these studies may portray the idea that international students should adapt to the Western cultural values that are often different from their home cultures. Although psychological, social, and academic adjustments of international students are important issues, future researchers should critically investigate the changing dynamics within classrooms as a result of more diverse student populations, as well as ways to promote and maximize cultural opportunities both for domestic and international students. These issues will become increasingly important as study abroad experiences are becoming more normative for college students around the world.
Finally, future researchers should examine the cultural adaptation of international students from individualistic societies studying in collectivistic societies. Research thus far has focused on the experiences of students in individualistic, mostly Western, colleges. Sample selection in future research should also include students who have lived and studied in more than two cultural environments. Often referred to as Third Culture Kids, these students possess unique cultural backgrounds and cultural identities (Pollock & Van Reken, 2010). Understanding the role of cultural values in learning will help foster more effective and constructive multicultural communities across various domains such as school, work, and friendship.
Conclusion
The idea that culture influences human development has been a longstanding topic of scholarly interest. Nevertheless, the understanding of complex ways in which culture and humans interact has advanced over time. Cultural value differences have been largely understood based on national contrasts and ethnicity comparisons. Although meaningful, heritage cultures are not solely responsible for shaping cultural values, especially in the current generation of multiculturalism and globalization (e.g., Park et al., 2015). Furthermore, the global shift towards economically developed learning ecology generally alters learners’ attitudes and values towards individualistic self-orientation across ethnicities and nations (e.g., Greenfield, 2013; Park et al., 2014; Park & Lau, 2015). Record numbers of international students, global emergence of formal schooling and high technology, and individuals’ identification with multiple cultures all point to exciting directions in current and future research on the dynamic interactions of cultural values with human development and learning. New ways of communication, particularly through the use of technology and social media, should be of special interest in understanding the current and future generations of learners from diverse and international backgrounds. As researchers, educators, and practitioners continue to investigate the important issue of how cultural values shape different groups of learners’ attitudes, practices, and achievement, it will be imperative to scrutinize learners’ cultural values at multiple levels (e.g., individual, familial, peer, school, national) and consider congruence among different levels. The issues are complex and the challenge is daunting, but the advancement in research methodologies and global networks of scholars and educators present a promising outlook for exploring the richness of sociocultural diversity.
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