Social Value Acquisition in Preschool Aged Children III. Internalization of Institutionalized Value Expectations

SUMMARY

This article is the last of a series of three concerned with studying the acquisition of social values in three-to-five year old children in an under-privileged area. Some of the children were reared under the dual influence of primary (mothers) and secondary (nursery teachers) socializing agents, and some of them were reared under the influence of primary agents only. The two groups of children were compared (i) for their internalization of the cultural values of self-reliance, cooperation, and compliance, (ii) for their integration among these internalized values, and (iii) for their congruity between conformity and internalization with respect to each value. Intelligence, nature of cultural expectations, the child's perceptions of the relevant expectations, and the quality of maternal acceptance of the child were additional independent variables considered in the study. Nursery children were found to have greater internalization of self-reliance and cooperation, to display higher value integration, and greater congruity with regard to compliance. Intelligence was positively correlated with internalization of each value and with integration. Level of maternal expectations was positively correlated with internalized self-reliance and cooperation. Perceptions of expectations were positively correlated for the same values. Maternal acceptance of the child was positively correlated with internalization of cooperation and compliance, and with integration, while it was part of a higher-order interaction effect with maternal expectations and treatment group in the case of internalized self-reliance.