CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN ONE’S LIFE 2
Culture and Environment in One’s Life
The definition of the term culture centrally revolves around humanity. Precisely, culture
comprises of beliefs, customs, knowledge, morals, laws and other behaviors and habits that a
person acquires in society (Rapoport, 2017). From an anthropological perspective, environment
refers to the perception, presentation, language and cognition that form the encodings of the
surroundings (Halkos & Tzeremes, 2013). The complexity of the human environment and the
processes of epistemic connection with the world determines how an individual acquires
information from the world through the senses. Culture and the environment influence a person's
life developmentally and microgenetically through the information that is acquired from the
environment and absorbed by their mind.
Culture influences the way an individual behaves and lives. The culture in which a person
is born dictates how the individual learns, makes meaning from schemata and symbols that are
directly or indirectly transmitted through the symbolic codes (Rapoport, 2017). It affects the
adaptive measures and survival techniques that the individual develops within their ecological
setting. Eventually, the person becomes oriented to a particular way of life of a specific group
within which the individual is born. The lifestyle and mode of surviving that the individual
adapts lead to a certain way of behaving and living that is unique and typical and can
differentiate them from others.
The norms and beliefs that are culturally acquired by an individual determine an
individual’s environmental behaviors and their way of life. At their tender age, children’s
immediate environment are family members. The parents, older siblings and close relatives
impact the personality development of a child through the behaviors and beliefs. As the children
grow, their personality and way of life are further modified by their peers, teachers the things