Development of values takes place during the process of socialisation. Socialisation always occurs in a context. Since socio-cultural milieu is different for different societies, differences in cultures are reflected in the values. There are layers of contexts according to the ecological perspective. The smallest of the context in which the child lives and moves is the immediate family, school teachers and peers and the neighbourhood, play area, etc. Another layer of context is the direct involvement of individuals affecting the child such as parents’ interaction with neighbours, etc. Still the wider context relates to the broader community in which the child lives. Examples are family network, mass media, work places, family friends.
Though the child may not have direct contact, the different layers of systems affect the child’s development and socialisation. Each layer of context interacts with another making a highly complex context in which the child grows up. Nothing ever remains static. As the child grows, the contexts also change which influence the child’s attitudes, behaviour, values, etc. Values are learnt as we learn habits in the process of growing up. Learning of values takes place quite early in life by word of mouth or simple commands from parents and other adults at home. In the early years of life, prohibitions and parent identifications are the source of values. For example, an 18-monthold child seizes the lid of a sugar bowl on the table followed by loud and frightening admonition of ‘No’. The child runs far to a corner of the room, closes his eyes and holds the lid in front of his/her face to protect himself/herself.
The mother retrieves the lid, scolds the child, the child throws tantrums. When the tantrum subsides, the child then looks at the offended mother looking for re-acceptance. At this stage, there are certain emotional states experienced by the child like impulse, fright, frustration, anger, each having a specific stimulus and terminating condition. The child does not comprehend the why of this behaviour or act. S/he only experiences certain kind of emotions and feelings. The following case of a little older three-year-old child and what it says about the role of parental identification assumes importance. On being scolded by the father to remain in bed till 7 o’clock, the child obeys to be in bed till seven o’clock. She does as ordered but cannot help doing other things while in bed which distracts the father. So again, she gets a scolding from the father. At this stage the external voice of authority is exerting pressure to obey. After a few repetitions of this kind of experience, the child learns that it is not right because father is saying ‘to be quiet’ and ‘to be in bed’ so she learns to be obedient on simple commands from the father. In this process, children quickly learn which behaviours are approved and which ones are not, which are likely to bring rewards and which might lead to punishment. They attach notions of good and bad, right and wrong to different acts and behaviours. Reward and punishment, approval and disapproval act as positive or negative reinforcers. The nature of association - positive or negative - and its frequency is thus important to form a value. When the 13 end result leads to appreciation, positive association forms but when the end result gives rise to pain, suffering, destruction etc., negative associations are formed with a particular act, idea or behaviour.
The person tends to repeat the act or behaviour which serves the desired end. When these are repeated under favourable conditions of reinforcement, they form into habits and get deeply ingrained as strong behavioural tendencies. Initially, there may not be any conceptualisation but later such learning may be transferred from one particular situation to another. When students are themselves made to judge the worth of prioritised activity, situation or an idea by independent appraisal and reflection, the internalisation of values takes place. Values are truly internalised, if there is a shift from fear of punishment, whether external or self administered to an experience of value related obligation. There is a shift from ‘must consciousness’ to ‘ought consciousness’. In ‘must consciousness’, there is a sense of compulsion. But in ‘ought consciousness’, there is a sense of obligation. ‘Ought’ is not the same as ‘must’. The ‘must’ statements like ‘I must be careful’, ‘I must obey traffic regulations’, ‘I must not give way to anger’ reflect compulsions, whereas statements like ‘I ought to pick up litter around’, ‘I ought to take care of my parents’, ‘ought to respect my elders’, reflect the sense of obligation rather than fear or compulsion.
The experience of ‘ought’ while making a choice relates to one’s self image. Violation of some values is then considered as falling short of self image. In the course of shift from ‘must consciousness’ to ‘ought consciousness’ there is a change from
(a) external sanctions to internal,
(b) from experiences of prohibition, fear and way to experiences of preference and self respect,
(c) from specific habits of obedience to self guidance and the broad schemata of values providing direction to one’s conduct and behaviour. The process of educating students for values is a process of inducing critical and reflective thinking, rational choice and responsible behaviour. When we are educating students for values we are enabling them to think, to reason, to question and reflect, to care, feel concerned and to act accordingly.
As has been aptly pointed out “Values are developed not by forcing people to memorise words by letting them to talk, ventilate the issues and search for their own values”. It is, therefore, important that during the process of socialisation at home and school, deliberate attempts are made to promote awareness, understanding, sensitivity, appreciation, reflection, thinking about what is good or bad, right or wrong and why it is right or wrong.
It is only then responsible choice making or decision making, willingness and commitment to follow desirable values are likely to take place naturally. When rational approach is not there, shortcuts seem viable. The human mind then tends to make compromise with immoral behaviours and acts.
It is true that there are cultural variations in approaches towards human development in general and values development in particular. But generally there are less examples of guided learning in fostering of values.
