Dear researchers,
to what extent does a person’s childhood experiences influence their future behaviour? How successfully can one ‘defend’ oneself against childhood experiences – for example, by actively deciding not to continue certain patterns of behaviour?
Hello
Thank you very much for your question. The short answer is: yes, behaviour learnt in childhood can be changed.
Socialisation
In my further explanation, I would like to refer to the term ‘learned’, which appears in your question and plays a central role in the definition of socialisation. For the Swiss sociologist Kurt Lüscher, socialisation means ‘how we humans learn to live together with other people’. Childhood is the first phase of socialisation. It is here that children learn through relationships with family members and many other people in their immediate social environment.
Change through unlearning
These learning processes continue throughout all subsequent stages of life and social relationships. Beliefs and patterns that we learnt during our childhood can be reflected upon, questioned and changed – that is, unlearned – in the course of this lifelong socialisation. There are, for example, many studies, concepts and theories on this subject from the social sciences and psychology.
Agency
In this context, I like to work with the concept of ‘agency’. This refers to people’s capacity for action, empowerment to act and the ability to take action – for example, people who come to terms with traumatic childhood experiences through storytelling and reflection. This can take place through reflective writing, in personal conversations, in therapeutic processes, through participation in support groups for those affected, and in many other ways.
Available resources
However, the necessary conditions and resources must always be in place for this.
I hope you find these brief remarks helpful.
Kind regards and all the best
Andrea Abraham
Wonderful! Your answer really helped me out. Thank you for your great work!