Chapter Five
Socialization and Personal
Development
Pair & Share….
Does how a teacher views a
student play a role in school
performance?
Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature: what we bring into the world from birth
• Nurture: what we learn or gain via our
interactions
Are criminals genetically programmed?
Are people biologically flawed?
Are people predisposed toward criminal behavior?
Sociobiology
• Human development is attributed to both:
usually with an emphasis on nurturing.
But….Gender differences (biology) play a role such as
males pursuing females; tend to be more aggressive
physically; mother’s protective instinct…
“Do you believe in the boys will be boys philosophy?”
Question:
is a child’s behavior always
the parents fault????
Physical Traits
• Not culturally neutral
• Beauty = goodness
• Attractive People are Punished Less
Personality
• Social scientists suggest that we inherit
temperament (predisposition to act in a certain
way)
• Most agree that nature sets limits for intelligence
and aptitude. But environment determines the
extent to which we reach our limits.
• But as children grow up they acquire
personalities and refine traits.
Activity
Think about how others
perceive you.
Write down 5 adjectives.
Personal Development
• Charles Horton Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self
• Understanding of our existence (ability to think of
ourselves as individuals)
• Single most important factor in personality formation is
how we interpret other people’s perception of how we
look and act.
• We consider how we believe other people see us.
• We interact with others and interpret how they treat us
• Based on our interpretations – we develop an image of
ourselves.
Looking Glass Self
Important to remember:
1. Not all “others” are equally important.
“Significant others” are more important.
2. It is not a 1 way mirror.
What if our perceptions are wrong? (anorexia)
George Herbert Mead
• Symbolic Interactionalist
• Questioned personality formation and
believed self-image was the produced by
social interaction.
• Children learn who they are by taking on roles
of others in play.
Mead’s 3 stages:
1. Imitation stage (1st 2 years… imitates gestures
and sounds).
2. Play stage: child assumes the roles of others (role
playing of the person). By playing they learn
what is acceptable and not acceptable.
3. Game stage: Assumes the roles – not just the
person. Learn that people behave the way they
do b/c of a role. At this stage, children learn that
not all roles are equal.
Sigmund Freud
• Pointed out the role of biological forces
• Harmony is not possible b/c of unavoidable
conflict between the needs of the individual and
society.
• Id: Wants what it wants and wants it NOW!
• Ego: The role is to balance the id and superego.
• Superego: Socialization process where we learn
what is right and wrong. “The policeman”
Jean Piaget
• Sensorimotor (Birth to 2): Infant has not
developed a sense of self. No sense of cause
and effect; babies cry from discomfort.
– Object permanence (10 months)
• Preoperational stage (2 – 7): Use of symbols
but doesn’t understand what they mean (ie…
counting / numbers)
Jean Piaget
• Concrete Operations Stage (7 – 12):
– Reasoning ability begins here
– Can understand concepts: numbers, speed,
weight, size, and volume
– Begin to understand the roles of others and other
perspectives.
Jean Piaget
• Formal Operations Stage (12+):
• Ability to reason and think about objects and events in
an abstract context
• Personality may change and self-concepts
Carousel
There are 4 posters around the room. Jot down thoughts on how they
influence our personality, culture, and sense of identity.
Family
School
Peer Groups
The Church
Media
The Socialization Process
• Selective Exposure and Modeling
(Responsive Classroom – logical consequences)
Studies have shown that children are great
imitators of adult behavior.
“Do as I say… not as I do…”
Agents of Socialization
• Family: Best possible place to develop a positive self image and
positive set of beliefs, attitudes, and values. (On the negative side…)
• School: Child learns how to function in an organized society; sense
of societal identity.
• Peer Groups: Individuals who are similar in age and position.
• The Church: Can influence belief systems
• Media: Ability to transcend time, geography, and culture.
Information creates a common culture. (May have both
positive/negative influence on culture)
Media And Aggression
• Social researchers concerned w/ brutal acts
and sexually explicit material being viewed.
• By 18: Views see 18,000 people being killed,
raped, stabbed, beaten unconscious, or
robbed.
• Research shows positive correlation between
violent shows and aggressive behavior.
Rewards and Punishments
• Powerful tools in the socializing process.
• Also can be a source of mental illness
Resocialization
• Process of stripping away old values and behavior
patterns so those new ones may be introduced.
• (ie… military personnel, mental patients, cult
members, prisoners of war)
• “Total institution” individual is completely
controlled for the purpose of erasing previous
socialization and substituting new values and
behavior patterns
Total Institution
Two phases:
1.
2.
3.
Individuals are stripped of their old identify
Personality is reconstructured
As with children (1, 2, 3 magic / time out)
(reward and punishment)
(ie. token economy)
Ultimately, individuals will develop a belief system to justify their new
values and behaviors.
Prisons do not work b/c little effort is made to provide new models for
acceptable behavior.
Boot camps for juveniles have been successful b/c of introduction of
positive role models.