SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 5
Socializing the Individual
Section 1: Personality Development
Section 2: The Social Self
Section 3: Agents of Socialization
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: Personality Development
Objectives:
 Identify the four main factors that affect the
development of personality.
 Explain how isolation in childhood affects
development.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
What is Personality??
 Personality:
 The sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and
values that are characteristic of an individual.
 At an older age, personality traits change at a
slower rate.
 However, development varies from individual to
individual.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Can a person’s personality contribute to
eating disorders?????
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Can a person’s personality contribute to
eating disorders?????
 "Patients with personality disorders exhibit feelings
of ineffectiveness, a strong need to control one's
environment, inflexible thinking, perfectionism, and
overly restrained initiative and emotional expression
... Bulimics show a greater tendency to have impulsecontrol problems, abuse alcohol or other drugs, and
have a greater frequency of suicide attempts.“ (Sam
Vankin)
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 The current view of orthodoxy is that the
eating disordered patient is attempting to
reassert control over her life by ritually
regulating her food intake and her body
weight. In this respect, eating disorders
resemble obsessive-compulsive disorders.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Nature vs. Nurture:
 Nature:
 Heredity: the transmission of genetic
characteristics from parents to children.
 Instinct: unchanging, biologically inherited
behavior pattern.
 EX: birds migrating
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Nurture:
 Behavior is result of social environment.
 EX: Your friends can shape your personality.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Sociobiology:
 The systematic study of the biological basis
of all social behavior.
 They believe that most of behavior is
determined by biological factors.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
What do most sociologists believe????
 Assume that personality and social behavior
result from a blending of hereditary and
social environmental influences.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: Personality Development
Factors That Shape Personality Development
 Heredity – physical traits, aptitudes (capacity to learn
a particular skill), inherited characteristics, biological
drives.
 Parents – parental characteristics, such as age,
education, religion, and economic status.
 Birth order – personalities are shaped by whether one
has siblings. (1st born: goal-oriented/last-born: more
social oriented; risk-takers).
 Cultural environment – determines the basic
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AND
WINSTON
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personality types found in a society.
(EX: male vs.
female)
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Are you a product of your cultural
environment??
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Does the term Dalai Lama best describe a spiritual leader or
an Eastern religion?
If someone gave you some Lapsang souchong, would you
spread it on bread or drink it?
Is Lhasa a type of dog or a capital city?
In which country do you think yak butter is an important
part of the people’s diet- India, Russia, or Tibet?
The English translation for the word Chomolungma is
“Goddess Mother of the World.” What do you think
Chomolungma is?
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Are you a product of your cultural
environment??
 Turn to page 104 in textbook!!
 Tibet: A historical region of central Asia between the
Himalaya and Kunlun mountains. A center of
Lamaist Buddhism, Tibet first flourished as an
independent kingdom in the seventh century. It fell
under Mongol influence from the 13th to the 18th
century and later came under Chinese control (1720).
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Isolation in Childhood:
 Feral children:
 Wild or untamed children.
 Children isolated in their homes by parents/family
members
 Children had not reasoning ability or no manners, and
no ability to control their bodily functions.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Anna and Isabelle
 Anna:
 Confined to an attic at 6 months old.
 Result: (age 6) Could not walk, talk, feed
herself, expressionless face.
 Later on: could eventually talk, feed
herself, could talk in phrases…died at 10
years old.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Isabelle:
 She and her deaf mother confined to a dark closet.
 Result:
 Used gestures to communicate
 Did not learn to speak
 Crawled on her hands and knees
 Made grunting, animal-like sounds
 Ate with hands
 Later On…:
 Able to overcome her early social deprivation due to the
constant contact with her mother.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Genie:
 Confined at age of 20 months to a small
bedroom.
 Tied to an infant's potty-chair and nights
wrapped in a sleeping bag.
 Totally silent world!!
 Toys: 2 plastic raincoats;
empty cottage cheese container!
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Result of Genie:
 Discovered at 13 years old.
 Could not stand straight!!
 Social/Psychological skills of
one-year-old.
 At 21 years of age, still could not function as
a social being.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Institutionalization:
 Children in orphanages and hospitals:
 Children wasted away from lack of love and
attention.
 After Psychologist Rene Spitz studied an
orphanage in 1945…
 Fewer than 25% could walk by themselves, dress
themselves, or use a spoon.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: Personality Development
Isolation in Childhood
and Development
 Research shows that a healthy cultural
environment is essential for a child’s full
development.
 Isolation can lead to severe effects such as
causing children to waste away and die or to
have stunted development.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
End of Chapter 5: Section1
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 5:2
The Social Self
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
Objectives:
 Explain how a person’s sense of self emerges.
 Identify and describe the theories that have
been put forth to explain the process of
socialization.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
How Sense of Self Emerges
 Through interaction with social and cultural
environments people are transformed into
members of society
 The interactive process through which people learn the
basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of a
society is called socialization
 Self: Your conscious awareness of possessing a
distinct identity that separates you and your
environment from other members of society.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
Three Theories of Socialization
1. John Locke – The Tabula Rosa
2. Charles Horton Cooley – The Looking Glass
Self
3. George Herbert Mead – Role-Taking
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
John Locke – The Tabula Rosa
 Each person is a blank slate at birth (tabula
rosa), with no personality.
 People develop personality as a result of their
social experiences.
 Moreover, infants can be molded into any type
of person.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Do you agree with Locke??????
 Do you believe that socialization is a process
by which individuals absorb the aspect of their
culture with which they come into contact????
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
Charles Horton Cooley –
The Looking Glass Self
 Infants have no sense of person or place.
 Children develop an image of themselves
based on how others see them.
 Looking-glass self
 Other people act as a mirror, reflecting back
the image a child projects through their
reactions to the child’s behavior.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Need an Example????
 A child will develop a sense of self by the way
his/her primary group members act around
them (EX: parents, brothers, sisters, aunts,
uncles, etc….)
 If parents treat a child as capable
and competent ….then will
produce a capable and competent
child.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: The Social Self
George Herbert Mead – Role-Taking
 People not only come to see themselves as others see
them but also take on or pretend to take on the roles
of others through imitation, play, and games.
 Role-taking: taking or pretending to take the role of
others.
 This process enables people to anticipate what others
expect of them.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
George Mead (Cont’d)
 Significant others:
 Specific people, such as parents, brothers,
sisters, other relatives, and friends, who have a
direct influence on our socialization.
 Generalized other:
 Internalized attitudes, expectations, and
viewpoints of society that we use to guide our
behavior and reinforce our sense of self.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
George Mead (Cont’d)
 He believes the self consists of 2 related parts:
1. I: the unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested
component of personality and self-identity.
2. Me: the part of yourself that is aware of the
expectations and attitudes of society – the socialized
self.
** To be a well-rounded member of society, a person needs
BOTH aspects of the self!
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 5: Section 3
Agents of Socialization
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Agents of Socialization
Objectives:
 Identify the most important agents of
socialization in the United States.
 Explain why family and education are
important social institutions.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Agents of Socialization:
 The specific individuals, groups, and
institutions that enable socialization to take
place.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Agents of Socialization
Agents of Socialization
1. Family: – most important agent
 Principal socializer of young children.
 Intended vs. unintended socialization.
“Do as I say, not as I do.”
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Agents of Socialization:
2. Peer group: – primary group composed of
individuals of roughly equal age and social
characteristics, particularly influential during preteenage and early teenage years.
 Peer-group goals are sometimes at odds with the
goals of the larger society…can be alarming to
family.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Agents of Socialization:
3. School: – plays a major role!
 Much of socialization is deliberate.
 Also, unintentional socialization
EX: Teachers become models,
such as manners of speech,
styles of dress, etc….
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Agents of Socialization:
4. Mass media: – books, films, the Internet,
magazines and television, not face-to-face.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The Mass Media (Cont’d)
 98% of homes in U.S. have TVs.
 (Average: More than 2 per home)
 6-17 years old:
 TV is the primary after-school activity!
 Spend twice as much time watching TV than
in school!
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The Mass Media (Cont’d)
 Violence in the Media:
 By age 18…
 Witnessed 200,000 fictional acts of violence
 16,000 murders
 Studies suggest that violence encourages
viewers to act in aggressive ways and to see
aggression as a valid way to solve problems.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The Mass Media (Cont’d)
 Positive Side:
 Television expands the viewers’ world.
 Educational tool.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Agents of Socialization
Overall Importance of Family and
Education
 Teach children important life skills.
 Teach values, norms, and beliefs.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Resocialization:
 Total institution:
 A setting in which people are isolated from the rest
of society for a set period of time and are subject
to tight control.
 EX: Prisons, military boot camp,
and psychiatric hospitals.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Resocialization:
 Involves a break with past experiences and the
learning of new values and norms.
 Goal:
 To change an individuals personality and social
behavior.
 Individual identity taken away!
 (EX: hair cut; uniforms; etc….)
 Once self is weakened, then easier to convince
others to conform to new patterns of behavior.
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