Ch 5- Socializing the Individual
Teacher Notes
Section 1-Personality Development
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Personality-the sum of total behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are
characteristic of an individual
o Personality traits determine how we adjust to our environment and
how we react in situations
o Temperament, emotional nature
o Develop through one’s life
o Some traits c hange and some stay the same
o Personality development more obvious during childhood
Nature v. Nurture
o Heredity-transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to
children.
o Debate between heredity and social environment
o Nature…held through the 1800s. human behavior is instinctual,
unchanging biologically inherited behavior pattern…instinctual drives
are responsible for everything…social scientists in 1900s claimed to
identify more than 10,000 human instincts.
o Nurture…behavior as a result of social environment…Ivan
Pavolv…instinctual behavior can be taught…Pavlov’s dogs
experiment…John B. Watson suggested it could also be applied to
humans
o Emergence of sociobiology in 1970s-systematic study of the biological
basis of all social behavior…argue most of human social life is
determined by biological factors
o Most social scientists assume personality and behavior result from a
mix of hereditary and environmental influences…environmental
factors have greatest influence
o Four factors that affect personality
 Heredity
 Characteristics present at birth (build, hair, eye, skin
pigmentation), aptitudes-capacity to learn a skill or
acquire knowledge….some aptitudes can be learned as
well.
 Also inherit certain basic needs…biological drives
(hunger)
 Plays a role in shaping personality…setting limits…does
not determine what a person will do
 Birth order
 Children with siblings have a different view of the
world
 People born first/middle/last have a different
persepective
Parents
 Age of parents can influence children
 Education, religion, economic status, cultural heritage,
and occupational background can all impact a child’s
personality
 Cultural environment
 Determines the basic types of personalities
 The Ik of Uganda…before WWII they were hunter
gatherers…village like one big family…children viewed
each adult as a parent, all children as brother and sister.
After WWII land turned into a national park…people
displaced. Faced with challenges, insufficient resources
social structure changed…children thrown out, form age
bands/groups, parents don’t help children, children
don’t help parents
 Experience can change between male and female,
between subculture
o Isolation in Childhood
 Feral children-wild untamed…Jungle Book style, or isolated by
parents or family members
 Acquire no reasoning ability, no manners, no ability to control
body functions or move like humans
 Anna and Isabelle
 Anna- born to unmarried woman…angered
parents…attempted to place in children’s home, but too
expensive…foster homes, returned to mother at 6mo
 Confined to attic with minimal care
 Discovered at 6yo…couldn’t walk, talk or feed herself.
Expressionless with no interest in others
 Made progress, however died at 10yo
 Isabelle-born to unmarried woman.
 Confined with deaf mother in a dark room
 Communicated through gestures…Isabelle did not learn
to speak
 Found at age 6, behaved much like an infant…thought to
be mentally disabled and incapable of speech.
 After two years of intensive training she reached level
of development of her peers
 Genie-discovered at age 13. Confined to small bedroom
at 20mo. Tied to potty chair, wrapped in crib at night
 Beaten if she made noise
 When found she could not stand straight…skills of a 1yo
 After 8 years of training still no progression past 3rd
grade
 Placed in a facility at 21
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Institutionalization
 Orphanages or hospitals
 May show some characteristics of isolated children
 Rene Spitz-studied group of infants in orphanage
 Given food and care, but little human contact…nurses
had little time to hold, hug and talk to children.
 1/3 of children died within 2 years.
 Fewer than 25% remaining could walk, dress, or use a
spoon themselves. Only one could speak in sentences
 Children who lack a caring environment develop at a
much slower pace
Section 2- The Social Self
 Humans can not walk, talk, feed or protect themselves from birth.
 Don’t know norms of society
 Socialization-interactive process through which people learn the basic
skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of a society
 Develop sense of self- conscious awareness of possessing a distinct
identity that separates you
 Locke: The Tabula Rasa
o Newly born humans as a clean slate…anything can be written
o Born without personality…acquired through social
experiences, can be molded
 Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self
o One founder of the interactionist perspective
o Looking-glass self- interactive process where we develop an
image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to
others
o 3 step process…imagine how we appear to others, attempt to
determine whether others view us as we view ourselves based
on reactions, use our perceptions of how others judge us to
develop feelings about ourselves.
o Responsibility on parents and other primary-group members
o Process starts early in childhood and continues throughout
o People constantly redefining themselves, and their self-image
 Mead: Role-Taking
o Another founder of interactionist perspective
o Seeing ourselves as others see us, only the beginning
o Not only see ourselves that way, but take on or pretend to take
on roles of others
o Internalize expectations of significant others
o Significant others become less important over time…then focus
on expectations and attitudes of society- the generalized other
o Role play/dress up as children…starts around age 3
o Develop sense of self through role-taking
o Self includes I- unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested
(stronger in childhood), and Me- socialized, part that is aware
of expectations and attitudes of society
Section 3- Agents of Socialization
 Agents of socialization- individuals, groups and institutions that enable
socialization to take place.
 The Family-most important agent of socialization
o Children learn values, norms, and beliefs of society through their
families
o Can both be deliberate and unintended
o Norms and values tend to focus on larger culture
 Peer Group- as they get older children tend to relate more to their peers
o Particularly influential during the pre-teen, early teen years
o Winning acceptance is powerful…without it fear of labeled…misfits,
outsiders etc.
o Young people adopt values and standards of peers to win acceptance
o Focus of norms and values of the subculture of the group.
 School- occupies large amounts of time and attention. Major role in
socializing individuals
o Classes and activities planned with purpose
o Attempt to transmit cultural values…patriotism, responsibility,
citizenship
o Teachers may become models for students…style of speech, dress
 Mass Media- instruments of communication with no personal contact
between those sending and receiving information…books, films, the Internet,
magazines, newspapers, radio, TV
o TV most influential on children….spend lots of time watching
television
o Impact of television a constant debate…televised violence,
desensitization, image of society from one viewpoint…expands view
on the world, educational tool,
 Resocialization
o Total institution- where people are isolated from the rest of society
for a period of time…prison, boot camp, hospitals…socialization in
these settings differs from others
o Resocialization-break with past experiences and learning new values
and norms
o Often directed at changing personality and social behavior
o Strip away individual identity and replacing it…uniforms, haircuts, etc.
o Once identity is weakened…easier to conform to new patterns of
behavior