Socialization
What makes us human?
© Robert J. Atkins, Ph.D.
Nature or Nurture?
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Feral children
Is social experience crucial in
forming personality?
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Anna & Isabelle
– Effect of minimal human contact
– Without social experience, a child is incapable
of thought or meaningful action
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Institutionalized patient
What about isolation in other
species?
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Harlow monkey studies
Isolation produced permanent
developmental damage in both humans and
monkeys
Do you remember?
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What did feral children show us?
What did Anna and Isabelle show us?
What did the Harlow monkey studies show
us?
What are the results of
socialization?
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Personality
Thought
The social self
Ask yourself…
How did I develop my
personality?
Personality
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Sigmund Freud
– Id = Basic drives
• Sex & violence
– Ego = Balance
• Balances demands of society and pleasure-seeking
drives
– Superego = Conscience
• Culture
How did you learn to think and
reason?
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Jean Piaget
– Cognition (thinking)
What are Piaget’s stages of
cognitive development?
Sensorimotor stage (0-2)
– Object permanence
Preoperational stage (2-7)
• Use of language
• Egocentric
Concrete operations stage (7-12)
– Logic develops - “Conservation of matter”
Formal operations
– Abstract thought - imagine alternatives
Who do you think you are?
What is your social self?
George H. Mead’s idea
– The “self” comes from social experience
• Self-awareness and self image
Generalized other
– Cultural norms & values we use as a reference
in evaluating ourselves.
“Taking the role of the other”
– Imaging the situation from another person’s
point of view
How do you develop the
“Generalized Other”?
Imitation
Play
Game
Generalized other
What is another idea about
your social self?
Charles H. Cooley’s idea
The Looking-glass Self
– People see themselves the way they think
others see them.
Do you remember?
What are Freud’s three parts of the
personality? What does each do?
How did Mead think you developed your
self image?
How did Cooley think you developed your
self image?
What do you think is good –
bad – right – wrong?
How did you develop your morality?
What are the stages in
Kolberg’s moral reasoning?
Preconventional (0-9 yrs)
– Self interest
• Avoid punishment
Conventional (To adolescence)
– Upholding laws
Postconventional (Adult)
– “What is right”
– Ethical principles
Can you be re-socialized?
Re-socialization
– Goffman = Re-socialization is breaking down
an old identity, then building a new identity
Total institutions
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Used to radically changing a personality
Cult
Military boot camp
Prison
Do you remember?
What are the stages in Kolberg’s
development of moral reasoning?
Why do people do what they think is right
in each of these stages?
What is the process of re-socialization?