Chapter 4

• Lifelong social experiences by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture
• Personality – a person’s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting
• Self – a dimension of personality composed of an individual’s self-awareness and self-image

Personality
Enculturation
Cultural Transmission
Hardwiring

• Interaction of heredity and environment shape human development
– Isabelle and Genie
– Primate Studies

Source: Curtiss 1977:274.
Genie’s Sketch

• Id – the human being’s basic drives
• Ego – a person’s conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives with the demands of society
• Superego – the operation of culture within the individual

• Self begins as privileged, central position in a person’s world
• As the person matures, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about reactions of others
• Significant others: Individuals most important in the development of the self

• Stages of self
• 1 st stage – Preparatory stage – children imitate people around them
• 2 nd stage – Play stage- role taking – mentally assuming the perspective of another
• 3 rd stage – Game stage- can consider tasks and relationships simultaneously

• Looking glass self – we learn who we are by interacting with others
• Imagine how we are presenting ourselves
• Imagine how people are evaluating us
• Form opinions about ourselves based on our perceptions

Jean Piaget – Stages of Cognitive
Development
• 1 st stage – sensorimotor – level of human development in which individuals experience the world only through sensory contact
• 2 nd stage – preoperational – individuals first use language and other symbols

Jean Piaget – Stages of Cognitive
Development
• Stage 3 – concrete operational – individuals first perceive causal connections in their surroundings
• Stage 4 – formal operational – individuals think abstractly and critically

• Impression management: Individual learns to slant presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences
– Also known as dramaturgical approach
– Face-work: Need to maintain proper image of self to continue social interaction

• 8 stages of development
• Stage 1 – Infancy – trust vs. distrust
• Stage 2 - Toddlerhood – autonomy vs. doubt and shame
• Stage 3 – Preschool – Initiative vs. guilt
• Stage 4 – Pre-Adolescence – industriousness vs. inferiority

• Stage 5 – Adolescence – identity vs. confusion
• Stage 6 – Young Adulthood – Intimacy vs. isolation
• Stage 7 – Middle Adulthood – Making a difference vs. Self-absorption
• Stage 8 – Old Age – integrity vs. despair

• Family
• School
• Peer groups
• Mass media and technology

• Anticipatory socialization – social learning geared toward gaining a desired position
• Resocialization – altering personality through deliberate control of the environment
• Total Institution – all aspects of a person’s life are under one authority