Socializing the Individual

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Socializing the Individual

• Preview
• Section 1 Personality Development
• Section 2 The Social Self
• Section 3 Agents of Socialization
• Chapter Wrap-Up

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Introduction
• Personality- behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and
  values that are characteristic of an individual
• How we react in certain situations and adjust to
  our environment
• Development slower in adulthood

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature- inherited genetic characteristics
• Heredity- transmission of genetic characteristics
  from parent to child
• Instinct- unchanging, biologically inherited
  behavior pattern

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Nurture- environment and social learning
• Ivan Pavlov- felt instincts could be taught
• John B. Watson- behaviorist believed he could
  teach infants to be anything they wanted
• Sociobiology- study of biological basis of social
  behavior (1970s)
• Argue most of human social life is determined by
  biological factors (not view of most
  sociologists)

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Section 1 Personality Development
Heredity inherited characteristics, biological
drives, limits
Birth order Number of siblings and order of
birth
Factors that Shape Individual Personality
Development
Cultural environment basic personality types
found in a society
Parents parental characteristics
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Section 1 Personality Development

• Factors that Shape Personality Development
• Heredity- everyone has certain characteristics
  present at birth
• Aptitude- capacity to learn a specific skill or
  acquire a particular body of knowledge
• Most believe natural talents can be learned as
  well as inherited

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Birth Order- personalities influenced by number
  of siblings.
• Parental characteristics- age, religion,
  education, economic status, etc.
• Cultural Environment- determines basic types of
  personalities
• U.S.- competitiveness, assertiveness,
  individualism
• gender and subculture

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Isolation in Childhood
• Feral Children- wild or untamed children living
  with animals or isolated in home
• Personality strongly influenced cultural
  environment
• Anna, Isabelle, Genie

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Section 1 Personality Development

• Research shows that a healthy cultural
  environment is essential for a childs full
  development.
• Isolation can have severe consequences such as
  developmental disabilities (mental, physical,
  social, and psychological), malnutrition, and
  death.

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Section 2 The Social Self

• Introduction
• Socialization- interactive process through which
  people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs,
  and behavior patterns of a society.
• Self- conscious awareness of possessing a
  distinct identity that separates you from your
  environment and other members of society

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Section 2 The Social Self
John LockeThe Tabula Rasa

• Each person is a blank slate at birth, with no
  personality.
• People develop personality as a result of their
  social experiences.
• Infants can be molded into any type of person.

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Section 2 The Social Self
Charles Horton CooleyThe Looking-Glass Self

• Infants have no sense of person or place.
• Children develop an image of themselves based on
  how others see them.
• Other people act as a mirror, reflecting back the
  image a child projects through their reactions to
  the childs behavior.

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Section 2 The Social Self
George Herbert MeadRole-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.
• This process enables people to anticipate what
  others expect of them.

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Section 2 The Social Self
The Tabula Rasa Each person is a blank slate at
birth, with no personality. People develop
personality as a result of their social
experiences. Moreover, infants can be molded into
any type of person.
The Looking-Glass Self Infants have no sense of
person or place. Children develop an image of
themselves based on how others see them. Other
people act as a mirror, reflecting back the image
a child projects through their reactions to the
childs behavior.
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. This process enables
people to anticipate what others expect of them.
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Section 3 Agents of Socialization

• Introduction
• Agents of Socialization- individuals, groups,
  institutions, that enable socialization to take
  place.
• U.S. primary agents- family, peer group, school,
  mass media.

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Section 3 Agents of Socialization

• The Family
• Most important agent in almost every society
• The Peer Group- composed of individuals of equal
  age and similar social characteristics
• Different from socialization within the family
• The School- 30 weeks per year
• Mass Media- avg. 28 hrs/ week
• twice as much time watching TV as they do in
  school

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Section 3 Agents of Socialization
? Mass media include books, films, the Internet,
magazines, newspapers, radio, and television.
? Television probably has the most influence on
the socialization of children.
? There is an ongoing debate about the effects
of television viewing on children.
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Section 3 Agents of Socialization

• Total Institutions- setting where people are
  isolated from the rest of society prisons, boot
  camps, monasteries, psychiatric hospitals.
• Re-socialization- break with past experiences and
  learning of new values and norms
• Directed toward changing an individuals
  personality and social behavior

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Chapter Wrap-Up Understanding Main Ideas

• How has the nature-versus-nurture debate evolved?
• What do social scientists believe are the
  principal factors that influence personality
  development?
• What does research on children reared in
  isolation indicate about the effects of the
  cultural environment on social and psychological
  development?
• What is the role of self in the socialization
  process?
• According to Cooley, how does a persons sense of
  self develop in early childhood and when does
  this process end?
• Identify the primary agents of socialization in
  the United States.