CHAPTER 5SOCIALIZING THE

INDIVIDUAL

How might culture shape an individual’s personality? Consider: Cultural values and beliefs The internalization of cultural norms

SOCIALIZING THE INDIVIDUAL

How might status and role expectations shape personality? Consider: Economic and educational status Parental status and personal status

SOCIALIZING THE INDIVIDUAL

It has been proven that people’s personalities are not shaped by their environment TRUE: An individual’s personality is based on his

or her genetic makeup FALSE: An individual’s personality is the result of

both his or her genetic makeup and experiences

TRUTH OR FICTION

As long as a child’s basic physical requirements, such as food and clothing, are being met, he or she has no need of human contact to develop basic skills TRUE: Children develop basic skills as a natural

part of physical development FALSE: Children need contact with other people to

learn to model and develop basic skills

TRUTH OR FICTION

People’s personalities are rarely shaped by their families and environments TRUE: People’s personalities are shaped by their

genetic makeup, intelligence, and knowledge FALSE: People’s families, experiences, and

interactions with others play a large role in shaping personality

TRUTH OR FICTION

What comes to mind when you hear personality?

Personality: the total behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristics of an individual How we adjust to our environment and react to

specific situations No two same personalities

Personalities change throughout our lifetime Slower when you reach adulthood

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality, heavily debated between:Heredity: transmission of genetic

characteristics from parents to children The other is social environment Nature viewpoint strong through 1800s

Human behavior instinct: unchanging, biological, inherited behavior pattern

Instinctual behavior drives almost everything Nurture: result of a person’s social

environment and learning

NATURE VS. NURTURE

Stuff you’re born with Body type, hair type, eye color, skin tone

Aptitude: capacity to learn a skill or knowledge Natural talent in music/art/sports Learned or inherited Develop because of environmental factors:

parents Heredity: provides biological needs, culture:

how we meet them Limits on individuals

HEREDITY

Personality influenced by siblings Also the order in which we are born

First borns: achievement oriented and responsible, conservative in their thinking and defenders of status quo

Later borns: better in social relationships, more affectionate and friendly, risk takers and social/intellectual rebels

BIRTH ORDER

Just like siblings, parents have a major impact on our personality

Age of parents is a big factorAlso their; education, religious orientation,

economic status, cultural heritage, and occupational background

PARENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Strong influences on personality developmentModel personalities

US: competitiveness and individualism Ik people

Pre WWII: hunters/gatherers, one large family, brothers and sisters, villager parents

Post WWII: Ugandan gov’t turned village into Nat’l Park, moved to barren land, Ik turn on each other Children out of home by age 3, age bands,

parents don’t help kids, strongest and clever survive

CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

Feral children: wild or untamed Anna:

Mother unmarried Attic room Minimum care Discovered at 6 yo.

Isabelle: Unmarried mother Had contact with mother 2 years, reached age level of social/mental dev.

ISOLATION IN CHILDHOOD

Institutions and orphanages 1940s-50sChildren received medical and nutritional

attentionW/2 years of the study 1/3 of the children

died Withered away from lack of love/attention < 25% could walk, dress, or hold a spoon

themselves Importance of human interaction

INSTITUTIONALIZATION

Dr. Harry Harlow’s experiments on rhesus monkeys demonstrated that being raised in isolation produces a kind of psychosis. Such monkeys exhibited fear, hostility, unsociability, and a lack of feeling. Harlow also offered young rhesus monkeys the choice of two substitute mothers—one made of soft materials with no bottle and one made of wire with a bottle. The monkeys invariably clung to the soft, cuddly dummy and went to the colder, wire dummy only for the bottle attached to it.

Can this study be applied to humans?

ISOLATION’S EFFECTS ON RHESUS MONKEYS

In the 1200s Emperor Frederick II conducted an experiment in which he isolated a number of very young children from physical communication and physical contact with their foster mothers and nurses. The emperor was curious to see what languages the children would speak if they were never exposed to one. When the children all died, the emperor found out instead the importance of close emotional contact for young children.

How does this experiment compare to the cases studies of feral children that we’ve gone over?

THEN AND NOW

When we’re born can we walk, talk, feed or defend ourselves? How do we learn these things? Social and cultural interaction

Socialization: people learning the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns

How become socialized Self: conscious awareness of possessing a distinct identity that separates you and your environment from other members of society

3 Theories of Socialization

5.2 THE SOCIAL SELF

English philosopher (1600s)Each child born with tabula rasa (clean slate)

Anything can be written on the slate No personality, moldable

Claimed he could shape any newborn to have a personality he chose

JOHN LOCKE: THE TABULA RASA

Part founder of interactionist perspective

Looking-glass self: the interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others other people act as mirrors, reflecting back the

image we project through their reactions to our behavior

CHARLES HORTON COOLEY: LOOKING GLASS SELF

3 step process 1. we imagine how we appear to others 2. based on their reactions to us we determine

whether others view us as we view ourselves 3. we use our perceptions of how others judge us

to develop feelings about ourselves Primary group has important rolesRedefine self-image throughout life

LOOKING GLASS SELF

Another interactionist founder Builds off Cooley but we eventually take on

roles of others Role-taking: allowing us to anticipate what others expect of us. Thus we learn to see ourselves through the eyes of others

People closest to us (significant others) Internalized attitudes, expectations, and viewpoints of society are generalized others.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD:ROLE-TAKING

Children aren’t capable of role-taking, need skills

3 Step process: 1. Imitation: children lack sense of self 2. Play: act out roles of specific people (dress up)

Attempting to see the world through someone else’s eyes

3. Games: children take on own roles, also anticipate the actions and expectations of others Closely resembles real life

ROLE-TAKING

Through role taking, we develop a sense of self

Self consists of 2 related parts:I: unsocialized, spontaneous, self-

interestedMe: aware of expectations and attitudes

of soc. Childhood: I is stronger

Me never dominates the I Well-rounded member needs to develop both

ROLE-TAKING

Our 3 gentlemen gave us theoriesAgents of socialization: describe specific

ppl, groups, & institutions that enable socialization to take place

4 primary agents in the U.S. 1. Family 2. Peer Group 3. School 4. Mass Media

5.3 AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION

Most important agent Principle socializer for children Learning values, norms, beliefs

Intended: Things we deliberately teach our children

Unintended: Things we unintentionally teach our children Possibly more influential then intended

Varies family to family Members and subgroups

THE FAMILY

As we grow, outside influences begin to shape us Peer group: group of individuals of roughly = age & similar social characteristics

Pre-teen/Teen years Peer acceptance Family focus = larger culturePeer group focus = subculture of group

PEER GROUP

Between 5-18 you spend roughly 7.5 years in school

Intentional socialization: Class activities; reading, writing, math Extracurriculars; dances, clubs, sports

Unintentional socialization: Teachers as role models; speech, style, dress, etc Peer groups

SCHOOL

Involves no face-to-face contactmass media: instruments of comm. That

reach large audiences with no personal contact Book, film, internet, magazine, newspaper, radio,

TV TV=most influential

Aggression in mediaExpands the viewers world

MASS MEDIA

Prison, boot camps, monasteries, psych hospitals all have what similarities in common? Total institution: setting in which people are totally isolated from society and under tight control

Socialization differs in total institutions Resocialization: breaking past experiences and learning new values and norms

Stripping all semblance of an individual Denied freedoms Weakened self = easier to conform

RESOCIALIZATION