chapter 5 socializing the individual. how might culture shape an individual’s personality? ...
TRANSCRIPT
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