The importance of positive versus negative Experiences in childhood

1. The importance of positive versus negative Experiences in childhood

2. Socialization • Transforms Biological Organisms into Social Beings • “Self” • Our recognition that we are at once distinct and part of a whole

3. If socialization makes us…. • Then what does isolation do? • = a dysfunctional self • From Pavlov’s Dogs to • Harlow’s Monkeys Social behavior is learned

4. Personality or “self” • Can be seen as having three components • Cognition • Emotion • Behavior

5. Feral Children - “mythic” – legendary accounts • Neglected Children “reality” • Raised in relative isolation

6. ANNA: In the late 1930s and 1940s a noted sociologist, Kingsley Davis, was called to investigate the case of Anna, a young girl who was the illegitimate daughter of a poor and mentally impaired mother who left Anna alone, locked in the attic. Anna’s mother had kept her locked up in an attic room to avoid Anna’s grandfather’s anger at her birth. Aside from brief visits to bring food, she had almost no human contact. When found, she was unable to walk or to speak. Her hearing and vision were normal. She seemed to show potential to learn and did desire human contact. She died at age 10 • Before her death, Anna learned to walk, understand simple commands, feed herself, and achieve some neatness. Although she seemed to show some potential to learn language, she spoke only in phrases, rather than complete sentences. • She could bounce and catch a ball, string beads, identify a few colors, and build with blocks. • When found, Anna had the mental capacity of a newborn infant. At her death she had achieved a mental level of approximately 2 to 3 years…

7. GENIE: A more recent case from the 1970s teaches us a lot. This is the case of Genie written about in your text. Extensive tests showed that in many ways Genie was highly intelligent. • But her language abilities never advanced beyond that of a 3rd grader. Genie never became a truly social being. Eventually the scientists who worked with her concluded that the most severe deprivation that caused her to fail at language was her lack of emotional learning and her feelings of loss and lack of love. Genie was never fully capable of living independently and spent her life in a home for developmentally disable adults. (Genie was showcased, along with the famous case of Victor from France, in a video entitled “Secrets of a Wild Child,” available in our college library.)

8. ISABELLE was 6½ years old when she was found. Isabelle’s mother was a deaf mute (could not hear or talk) who stayed in a dark room with Isabelle, shut off from the rest of the family. Like Anna, Isabelle was in bad shape both physically and mentally. She spent most of her life in a room with her mother. • For speech she made a strange croaking sound. (secret language?) • She reacted to strangers, especially men, with much fear. She behaved like a deaf child, and her mental capacity was no more than that of a 6-month of baby. • An intensive training program was started right away and gradually Isabelle began to respond. Then suddenly she began to learn rapidly. • Two months – full sentences and Sixteen months - a vocabulary of 1,500-2,000 words • Her I.Q. tripled in a year and a half.

9. Spitz Research • Comparison of those raised in nursing home with those in orphanage • Much higher death rates for those left in the orphanages

10. Skeels and Dye Research • IQs increased by 28% over time with mentally disabled women • IQs decreased by 30% for those left in the Orphanage -- • Teaches us that cognitive development depends upon healthy socialization

11. Stimulating interaction is essential for the development of “self” • Socialization into a full sense of “self” requires group experience and social interaction to develop a normal human personality. • Language (any kind we create) allows us to internalize and make sense of the culture surrounding us

12. Social Psychological perspectives on the development of self • Informed by sociology as well as psychology

13. Self concept “totality of our beliefs and feelings about our selves” • physical “I’m wrinkled” • active “I’m good at soccer” • social “I’m nice to dogs and elderly people” • psychological “I am opposed to war”

14. Mead • Self develops in three social stages • Imitation, play, game

15. Mead “Without language there is no mind, therefore the mind itself is a social product.” • Through socialization we learn to take the role of the “significant” other and then the “generalized” other. • results in ….. • “I” and “Me”

16. Cooley • Looking Glass Self • Society is internalized & becomes part of the self through the interaction

17. I’m not who you think I am…..

18. I’m not who I think I am….

19. I am who I think you think I am.

20. Dr. H’s Looking Glass Self!

21. Goffman • We have virtual selves…… • “If I were ever in a room with everyone I have ever known, I would not know who to be”….. • Some call it “flexible”, others “mutable”

22. Freud Civilization is dependent upon the control of impulse!

23. Id • impulsive drives and is present at birth • the id is supposed to be the instinct which gives rise to our more brutish, irrational behaviors

24. Ego • links the self to the real world, mediating the drives of the id and the control of the superego. • The ego is our cognitive system - i.e., our perceptions - it's what controls action and organizes our personalities

25. Superego • has three jobs to do – • 1 - to inhibit the impulses of the id • 2 - to persuade the ego to substitute moral goals for realistic ones • 3 - to strive for perfection.

26. Erickson • Life course socialization is about ego identity development • is based on how we resolve our crises From trust to integrity….

27. Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust Positive outcome: If their needs are met consistently by the parents, infants not only will develop a secure attachment with the parents, but will learn to trust their environment in general as well.

28. Negative outcome: If not, infant will develop mistrust towards people and things in their environment, even towards themselves.

29. Crisis: Autonomy (Independence) vs. Doubt (or Shame) • Description: Toddlers learn to walk, talk, use toilets, and do things for themselves. Their self-control and self-confidence begin to develop at this stage.

30. Positive outcome: If parents encourage their child's initiative and reassure when she makes mistakes, the child develop the confidence needed to cope with future situations

31. Negative outcome: If parents are overprotective, or disapproving of the child's acts of independence, he/she may begin to feel ashamed doubt his/her abilities.

32. Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt • Description: Children have newfound power at this stage as they have developed motor skills and become more and more engaged in social interaction with people around them.

33. Positive outcome: If parents are encouraging, but consistent in discipline, children will learn to accept without guilt, that certain things are not allowed, but at the same time will not feel shame when using their imagination and engaging in make-believe role plays. .

34. Crisis: Competence (aka. "Industry") vs. Inferiority • Description: secondary socialization -- school is the important event at this stage. Children learn to make things, use tools, and acquire the skills to be a worker and a potential provider.

35. Positive outcome: If children can discover pleasure in intellectual stimulation, being productive, seeking success, they will develop a sense of competence.

36. Negative outcome: If not, they will develop a sense of inferiority.

37. Crisis: Identity vs. Role Confusion • Description: This is the time when we ask the question "Who am I?" Here, we must integrate the healthy resolution of all earlier conflicts. Did we develop the basic sense of trust? Do we have a strong sense of independence, competence, and feel in control of our lives? Adolescents who have successfully dealt with earlier conflicts are ready for the "Identity Crisis", which is considered by Erikson as the single most significant conflict a person must face. Positive outcome: come out of this stage with a strong identity, and ready to plan for the future. Negative outcome: sink into confusion, unable to make decisions and choices, especially about vocation, sexual orientation, and general roles.

38. Crisis: Intimacy vs. Isolation • Description: In this stage, the most important events are love relationships. No matter how successful you are with your work, you are not complete until you are capable of intimacy. An individual who has not developed a sense of identity usually will fear a committed relationship and may retreat into isolation. • Positive outcome: close relationships and share with others if they have achieved a sense of identity. • Negative outcome: fear commitment, feel isolated and unable to depend on anybody in the world.

39. Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation • Description: ability to look outside oneself and care for others --- adults need children as much as children need adults, and that this stage reflects the need to create a living legacy. Positive outcome: nurturing children or helping the next generation in other ways. • Negative outcome: person remains self-centered and experience stagnation later in life.

40. Crisis: Integrity vs. Despair Important • Description: Old age is a time for reflecting upon one's own life and its role in the big scheme of things • the healthy adult will not fear death

41. Note how each stage of Erickson’s Ego Identity Model is associated with varying agents of socialization (family, peers, education, media, etc...)

42. Piaget’s “cognitive development” or “stages of learning” • Sensorimotor - no symbolic thought “out of sight, out of mind” • preoperational - begin to use to words as mental symbols to describe but not translatable • concrete operational – begin to take the role of others but limited • formal operational – moral reasoning – can think abstract thought, impute motives, consider justice

43. Summary of Mead, Cooley, Freud, Erickson and Piaget • Mead and Cooley - personality/self develops through role-taking and interaction (development is social) • Freud - personality develops as inborn desires clash with social constraints (development is social but in response to biological drives) • Erickson - stages of personality development change according to social constraints (highlights the development of self via stages) • Piaget - learning occurs in stages as our ability to reason increases, i.e., moral reasoning (highlights the stages of learning - also very dependent upon socialization)

44. Other seemingly natural aspects are also products of socialization Moral Reasoning……. Emotions……..

45. “It’s our nature to nurture?” • http://Katie Couric.... Sociobiology?

46. Kohlberg - moral development • Pre-conventional Levels • little concern for views of others - based on punishment • Conventional Level • behavior is dependent upon approval • wide approval is interpreted as right (significant others, peers) • Looking glass self

47. Post-conventional Level • (few adults reach this stage) • Morality is viewed in terms of individual rights • Moral conduct -- the final stage is judged by • principles based on human rights that transcend • government and laws.

48. Gilligan • Gender roles influence morality as well

49. Men – often make decisions using notions of justice – What’s Fair? • Women – often make decisions using notions of relationships -- who gets hurt the least?

50. She identified Justice based reasoning as male • Care-based reasoning as female • Studies that have compared male and females have found examples of both. Some have found one factor is education.