SOCIALIZING THE INDIVIDUAL

1. SOCIALIZING THE INDIVIDUAL

2. Social experience is also the foundation for the personality, a person’s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting

3. Personality • The sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual • Determines how we adjust/react • Unique • Develops over time

4. PERSONALITY • personality development more obvious in childhood ( rapid physical, emotional, intellectual growth)

5. PERSONALITY What are the 4 main factors that affect development of personality?

6. PERSONALITY • HEREDITY • BIRTH ORDER • PARENTAL CHARACTERISTICS • CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

7. NATURE VS NURTURE • 19th century an intense debate regarding the relative importance of nature (biology) and nurture (socialization) in the shaping of human behavior. • Modern sociologists view nurture as much more important than nature in shaping human behavior.

8. Nature vs. Nurture • Heredity- the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children VERSUS • Social environment- contact with other people

9. Nature argument • Instinct- an unchanging biological inherited behavior pattern (animal behavior) • Instinctual drives… motherhood, laughing, religion

10. Nurture argument • Ivan Pavlov’s work w/dogs • Russian scientist that showed instinctual behavior could be taught http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI&feature=related

11. NATURE VS. NURTURE • Studies of twins (including identical twins) shows that socialization and heredity both contribute to human development • The Nature versus Nurture debate continues

12. Nature argument • Sociobiology- systematic study of biological basis of all social behavior • Certain cultural characteristics and behavioral traits are “rooted” in genetic makeup of humans • Human social life is determined by biological factors

13. Reflection • Describe the nature versus nurture viewpoints of personality developments. • Which argument do you support? Explain

14. HEREDITY • Characteristics present at birth: body build, hair, eye color, skin pigmentation • Aptitude- capacity to learn a particular skill or acquire knowledge (natural talent) • EXAMPLE-music or art = aptitude • Social scientists believe that “inherited aptitude”- can be influenced by environmental factors – parents can encourage/discourage.

15. HEREDITY and CULTURE • Heredity provides you with biological needs • Culture determines how you meet these needs • Shapes human personalities by setting limits on the individuals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egXIk_4-qMY

16. Birth Order • Order in which we are born influences our personalities

17. Birth Order • First Born….achievement oriented • Last Born…social • Middle child… • Only child… What is your birth order?

18. Parental characteristics • Age of parents • Level of education • Religious orientation • Cultural heritage • Occupational background

19. Parental characteristics Three parenting styles: • Permissive • Authoritative • Authoritarian Children reared with authoritative style integrate into society with the most ease (balance). Permissive and authoritarian styles represent opposite extremes. Permissive parenting styles causes children to not understand their boundaries. Authoritarian raised children will often rebel.

20. The Cultural Environment • Culture influences personality • Determines basic types of personalities found in society • U.S.-competitive, assertiveness, competitive = personality traits. • Ik (“eek”) culture- • Prior to WW II the Ik were hunter-gatherers in mountainous region of Uganda. Children viewed all adults and other children as parents and brothers/sisters.

21. Ik socialization culture change continued POST-WWII the government turned Ik land to national park, and the land went barren, and their social structure COLLAPSED. Today Ik children are thrown out by the age of 3. As a result they form bands for survival. Parents do not help children survive. Only the strongest and most clever survive. The culture influences the Ik children.

22. How we experience our culture influences personality I.E. gender, subculture, region, neighborhood

23. SUMMARIZE/process INFO • What are the 4 main factors that affect personality development? • Which factor has more influence on personality development and which less? • Complete the graphic organizer to investigate how culture and socialization influences YOUR personality.

24. POINTS TO PONDER • How does isolation in childhood affect development? • Make a list of characteristics a child might exhibit if he or she were raised isolated from their families….

25. Isolation in Childhood • Feral children- wild or untamed – found living in isolation in homes Case studies of isolation have led Sociologists to conclude that our personality comes from our cultural environment!

26. ISOLATION IN CHILDHOOD • Anna-was confined to attic space, given no social attention. When found (at age 6) she had no interest in people. She could not walk, talk or feed herself. Died at 10 from malnourishment. • Isabelle-was restricted to a dark room, but did have her mother (who was deaf). When found at age 6, she could not speak, but eventually did learn to communicate (shows that social deprivation can be overcome!)

27. Genie was raised in near isolation for the first twelve years of her life. • Lived in almost complete silence, and was beaten if she made noise. She did not learn how to talk. • After she was found, she had the skills of a 1 year old. After 8 years of training, she never progressed past the 3rd grade level. • Never able to function as a social being, but could conform to basic social norms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thIDCL3NClQ&feature=related

28. ISOLATION IN CHILDHOOD • Lack social skills • human characteristics • Lack reasoning, manners, ability to control bodily functions or move like humans • lack the ability to speak

29. ISOLATION IN CHILDHOOD • Research on the effects of social isolation demonstrates the importance of socialization. • All the evidence points to the crucial role in social development in forming personality.

30. INSTITUTIONALIZATION • Orphanages and hospitals can often create the same characteristics of isolated children Spitz’s research on institutionalization on infants in orphanage: • Human interaction is important • Lack of caring environment: develop much slower, mentally, physically, emotionally.

31. THE SOCIAL SELF • How does a person’s sense of self emerge?

32. SOCIALIZATION • Socialization is the lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture.

33. SELF Your conscious awareness of possessing a distinct identity that separates you and your environment from other members of society

34. Tabula Rasa • John Locke: we are born a “blank slate”

35. The Looking-Glass self • Charles Horton Cooley • Interactionist perspective • Interactive process we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others

36. Example • Mattie is a new sociology professor at the local college. During her first lecture, she noticed that some students were yawning. Based on her interpretation of the students yawning, Mattie has decided she is a boring teacher.

37. Cooley • The formation of the self – the set of concepts we use in defining who we are – is a central part of the socialization process. • The self emerges in the course of interaction with other people

38. George Herbert Mead • Interactionist perspective • Idea similar to Cooley • Role taking: we see ourselves as others see us but take on or pretend to take the roles of others • imagining the situation from that person’s point of view, a process called taking the role of the other. • Internalize the expectations of the people closest to us (significant others)

39. Mead • The self develops through several stages: • Imitation. • Play, in which children take the roles of significant others. • Games, in which they take the roles of several other people at the same time. • Internalized attitudes, expectations, and viewpoints =the generalized other

40. Mead • I= unsocialized, spontaneous self-interested component of personality and self identity • Me= aware of expectations and attitudes of society- the socialized self

41. Creating a sense of self : Mead • Criticized for ignoring the role of biology in the development of the self. • Self-image is differentiated from self-conception. Self-esteem is governed by appraisals, social comparisons, and self-attribution. Personal efficacy is another aspect of self-evaluation • Conclusion: Mead showed that symbolic interaction is the foundation of both self and society

42. AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION • Specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place. • Family, the peer group, the school, and the mass media

43. Family • most important of the agents of socialization • Primary socializer of young children • determining one's attitudes toward religion and establishing career goals. • Unintended or deliberate socialization

44. Peer Group • Peers refer to people who are roughly the same age and/or who share other social characteristics • Influential during the pre-teen/early teenage years • w/out peer acceptance…misfits, outsiders,

45. School • Major role in “deliberate” socialization • Class activities deliberate teaching • Extracurricular activities prepare students for life in larger society • Transmit cultural values: patriotism, responsibility, citizenship

46. School • Teachers become role models (manners, speech, style) • Peer groups and cliques

47. Mass Media • Instruments of mass communication reaching large audiences • No personal contact • Books, film, internet, magazines, newspapers, radio, television • Which form has the most influence?

48. Mass Media • 98% of homes in US have TV’s • Average more than 2 tv’s per home • Children watch avg. of 28 hrs a week • Ongoing debate over TV violence • What are negative and positive aspects of the effects of mass media on socialization?

49. Resocialization • Setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period • Subject to tight control I.E. prisons, (military)boot camp,

50. Resocialization • Total institutions concerned w/ resocializing members • Learn new values/norms • Changing personality/social behavior • How is this done?