Chapter Three: Socialization Chapter Three: Socialization

22 Chapter Overview What is Human Nature? Socialization into the Self, Mind, and Emotions Socialization into Gender What is Human Nature? Socialization into the Self, Mind, and Emotions Socialization into Gender Agents of Socialization Resocialization Are We Prisoners of Socialization? Agents of Socialization Resocialization Are We Prisoners of Socialization?

Socialization Nature Heredity Inborn Genetic code for behavior Nurture Social environment Social interaction Behaviors are learned What is Human Nature? Controversy surrounding this question  Heredity or Environment?  Identical Twins  Adriana and Tamara  Jack and Oskar Controversy surrounding this question  Heredity or Environment?  Identical Twins  Adriana and Tamara  Jack and Oskar

Socialization Feral Children Children found in the wilderness Wild untamed “The Wild Boy of Aveyron, France” 1798 Isolated Children What happens to a child who has had no contact with the outside world or no social interaction with others?  Language is not natural and can only be learned and the child will be unable to speak. Anna was found in early 1940’s locked in the attic Genie 13 year old girl (CA, 1970) Isabelle discovered in Ohio in 1938

Socialization Institutionalized Children 1930’s Research on Orphanages  Children had no close bonds with caretakers  Low IQs  It was believed that children were born mentally retarded Skeels & Dye (psychologists) believed there are social causes that led to mental retardation  Social environment of babies was very poor  The absence of stimulating social interaction was the problem, not some biological incapacity on the part of the children  Use Experimental Design to test theory

Socialization Experimental Group 13 infant whose mental retardation was very obvious and no one wanted to adopt them. 2 ½ years later  Gained an average of 28 IQ points 20 years later Control Group 12 infants remained in the orphanage These children were also retarded, but they were considered to have higher intelligence 2 ½ years later  Lost 30 IQ points 20 years later Skeels & Dye Experiment

Socialization In Sum…...Society Makes Us Human 77  High intelligence depends on early, close relations with other humans  Social skills, behavior, relationships all define who we are  SOCIALIZATION  A process in which we learn and internalize the attitudes, values, beliefs and norms of our culture and develop a sense of self.

Socialization 1.Imagination of our appearance to others. 2.Imagination of their judgment of that appearance. We interpret their reactions 3.Development of feelings about and responses to their judgment. We develop a self-concept

Socialization Children go through three stages in the development of the self The process by which children learn to take the role of the other  To put oneself in someone else’s shoes—to understand how someone else feels and thinks and to anticipate how they person will act Significant Others  Individuals who significantly influence their lives such as parents or siblings. Generalized Others  Our perception of how people in general think of us 99 Mead and Role Taking (Socialization Process)

Socialization Under age 3 Age 3 to 6 After age 6 or 7

Socialization Children go through a natural process as they learn how to reason Piaget’s Cognitive Development 1.Sensorimotor From birth to about age 2 2.Preoperational Age 2 to 7 3.Concrete Operational Age 7 to 12 4.Formal Operational After the age 12

Socialization Personality consist of three elements 1.Each child is born with id Inborn drives that cause us to see self-gratification 2.Superego Represents our conscious, the internalized norms and values or our social groups. 3.Ego  Attempts to balance the inborn drives, needs, or desires of the id and the demands of the superego.  The struggle between the Id and Superego

Socialization Every society has institutionalized ways of carrying out the process of socialization Those groups and institutions that both informally an formally take on the task of socialization

Socialization

Gender Messages in the Family The Peer Group Gender Messages in the Mass Media  Television and Movies  Video Games  15 Gender Messages

Socialization Sociologists Do Not Think So Socialization is Powerful, but the Self is Dynamic Individuals Are Actively Involved in the Construction of the Self  16 Are We Prisoners of Socialization?