UNIT 2: THE INDIVIDUAL IN SOCIETY Chapter 5: Socializing the Individual
SECTION 1: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
WHAT EXACTLY IS A “PERSONALITY”? It is the sum total of likely behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that the consistent characteristics of an individual.
WHICH ONE HAS THE MOST INFLUENCE?: Nature/Hereditary/Genetics OR Nurture/Environment/Culture?
HOW DOES A PERSONALITY DEVELOP? Heredity (Nature): the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children. Components: 1.Instinct: an unchanging, automatic, biologically inherited behavior pattern 2.Aptitude: the capacity to learn a particular skill or acquire a particular body of knowledge 3.Birth order 4.Parental Characteristics
HOW DOES A PERSONALITY DEVELOP? Cultural Environment (Nurture): the condition of the environment that affects the individual Example: Harold & Jazmine grew up in a middle class home with two parents who divorced with Harold was 18 and Jazmine was 15. Both of their parents were loving and were adamant about education and the fine arts in their home.
EFFECTS OF ISOLATION IN CHILDHOOD Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Monkey Experiment: Feral children: wild or untamed children who are found living among animals or severely neglected and isolated by adults Documentary of Genie’s Story: Isolated children are often unable to: 1. walk 2. talk 3. feed themselves 4. interact socially with others These isolated children often end up institutionalized.
SECTION 2: THE SOCIAL SELF
Having a Sense of Self: John Locke: The Tabula Rasa – belief that humans are born with a clean slate and acquire knowledge of the world through experiences Charles Horton Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self – refers to the interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to other people George Herbert Mead: Role-Taking Forms the basis of the socialization process by allowing us to anticipate what others expect of us.
SECTION 3: AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
WHO ARE THE AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION? 1. Family 2. Peer Group 3. School 4. Mass Media 5. Resocialization: a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms (i.e. prisons, boarding schools, military, etc.)