1. Socialization of Self and Mind

2. What are we covering today
How do people develop their own self image?
How do we develop our ability to reason?
How does our personality develop?
How does our morality develop?

3. Who will help us Answer these Questions?
Charles Horton Cooley
George Herbert Mead
Jean Piaget
Sigmund Freud
Lawrence Kohlberg
Carol Gilligan

4. Essential Question
How do agents of Socialization help us to create our socially constructed selves?

5. Self
Unique human capacity of being able to see ourselves “from the outside”
We develop the picture of how we think others see us
Continual Process
Starts in childhood – continues forever…..

6. Charles Horton Cooley 1864 – 1929 Symbolic Interactionist
Said that “our sense of self develops from interaction with others”
Coined the term Looking Glass Self

7. Cooley’s Looking Glass Self
Refers to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others reactions to us

8. Cooley’s Looking Glass Self
Looking Glass Self has 3 Elements
1. We imagine how we appear to those around us. (we may believe others see us as witty or dull)
2. We interpret others’ reactions. (we come to a conclusion of how others evaluate us – do they like us?)
3. We develop a self-concept. (how we interpret others reactions to us frames our feelings and images of ourselves)

9. Cooley’s Looking Glass Self
Note that the development of the self does not depend on accurate evaluations.
We sometimes grossly misinterpret how others think about us.

10. Cooley’s Looking Glass Self
Note also, although the development of our self concept begins in childhood, it is a life long process.
Everyday we monitor how others react to us and we continue to modify the self.
The Self is never a finished product!

11. Symbolic Interactionist Added to the development of self
George Herbert Mead
1863 – 1931
Symbolic Interactionist
Added to the development of self
Said that in play, children learn to “take the role of others”

12. Mead’s Taking the Role
Children gradually develop the ability to do this.
At first they can take the role of Significant Others:
Significant Others: an individual who significantly influences someone else’s life (mother, father, sibling)
Eventually they can take the role of Generalized Others.
Generalized Others: the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of people “in general”; the ability to do this is a significant step in the development of self.

13. Mead’s Taking the Role
Taking the role of others is essential if we are to become cooperative members of human groups.
Learning to take the role of others entails 3 stages:
1. Imitation: Children under 3 only mimic others.
2. Play: From ages 3 – 6 children pretend to take roles of specific people. (princess, Spiderman etc.)
3. Team Games: Begins during early school years. Significance is that children must have the ability to take multiple roles (Baseball)

14. Mead’s Taking the Role
Mead also said that there are 2 parts to the Self
“I” =
the self as subject.
active
I shoved him
The “I” modifies the “me”
“Me” =
The self as a object
Made up of attitudes we internalize from our interactions
He shoved me

15. Jean Piaget 1896 – 1980 Psychologist
Noticed that children give similar wrong answers on intelligence tests
Believed that children use consistent, but incorrect, reasoning to figure out answers

16. Piaget’s Development of Reasoning
After years of testing, Piaget concluded that:
Children go through 4 stages as they develop reasoning
Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2)
Preoperational Stage ( age 2 – 7)
Concrete Operational Stage (age 7 – 12)
Formal Operational Stage (after age 12)

17. Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2)
Understanding is limited to direct contact with the environment
Infants do not “think”
They are unaware that their bodies are separate from the environment
They haven’t discovered their toes

18. Preoperational Stage ( age 2 – 7)
Children develop the ability to use symbols
Cannot yet understand common concepts such as size, speed, or causation.
They can count, but do not understand what numbers mean.

19. Concrete Operational Stage (age 7 – 12)
Children can now understand concrete concepts like numbers, size, causation etc.
They are unable to talk about complex concepts like truth, honesty, and justice.

20. Formal Operational Stage (after age 12)
Children are capable of abstract thinking.
They can talk about concepts and come to conclusions based on general principals.
During this stage, children become young philosophers.

21. Piaget’s Development of Reasoning
Although Piaget’s theory is being refined – the basic concept about the way in which we develop reasoning skills remains intact.

22. Sigmund Freud 1856 – 1939 Physician who founded psychoanalysis
Believed that personality consists of 3 stages Id
EGO
SUPEREGO

23. Freud’s Development of Personality
The ID
inborn basic drives
causes us to seek immediate self gratification
demands immediate fulfillment of basic needs
food
safety
attention
sex
Etc.

24. Freud’s Development of Personality
The EGO
Balancing force between our ID and the demands of society
balancing force between our ID and SUPEREGO

25. Freud’s Development of Personality
The SUPEREGO
The internalized norms and values of our social groups
Represents culture within us
The Superego is the moral component within our personality

26. Lawrence Kohlberg
Concluded that we go through a sequence of stages as we develop morality
4 Stages
Amoral Stage
Preconventional Stage
Conventional Stage
Postconventional Stage

27. Kohlberg’s Development of Morality
Amoral Stage
Ages 2 – 7
No concept of right and wrong
Only want their personal needs satisfied
“Mine”
“I want that…”

28. Kohlberg’s Development of Morality
Preconventional Stage
Ages 7 to 10
Children have learned rules and they follow them to stay out of trouble
They view right and wrong as what pleases or displeases their parents, friends, and teachers
Want to avoid punishment

29. Kohlberg’s Development of Morality
Conventional Stage
At about age 10
Morality means following norms and values that they have learned.

30. Kohlberg’s Development of Morality
Postconventional Stage
In this stage, people reflect on abstract principles of right or wrong and judge a behavior according to these principles.
According to Kohlberg, Most people do not reach this stage.

31. Carol Gilligan Psychologist
Was uncomfortable with Kohlberg’s finding because he only studied boys
Hypothesized that men and women develop morality differently.

32. Gilligan’s Development of Morality
After interviewing 200 men and woman found:
Woman:
More likely to evaluate morality in terms of personal relationships
Woman want to know how an action affects others
More concerned with personal loyalties
Men
Tend to define right and wrong and act accordingly
See actions as either matching or violating a code of ethics

33. Gilligan’s Development of Morality
Others did follow up studies
Found that men and woman use both personal relationships and abstract principles when making moral judgments
Gilligan no longer supports her original position
The matter has not yet been settled