Chapter 4

Socialization and Development

Chapter Outline Becoming a Person: Biology and Culture The Concept of Self Theories of Development Early Socialization in American Society Adult Socialization

Socialization Social interaction that teaches the child

the intellectual, physical, and social skills needed to function as a member of society.

Each child slowly acquires a personality— the patterns of behavior and ways of thinking and feeling that are distinctive for each individual.

Becoming a Person: Biology and Culture Every human being is born with a set of

genes, inherited units of biological material. The Human Genome Project found that

humans have about 30,000 genes. Genes influence the chemical processes in

our bodies and control some of these processes.

Most of our body processes, are the result of the interaction of genes and the environment (physical, social, and cultural).

Becoming a Person: Biology and Culture Height depends on the genes that control

the growth of your legs, trunk, neck, and head and also on the amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals in your diet.

Genes help determine blood pressure, but so do the amount of salt in your diet, the frequency with which you exercise, and the amount of stress under which

Sociobiology Discipline using biological principles to

explain the behavior of social animals and humans.

Deprivation and Development Human infants need more than just

food and shelter if they are to function effectively as social creatures.

Children who aren’t provided physical, mental, or emotional stimulation often develop attachment disorder—they re unable to trust people and to form relationships with others.

The Concept of Self

An awareness of the existence, appearance, and boundaries of one’s own body.

The ability to refer to one’s own being by using language and other symbols.

Knowledge of one’s personal history.

The Concept of Self

Knowledge of one’s needs and skills. The ability to organize one’s

knowledge and beliefs. The ability to organize one’s

experiences.

The Concept of Self

The ability to take a step back and: look at one’s being as others do evaluate the impressions one is

creating understand the feelings and

attitudes one stimulates in others.

Piaget’s Stages of Development Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2)

Infant relies on touch and the manipulation of objects for information about the world, slowly learning about cause and effect.

Preoperational stage (about age 2) Child begins to learn that words can be

symbols for objects. The child cannot see the world from another person’s point of view.

Piaget’s Stages of Development Operational stage (age 7 to about age 12)

The child begins to think with some logic and can understand numbers, shapes, and spatial relationships.

Formal, logical thought (adolescence) People at this stage are capable of abstract,

logical thought are able to anticipate consequences of their actions.

Moral Development Research suggests that not every person

is capable of thinking about morality in the same way.

Just as our sense of self and our ability to think logically develop in stages, our moral thinking develops in a progression of steps as well.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Morality

Stage 1. Orientation toward punishment.

Stage 2. Orientation toward reward. Stage 3. Orientation toward possible

disapproval by others.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Morality

Stage 4. Orientation toward formal laws and fear of personal dishonor.

Stage 5. Orientation toward peer values and democracy.

Stage 6. Orientation toward one’s own set of values.

Cooley’s: Looking-Glass Self The process through which we develop a

sense of self: We imagine how our actions appear to

others. We imagine how other people judge

these actions. We make a self-judgment based on the

presumed judgments of others.

Mead’s Stages of DevelopmentThe self develops in three stages: 1. Preparatory stage - The child imitates the

behavior of others. 2. Play stage - The child begins to formulate role

expectations: playing house, cops and robbers, etc.

3. Game stage - The child learns there are rules that specify the proper and correct relationship among the players.

Freud’s View of the SelfThe self has three separately functioning parts: id - the drives and instincts every human

inherits, but which remain unconscious for the most part.

Superego - society’s norms and moral values as learned primarily from our parents.

ego - tries to mediate in the eternal conflict between the id and the superego, and to find socially acceptable ways for the id’s drives to be expressed.

Erikson’s Stages of Human Development Human development is accomplished in 8

stages. Each stage amounts to a crisis brought on

by two factors: Biological changes in the

developing individual. Social expectations and stresses.

Erikson’s Stages of Human Development

At each stage, the individual is pulled in opposite directions to resolve the crisis.

The individual resolves the conflict at each stage somewhere toward the middle of the opposing options.

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Human Development

Stage Age PeriodCharacteristic to

Be Achieved

Trust vs. mistrust

Birth to 1 year

Sense of trust or security

Autonomy vs. shame and

doubt1 to 4 years

Sense of autonomy

Initiative vs. guilt

4 to 5 years Sense of initiative

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Human Development

Stage Age PeriodCharacteristic to

Be Achieved

Industry vs.inferiority

6 to 12 yearsSense of duty and accomplishment

Identity vs. role confusion

Adolescence Sense of identity

Intimacy vs. isolation

Young adulthood

Sense of intimacy

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Human Development

Stage Age PeriodCharacteristic to Be

Achieved

Generativity vs.

stagnation30s to 50s

Sense of productivity and creativity

Integrity vs. despair

Old age Sense of ego integrity - achieved by acceptance of

the life one has lived

Daniel Levinson Proposed that adults are faced with

new developmental tasks throughout their lives and working through these challenges is the essence of adulthood.

Both men and women go through the same periods of adult development, although there are differences due to external and internal constraints.

Question Freud's part of the self that represents

society's norms and moral values is the _________________ .

Answer: superego Freud's part of the self that represents

society's norms and moral values is the superego.

Question According to Erikson, the conflict to be

resolved during adolescence is:

A. industry vs. inferiority.

B. identity vs. role confusion.

C. intimacy vs. isolation.

D. autonomy vs. shame.

Answer: B According to Erikson, the conflict to be

resolved during adolescence is identity vs. role confusion.

Question Of the socialization theories, which one

do you think offers the best explanation for why people develop as they do?

A. MeadB. CoffmanC. CooleyD. FreudE. Piaget

Agents of Socialization The Family The School Peer Groups The Mass Media and Socialization

Question Which agent of socialization do you think is the

most responsible for gender differences in how males and females are socialized?

The family Religion The peer group Education Mass media

Primary Child-Care Arrangements For Preschool Children

Controversies in Sociology: Is Day Care Harmful to Children? Higher-quality day care is related to:

Better mother-child relationships Lower probability of insecure attachment

in infants of mothers low in sensitivity Fewer reports of children’s problem

behaviors Higher cognitive performance of children Higher language ability of children Higher level of school readiness

Controversies in Sociology: Is Day Care Harmful to Children?

Poor-quality day care produces Less harmonious mother-child

relationships Higher probability of insecure mother-

child attachment in infants of mothers already low in sensitivity.

More problem behaviors, lower cognitive and language ability, and lower school-readiness scores

The Mass Media 98.2% of all households in the U.S. have

television sets, with an average of 2 sets per home.

Schoolchildren watch an average 2 1/2 hours of television on school days and 4 hours and 20 minutes on weekends.

By the time most people reach the age of 18, they will have spent more waking time watching television than doing anything else.

Question Which media source do you think has the

strongest impact on attitudes and behaviors of your generation?

Advertising Television Music and music videos The Internet Magazines

Primary Socialization

Primary socialization means individuals have: Learned a language and can think logically. Accepted the basic norms and values of the

culture. Developed the ability to pattern behavior in

terms of these norms and values. Assumed a culturally appropriate social identity.

Adult Socialization The process by which adults learn new statuses

and roles. Differences from primary socialization:

Adults are much more aware than young people are of the processes through which they are being socialized.

Adults often have more control over how they wish to be socialized and therefore can generate more enthusiasm for the process.

Resocialization Exposure to ideas or values that in one

way or another conflict with what was learned in childhood.

Factors In Effective Resocialization Isolation from the outside world. Spending all of one’s time in the same

place with the same people. Shedding individual identity by giving up

old clothes and possessions for standard uniforms.

A clean break with the past. Loss of freedom of action.

Total Institutions Environments such as prisons or mental

hospitals in which the participants are physically and socially isolated from the outside world.

Question Which of the following is an example of

a total institution?

A. prison

B. public school

C. the family

D. local church

Answer: A A prison is an example of a total

institution.

Quick Quiz

1. The process of learning the skills needed to function as a member of society is:

A. development.

B. socialization.

C. social identity acquisition.

D. personality acquisition.

Answer: B

2. Our own distinctive patterns of behavior and ways of thinking and feeling are our:

A. social identity.

B. personality.

C. social status.

D. social attachment.

Answer: B Our own distinctive patterns of behavior

and ways of thinking and feeling are our personality.

3. The stage at which a child relies on touch and manipulation of objects for information is the ________ stage.

A. preoperational

B. sensoroimotor

C. formal operational

D. operational

Answer: B The stage at which a child relies on

touch and manipulation of objects for information is the sensoroimotor stage.

4. According to Mead, the stage in the development of the self where we learn the expectations, positions and rules of society at large is the:

A. preparatory stage.

B. play stage.

C. game stage.

D. generative stage.

Answer: C According to Mead, the stage in the

development of the self where we learn the expectations, positions and rules of society at large is the game stage.

5. According to Erik Erikson, human development is:

A. completed by age 4.

B. completed by age 2.

C. completed by age 21.

D. a lifelong process.

Answer: D According to Erik Erikson, human

development is a lifelong process.