Socialization

How we become who we are…

Nature vs. Nurture (Review)

• Twin Studies

• Monkey Studies (Harlow Experiments)

• Isolated/Feral Children– Genie – Introduction– Genie – Follow-up– Feral Children

Basic Conclusions

• The limits of certain and physical and mental abilities are established by heredity (such as sports ability and math ability), but basic orientations to life such as attitudes are the result of environment

• Thus, for some parts of life, the blueprint is drawn by heredity; but even here, the environment can redraw those lines. For other parts, the individual is a blank slate and it is entirely up to the environment to determine what is written on it.

How do we develop a self?

• Symbolic Interactionist theories on self development.– Charles Horton Cooley –

The Looking-Glass Self– George Herbert Mead –

Role Taking– Irving Goffman -

Dramaturgy

Cooley on Socialization

• The “Looking-Glass Self”– I am not what I think I am.– I am not what you think I

am.– I am what I think you think I

am.

Cooley on Socialization

• We imagine the way we appear to others.

• We then imagine others’ judgment of that appearance.

• And finally, we react to that imagined judgment.

Mead on Role Taking

• 2 Stages in the Development of the Self– Play Stage: Taking the role of significant

others– Game Stage: Taking the role of the

generalized other

Taking the Role of Significant Others

Play Stage

Taking the Role of the Generalized Other

Game Stage

Agents of Socialization

• Family

• Friends/Peers

• Education

• Religion

• Media

• Which is most important?

Impact of Media as an Agent of Socialization

• 87% of American households have more than one television

• 50% of children have televisions in their room

• The average American child watches 28 hours of television a week

• By the age of 18 the average American child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence

Impact of Media as an Agent of Socialization

• In 1972, the Surgeon General released a report based on a review of existing literature and specifically commissioned research. The report concluded that “there was strong evidence to indicate that over several measures of aggressive behavior there was a significant and consistent correlation between television viewing and aggressive behavior. Second, the report concluded, on the basis of experimental evidence that there was a directional, causal link between exposure to televised violence and subsequent aggressive behavior by the viewer.”

NIMH Report

• 10 years later, the National Institute of Mental Health released the following: “After ten more years of research, the consensus among most of the research community is that violence on television does lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the programs. This conclusion is based on laboratory experiments and on field studies. Not all children become violent, of course, but the correlations between violence and aggression are positive. In magnitude, television violence is as strongly correlated with aggressive behavior as any other behavioral variable that has been measured. The research question has moved from asking whether or not there is an effect to seeking explanations for the effect.”

Other Research

• During the next 10 years, research had uncovered several new findings…– The effects are not gender specific (both boys and

girls are affected)– The amount of violence had not decreased since

the Surgeon General’s report in 1972.– Viewers were learning more than aggressive

behavior from violent programming…may learn to identify with the victims of crime leading to fear and apprehension about being a victim of crime.

Commission on Youth and Violence(American Psychological Association 1993)

Six Conclusions on Youth and Violence • Universal exposure• Strong correlations with aggression and

desensitization• May be lifelong consequences• Even those that do not become violent are impacted:

– Fear of being victimized

– Behavioral apathy

– Increased appetite for violence

• Distorted views of violence against women• Effects can be mitigated

American Psychiatric Association

• In 1996, the American Psychiatric Association released a statement claiming, “The debate is over.”– The statement referenced the National

Television Violence Study which found—• The majority of all television programming contains

violence• Perpetrators of violence were unsanctioned in 73%

of violent scenes• Commercial programming for children is 50-60

times more violent than prime-time programming for adults

What the Public Wants?

• The response from media executives is frequently that they are just giving the public what it wants. In response to this claim, the AMA conducted a study that found that 75% of adults with children have walked out of a movie or turned off the television because the content was too violent.

Further Support

• In the wake of these reports, the Centers of Disease Control and the National Academy of Science have come forward with support for these findings.

Judiciary Committee on Media Violence

• The study takes a different approach—it starts with the premise that violent media can be harmful to children and then asks the following questions:– Do the motion picture, music recording and electronic

game industries promote products they themselves acknowledge warrant parental caution in venues where children make up a substantial percentage of the audience?

– And, are these advertisements intended to attract children and teenagers?

• After a comprehensive 15-month study, the researchers concluded that the answer to both questions is ‘yes.’