Week 3 - Sociology

These flashcards cover key concepts related to socialization and the development of self, including theories and influential thinkers.

Socialization

The ways in which individuals align their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to fit into society or groups.

Nature vs. Nurture

A debate concerning whether genetic predisposition (nature) or environmental factors (nurture) play a greater role in human development.

Feral Children

Children raised in the wild who are completely unsocialized, lacking language and social skills.

Self

The individual viewed as both the source and object of reflexive behavior.

Reflexive Behavior

Behavior that involves self-talk or internal dialogue when responding to a situation.

Looking-Glass Self

Cooley's concept that the self develops through social interactions and the perceptions of others.

Role Taking

The process of imaginatively occupying the position of another person and seeing the situation from their perspective.

Agents of Socialization

Key individuals, groups, or institutions that contribute to socialization, such as family, peers, school, and media.

Cognitive Competence

The ability to categorize and represent features of the world mentally.

Moral Development

The process by which children learn to distinguish right from wrong and develop moral reasoning.

Kohlberg's Levels of Moral Reasoning

A hierarchy of moral decision-making: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional morality.

Gilligan's Moral Development Theory

A theory suggesting that males and females approach moral dilemmas differently, focusing on justice versus care.

Self-Evaluation

The process through which individuals assess their own values and actions based on feedback from others.

The Developmental Perspective:

Some theorists view socialization as largely dependent upon processes of physical and psychological maturation which are biologically determined 

The social learning perspective:

emphasizes the child's acquisition of cognitive and behavioral skills in interaction with the environment 

The interpretive perspective:

• draws on symbolic interaction and focuses on the interaction of the child 

• Views the child's task as the discovery of meanings common to the social group 

• Requires the child to interact with parents adults and other children

• Also important are the child's participation in cultural routines or recurrent and predictable activities that are basic to daily social life

  • For example child Goes to School eats snack plays on the playground studies does art eats lunch Goes For Recess parents pick up go home 

  • Routin

  • Children don't just absorb or learn culture the acquire reproduce and create culture through their interactions

The Impact of Social Structure

• Takes the position that socialization is not random but organized according to the sequence of rules that newcomers to the society ordinarily pass through 

  • For example preschool, Elementary School, Middle School, high school 

• Social structure designates the person or institution responsible for the socializing

•  birth to adolescence: family socialization 

• Age 6 to 12: Elementary School 

• Adulthood : persons and similar rules ( work, peers). 

Social structure designates the person or institution responsible for the socializing

•  birth to adolescence: family socialization 

• Age 6 to 12: Elementary School 

• Adulthood : persons and similar rules ( work, peers).

Understanding the Self

The self is the individual viewed as both the source and object of reflexive behavior 

• Start speaking to someone and they've asked you a question and then internally you're talking to yourself and saying how should I answer this question that's reflexive Behavior 

The self is active when it initiates reflexive behavior and passive when it's the object toward whom reflexive behavior is being directed towards 

The active aspect of the self is the I,  and the object of self-action is the me.

The self is active when

it initiates reflexive behavior

The self passive when

it's the object toward whom reflexive behavior is being directed towards 

The active aspect of the self

is the I

the object of self-action is

the me.

The Nature and Genesis of Self

The self is  the source of action when we plan observe and control our own behavior 

The self is the object of action when we think about who we are

Self - Differentiation

• To act toward ourselves, we need to be able to recognize ourselves as separate beings

• By about age 4, children realize that other people cannot see their thoughts

• Having access to our own private thoughts and feelings makes how we describe ourselves different from how we describe others

• Self-descriptions tend to be action-focused

  • we describe ourselves by what we do, think, or feel

• Descriptions of others tend to be personality/trait-focused

  • we describe others by their character or visible qualities
    

Mead: Action and Internal Dialogue

• George Herbert Mead says actions are guided by an internal dialogue

• People have conversations in their minds to control and regulate their behavior

• They use words and images (symbols) to understand:

  • themselves

  • others

  • their actions

  • how others might respond
    

Mead said that there are three capacities human beings must acquire in order to engage in action :

1. Ability to differentiate themselves from other persons

2. see themselves and their own actions as if through others eyes

3. use a symbol system or language for inner thought 

Cooley 1902: Looking- glass Self

• Children first see themselves through parents and family, then later through playmates/peers

• People use different “looking glasses” (others’ opinions) in different situations

• Parents, family, and close peers are “significant others”

• Significant others have the strongest influence on a child’s self-concept (how they see themselves)

Self-descriptions tend to be action-focused

• we describe ourselves by what we do, think, or feel

Descriptions of others tend to be personality/trait-focused

• we describe others by their character or visible qualities

Mead (1934) Play and the Game

Mead identified two stages of social experience leading to the emergence of the self in children.

In the play stage, children imitate activities of people around them.

In the game stage, children enter organized activities such as games of house, school, and team sports 

Play stage

• children imitate people around them (e.g., parents, teachers)

• they take on one role at a time

• helps them begin to understand others’ perspectives

Game stage

• children participate in organized activities (e.g., school, team sports, “playing house”)

• they must understand multiple roles at once

• learn how different roles work together within a group

Mead (1934) Generalized Other

• A conception of shared attitudes and expectations held by members of a group

• generalized other = the voice of society in your head

• When you imagine what others expect from you, you are taking the role of the generalized other

• It guides behaviour by making you think:

  • What would people say?

  • What do social norms expect?

• Everyday example:

  • wondering if you should wear a mask

  • deciding whether to hold the door open

Role Taking

• role-taking = the process of imagining yourself in someone else’s position and seeing yourself/situation from their perspective

• One of the most important processes in childhood development

• Helps children understand:

  • how others think

  • how others might react to them

• Through role-taking, children learn to respond reflexively

  • they adjust their behaviour based on how they think others see them

• Early sign of role-taking:

  • correct use of pronouns like “I” and “you”

  • shows they understand the difference between self vs. others

Online Communication and the Self

• Not all feedback from others is face to face

•  assessing personal meanings of statement made through internet chats can be difficult due to lack of nonverbal cues

•  digital self :  self-constructed through online interaction

•   inwardly oriented, narrative, retractable, multiplied

•  online disclosure tends to be superficial

The process of socialization usually revolves around four components 

Agent

process

Target

outcome

Agent

the person who serves as the source for what is learned 

Process

how it is learned 

target

the person being socialized 

Outcome

the thing being learned 

There are four primary agents of childhood socialization

• Family

• Peers 

• School 

• Mass media 

Family

• Family is a crucial agent of socialization in early childhood

• Emotionally responsive caregivers are essential for healthy infant development

• Studies of institutionalized/orphaned children show lack of care leads to developmental issues

• Infants need a secure attachment for security and stimulation

• Attachment depends on quality of care, not parent’s gender

Effects of child care : 

• At age 4 and a half children with high quality Care in a center had significantly better cognitive skills and language performance 

Father's involvement:

Parental education, maternal employment and lower job stress positively related to paternal involvement

Divorce

difficult to isolate the effects of divorce 

• Children are negatively affected due to the loss of income 

Peers

• Peers are another important agent of socialization

• Peer groups differ from family, shaping different types of interactions and learning

• Key differences:

  • made up of relative equals (no authority like parents)

  • interactions are voluntary (you choose your friends)

  • often homogeneous in middle childhood (ages 6–10) → similar age and sex

• Because you choose your peers, it helps develop social competence (skills in interacting, fitting in, building relationships)

Peer groups provide opportunities for:

• Development of identity, particularly non-familial identities

• Learning the role of friend 

• Increased Independence

• Preparation for future rules and transitions

School

School is another agent of socialization

• School is intentionally designed to socialize you 

  • Skills: Math,reading,writing

  • Behaviour

  • Personality traits

Relies heavily on instrumental learning techniques 

First experience with public evaluation of performance

Teaches children which selves are desirable and which are not 

mass media

• Mass media includes news, TV, videos, films, internet, magazines, etc.

• It affects everyone, especially due to high exposure

• Shapes how we see people, places, and events

• Influences identity (e.g., gender, race, age expectations)

• Teaches schemas and scripts for how relationships and social situations should work

Gender roles

• Expectations for men’s and women’s roles/behaviours vary by society

• Parents use these expectations to socialize their children

• Parental expectations are shaped by influences like:

  • extended family

  • friends

  • institutions (e.g., church, workplace)

Differential treatment begins at birth :

• Male infants handled more vigorously and roughly

•  female infants cuddled more

• Mothers and fathers engage with children differently 

 portrayals of men and women often reinforce traditional definitions of gender roles

men :  independent, athletic, ambitious, aggressive

female : dependent, emotional, domestic, romantic

Linguistic Competence

Language use is a prerequisite for full participation in social groups

Phenology

sound system

Lexicon

words and Associated meanings

Grammar

rules for combining words into meaningful utterances

Language acquisition occurs in the first three years and has about four stages

pre speech

words

sentences

grammaticization

 pre speech

- birth through approximately 10 months

•  imitating sounds, learning turn-taking

words

- 10 to 14 months

•  nouns that name or request specific objects

sentences

- 18 to 22 months

•  telegraphic speech, for example see truck Mommy

grammaticization

-  24 to 30 months

•  learning to apply rules, he runned versus he ran

Private speech

establishes a sense of self and awareness of one's environment 

Language and gender -

mothers and fathers use language differently when communicating with their children

Cognitive Competence 

• Children must learn to mentally represent the world around them

• This involves creating schemas

  • mental categories for people, objects, and events

• Language development is key to building these schemas

• Grouping things into categories helps children:

  • understand situations

  • decide how to behave and respond

Moral Development

• Norms are beliefs about which behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable for specific persons in specific situations 

• Norms facilitate coordinated activity 

• Each group, organization, and Society develops norms 

Morality

is a conceptualization of what is good or right and bad or wrong

Moral reasoning

is the ability to differentiate between right and wrong 

Moral development

is the process through which children become capable of making moral judgments 

• Involves two components

1. The reasons one adheres to social rules

2.  the bases used to evaluate actions by self or others as good or bad

Piaget Proposed three bases for moral judgments:

• Amount of harm/benefit

• Actors intentions 

• Application of agreed upon rules or norms 

Kohlberg extended Piaget's work and proposed a model with three levels of moral reasoning

•  preconventional morality

•  conventional morality

•  post conventional morality

Preconventional morality

moral decisions are based on the desire to avoid punishment from someone in a position of authority 

Conventional morality

moral decisions are made based on meeting the expectations of others and the social consequences of the action

Post conventional morality

moral decisions are made based on the recognition of individual rights and conformity to shared understandings of standards and duties

Kohlberg's model female presented with

hypothetical moral dilemmas tend to reason at the conventional level, whereas, males tend to reason at the post conventional level

This would mean that males have a more highly developed sense of morality than women