Sociology Week 4 - Looking Glass Self
Detailed Notes: "Looking-Glass Self" by Charles Horton Cooley
Core Concept: The Looking-Glass Self
Definition: A social self formed through imagining how we appear in the minds of others. The self is fundamentally shaped by our perception of others' judgments of us.
The Looking-Glass Metaphor:
Just as we see our physical appearance in a mirror and evaluate it
We imagine our social appearance in others' minds and evaluate their judgment of us
"Each to each a looking-glass / Reflects the other that doth pass"
Three Principal Elements
Imagination of our appearance to the other person
How we think we look to them (appearance, manners, aims, deeds, character, friends, etc.)
Imagination of their judgment of that appearance
Most essential element
Not just mechanical reflection, but "an imputed sentiment"
We imagine what they think about what they see
Some sort of self-feeling
Pride or mortification
Shame or satisfaction
Emotional response to imagined judgment
Key Insight: The Other's Status Matters
"The character and weight of that other, in whose mind we see ourselves, makes all the difference with our feeling"
Examples provided:
We are ashamed to seem evasive before a straightforward person
Ashamed to seem cowardly before a brave person
Ashamed to seem gross before a refined person
Context-Dependent Self-Presentation:
A man will boast about a sharp business deal to one person
But be ashamed to admit the same action to another person
We "always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind"
Development in Children
Early Stages (6 months)
Discovery of Social Power:
Children observe connection between their actions and others' movements
Perceive their own influence over people
Appropriate others' visible actions (like appropriating a toy or body part)
Example - 6-month-old girl:
Deliberately attempts to attract attention
Tugs mother's skirts, wriggles, gurgles, stretches arms
Watches for hoped-for effect
Has "tasted the joy of being a cause, of exerting social power"
Affectation:
Even at this young age, child appears "unduly preoccupied with what other people think"
Affectation = when "passion to influence others seems to overbalance the established character"
Darwin's Childhood Example:
Young Darwin gathered fruit from father's trees, hid it
Ran to announce he'd "discovered a hoard of stolen fruit"
Departing from truth to make an impression
Learning Differentiation
Strategic Behavior:
Children learn to "be different things to different people"
Begin to apprehend personality and foresee its operation
Example: Systematic weeping to manipulate tender mother/nurse
"Children often behave worse with their mother than with other and less sympathetic people"
Selective Interest (by end of second year):
Some people make strong impression, awaken desire to interest and please them
Others are indifferent or repugnant
Child "already cares much for the reflection of himself upon one personality and little for that upon another"
Possessiveness:
Claims intimate persons as "mine"
Example: M. at 3 years old resented R.'s claim on their mother - "my mamma"
Emotional Responses
Case Study: M. (female child)
4 months:
Special "hurt" cry indicating sense of personal slight
Different from cry of pain or anger
Similar to cry of fright
Slightest tone of reproof would produce it
Conversely: If people laughed and encouraged, she was "hilarious"
15 months:
Became "a perfect little actress"
"Seemed to live largely in imaginations of her effect upon other people"
Constantly laid traps for attention
Looked abashed or wept at disapproval/indifference
Would cry long "in a grieved way, refusing to be comforted"
Repeated tricks that made people laugh
Had repertory of small performances for sympathetic audiences
16 months:
Make-believe crying when refused scissors
Put up under lip, snuffled
Looked up periodically "to see what effect she was producing"
Germ of Personal Ambition
Cooley's Interpretation: "In such phenomena we have plainly enough, it seems to me, the germ of personal ambition of every sort."
Imagination cooperating with instinctive self-feeling
Creates a social "I"
This social "I" becomes "a principal object of interest and endeavor"
Development from Childhood to Adulthood
Progressive Sophistication
Children:
Think of and try to elicit certain visible or audible phenomena
Don't look beyond surface appearances
Focus on external signs
Adults:
Desire to produce internal, invisible conditions in others
Richer experience enables imagination of others' internal states
Expression is only the sign, not the goal itself
BUT: Still don't separate others' thoughts from visible expression
"Imagine the whole thing at once"
Difference is "comparative richness and complexity of elements"
Progression in Self-Assertive Action
From Naive to Subtle:
Early Stage:
Child "obviously and simply, at first, does things for effect"
Later Stage:
Endeavor to suppress appearance of seeking effect
Simulate affection, indifference, contempt to hide real wish to affect self-image
Recognition that "obvious seeking after good opinion is weak and disagreeable"
Theoretical Implications
The Self is Social: Self-concept fundamentally depends on social interaction and imagination of others' perspectives
Continuous Process: The looking-glass self operates throughout life, not just childhood, though it becomes more sophisticated
Multiple Selves: We have different "reflected selves" depending on whose judgment we're imagining
Emotional Core: Self-feelings (pride, shame, etc.) are intrinsically tied to imagined social judgments
Agency and Performance: Even young children strategically manage impressions, though this becomes more subtle with age
Foundation of Social Behavior: This process is "the germ of personal ambition of every sort"—underlies much of human social motivation and behavior