Socialization: From Infancy to Old Age

Instructor Andrews

The Socialization Process

• The process through which we learn the values, norms, and roles of our culture that enable us to acquire and develop our sense of self

• Begins at birth, ends at death

• Socialization is different based on one’s demographics

• Examining the socialization process helps us see how our lives are socially constructed

Human Development:Nature and Nurture

• Charles Darwin’s study of evolution led to the “nature” argument.

• Traits that enhance survival emerge as a species “nature.”

• Genes/biological make-up

• John Watson developed a theory called behaviorism.

• Behavior is not instinctive, but learned.

• Human beings as a product of society

Agents of Socialization

• Socialization agents are those who pass on societal expectations.

• Everyone is a socializing agent.• Institutions

– Family– Media– Education– Peers– Religion– Sports

Socialization - Life Course• Ralph Linton, 1893-1953 (anthropologist) • Life Course Perspective – connects people’s

personal attributes, the roles they occupy, and the life events they experience to the social & historical context.

• Childhood - establish one’s initial identity and values.

• Adolescence - form a relatively consistent identity.• Adulthood - learn new roles and expectations in

adult life• Old Age – “role-less role” undefined role and

lowest age status in our culture – According to Linton, it begins at 65, hardest transition to

make

Understanding Socialization

Psychoanalytic Theory• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)• The unconscious mind shapes human

behavior.• Model of Personality

– Depicts the human psyche in three parts: – Id - deep drives and impulses– Ego - reason and common sense– Superego - represents the standards of

society

• Culture in the form of the superego represses demands of the id.

Understanding Socialization:(Humanistic psychology – personality theory)

Hierarchy of Needs

• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

• Physical environment and social surroundings influence the development of personality or the “self.”

• When lower needs are unmet, you can’t fully devote yourself to fulfilling your potential

• Physiological needs - oxygen, water, protein, salt, minerals and vitamins, activity, rest, sex, to avoid pain (lowest level)

• Safety and security needs - structures, boundaries - fears and anxieties

• Love and belonging needs - family, friends, companionship

• Esteem needs – sense of self-worth• The need to actualize the self – creative and

constructive involvement in productive, significant activity, acceptance of self and others

Understanding Socialization

Social Learning Theory• Jean Piaget (1896-1980) psychologist - studied human

cognition (how people think) and the social environment.• Emphasized learning & the imagination • Argued that intellectual development controlled every other

aspect of development - emotional, social, and moral. • The mind organizes reality and acts upon it. Four stages of cognitive development:• Sensorimotor (birth - two years old) – experience the world

through their senses• Preoperational (age 2 - 7) – language & symbols• Concrete operational (age 7 - 11) – logical principles

(mastery of numbers and how to reason)• Formal operational (age 11 and up) – think abstractly &

imagine alternatives (mastery of thought)

Symbolic Interaction (SI) Theories of Socialization

• People learn identities and values through the socialization process (not unconsciously)

• Meaning is constantly reconstructed

• Use term “self” over “personality”

• Sees self as evolving over a lifetime.

• Reflective Process

Understanding Socialization - (S.I.) Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)

• Cooley used the term the looking-glass self – a self-image based on how we think others see us.

• Others represent a mirror in which we can see ourselves.

• Children and adults often judge themselves on how they think others judge them.

The Looking-glass Self

Understanding Socialization (S.I.)George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)• Mead’s central concept is the self – the part of the

individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image.

Taking the role of the other – The self is socially constructed through the expectations of others

1. Imitation stage aka Prepatory stage - Children imitate the behavior of those around them.

2.Play stage (age 4-7) - Children act out the behaviors and roles of significant others.

3.Game stage (occurs around age 8) - Children internalize an abstract understanding of societal pressures & how society sees them. (Generalized Other)

Media

• Content analysis of news programs show the largest percentage of time is spent reporting stories about crime.

• Research indicates that peoples’ fear of crime is directly related to how much time they spend watching or listening to the news/media

• The media does not report an objective reality.

Cultural Impacts of Media Violence

• In the early 1990s, the American Psychological Association estimated that a typical American child will witness 8,000 murders and see 100,000 acts of violence on television before even finishing elementary school.

• Numerous studies show a correlation between watching televised violence and engaging in aggressive behaviors.

Advertising and the American Culture

• Mass produced and a tool of socialization.

• Sells values and affects self-image.

• Appeals to humans on an unconscious level and it is taken for granted.

• Humans process symbols/images different than words.

Resocialization

• Involves a new definition of oneself.

• Social roles are radically altered and replaced.

• Total Institution – a setting in which people are isolated and controlled.

• Examples: military, prison, monastic orders, cults, mental hospitals, nursing homes

Key Terms

• Identity – How one defines oneself, developed through socialization

• Personality – a person’s fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking, and feeling

• Self-esteem - The value a person places on his or her identity

Key Terms

• Internalization – Behaviors and assumptions learned so thoroughly that people no longer question them, but accept them as correct

• Anticipatory Socialization – the learning of expectations associated with a role one expects to enter in the future