CHAPTER 6Personality and

Socialization

Sometimes we hear remarks like a person has a lot of personality while another has no personality (walang personalidad). What is meant perhaps when one says that a person has a lot of personality is that he or she is outgoing, aggressive, friendly and with much verve. On the other hand, one who is described as not having a personality may be reticent, uncharismatic, sloppy, or shy.Personality is a product of socialization and arises as a result of the interplay of various factors, which include biological inheritance or heredity, the geographical environment, cultural environment, social groups and social structure, and past experiences.

What is Personality?

As mentioned in the chapter on culture, some sociologists held that many social traits are genetically determined, although they have not identified which of the genetic personalities would be developed as a result of the impingement of a given physical, social, and cultural environment.The determinants in personality formation are biological inheritance, geographic environment, social environment, and cultural environment.

Determinants of Personality Formation

1. The biological inheritance transferred from parents to offspring through the mechanics of the genes found in the chromosomes of the sex cells is composed of the biological structures, psychological process reflexes, urges, capacity, intelligence, and traits such as pigmentation and stature.

2. Geographic environment refers to location, climate, topography, and natural resources. The question of whether people living in tropical regions and those in temperature regions differ in personality because of the climate; or whether living on the sea coast and living in the mountains result in a difference in personality and life style are often raised.

3. The cultural and social environment are intertwined. However, we shall explain them separately for the purpose of definition. The cultural environment refers to the learned ways of living, the norms of behaviors – folkways, mores, laws, values, ideas, and patterned ways of the group. While the culture of any society determines the deeper levels of its member’ personality through techniques of child-rearing, its influence does not end there. Culture goes on to shape the personality from child rearing and throughout life.

4. The social environment refers to the various groups and social interactions going on in the groups of which one is a member. Membership in a group implies exposure to a social environment. From birth onwards, a child normally joins various groups, and each group imposes certain norms and a set of expectation on each member. An only child will have experiences different from those one who comes from a large family. The oldest child will have different experiences from those of the middle child or the youngest child in the same family.

Various theories have been formulated explaining the development of personality. However, we shall just limit our discussion of three theories: Freudian Theory, cultural determinism held by the cultural anthropologists, and symbolic inter-actionism held by some sociologists and social psychologists.

Theories of Personality Development

Sigmund Freud, foremost Viennese psychologist, formulated the first comprehensive theory of personality which had a great impact not only in the social sciences but also in art, literature, philosophy, theory is a form of biological determinism which holds that socialization is process characterized by the internal struggle between the biological components and the social cultural environment.

1. Oral stage (birth to 1 year) In this stage, eating is the major source of satisfaction. Frustration or overindulgence at this stage can lead to over eating or alcoholism in adulthood

Freud’s Theory of Socialization

2. Anal stage (1 – 3 years) The influencing factor at this stage in personality development is toilet training.3. Phallic stage (3 – 6 years) At this time, the greatest source of pleasure comes from the sex organs.4. Latency period (6 years- Adolescence) In this stage, children their attention to people outside their families like teachers and friends and the erotic impulses are dormant.5. Genital stage (Adolescence and beyond) The sexual impulses become active again and the individual focuses on the opposite sex, looks around for a potential marriage partner, and prepares for marriage and adult responsibilities.

Cultural determinism, the personality development theory held by anthropologists, views the cultural environment as the main factor that determines human behavior. Franz Boas, American anthropologists, together with other anthropologists, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Ralph Linton, Cora Du Bois, and Edward Sapir, was the proponent of this theory. Boas’ view is that personality development is learning what is found in the culture and that significant differences in personality are learned. Ruth maintained that individual personalities of members of a society are tiny replicas of their overall culture, with the culture as a summing up of their personalities.Anthropologists believe that culture makes its deep and permanent effects on the individual during early childhood. Practices revolving around feeding whether baby is breast-fed or bottle-fed, toilet training whether the child is trained or not, and weaning whether the child is weaned early or later in infancy affect the formation of the basic personality.

Culture and Personality

The theory of symbolic interactionism is based primarily on the works and ideas of George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley and later on expounded by the other psychologists.The distinctive attributes of human behavior grow from people’s participation in varying types of social structure which depend, in turn, on the existence of language behavior.

Symbolic Interactionism

This starts at birth, when parents hold their baby and attend his or her needs. In the interaction between parent or yaya (nurse or caretaker of the baby) and the child, the baby begins to realize that he or she depends on the other people for comfort.

Development of the Social Self

In childhood, the family, friends, teachers, classmates, and peer group exert a great influence in forming a child’s self-concept. They constitute his or her primary group or form a part of what is called” significant others.” These significant others become models for the child who usually identifies with them and patterns his or her behavior after them.According to Cooley, the looking glass has three elements: the imagination of how we appear to other persons; the imagination of the judgement of that appearance; and some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification.

The Looking Glass Self

In the process, the individual assumes the organized social attitudes and moral ideas of the social groups or communities to which he or she belongs. These exert an influence on his or her attitudes toward different projects and cooperative activities as well as social problems which the group faces and can direct his or her own behavior ( Mead 1934:208). This becomes the individuals’ orientation toward the world and his or her frame of reference as new situations arise. The individual thinks, feels, and sees things from a perspective characteristic of the group of which he or she a member.

The Generalized Others

How an infant develops into a functioning social being and emerges with a personality is called socialization. Human beings are born without any concept of self. They do not know the parts of their body, what to eat, what to do, what to believe in and how to communicate. But they are born into a social world with its ready made culture.

Medina gives the function of socialization as follows:1. Through the process of socialization, the group transmits its values, customs, and beliefs from one generation to another.

The Process of Socialization

2. Socialization enables the individual to grow and develop into a socially functioning person.

3. Socialization is a means of a social control by which members are encouraged to conform to the ways of the group by internalizing the groups’ norms and values.

Various groups or institutions play a significant role in the socialization of an individual in shaping that person’s personality. Foremost among them is the family. But as the child grows older, he or she is influenced by other socializing agencies like friends, school, friends, and church.

The FamilyThe family plays a unique role in personality development and is the main link between the child and society. For the first few years of life, the family is responsible for initiating the child into the culture of the group. Here, the child gains his or her first experiences in love affection, kindness, sympathy, courtesy, and other traits.

The Peer GroupThe socialization of children continues in the peer group when they associate with other children of more or less the same age coming from the kin group, neighbourhood, or school.

Agencies of Socialization

•The ChurchThe children are brought to church by their parents as early as infancy. This is true if the God-fearing members of the community. Thus, children are initiated early into saying their prayers and forming a notion of God. What is the right and what is wrong are delineated are prescriptions of rewards and punishments established.

•The SchoolThe school is a formal agency for weaning children from home and introducing them into the society. In school, children get their formal instruction in the 5 Rs- reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, rational thinking, and right conduct and also in citizenship.

•Mass MediaIn modern societies, mass media is another and socializing agency. Its functions are primarily to inform, entertain, and educate. Radio and television programs bring music and other forms of entertainment to the viewers.

•The WorkplaceIn the rural communities, farmers, fisherfolks, and craftsmen live close to their place of work so that their work is usually tied up with their other activities in the home or community. In the urban areas, the work activity of people is usually distinct from their other activities.

Socialization is a lifelong process where individuals develop a self concept and prepare for roles which turn in shape personality. Associated with the status is a social role which involves the pattern of expected behavior in a social relationship with one or more persons occupying other statuses. Implied in the role is the execution of the rights and duties.

Socialization for Roles

Further elaboration of the idea of role and role performance was done by Erving Goffman. He made distinction between role and role performance. To him, role refers to acting in accordance with the expected norms attached to a particular position while role performance is the actual conduct of the role in accordance with the position.To Goffman, everyone is consciously playing a role. When persons present themselves to others in everyday interaction, they organize their overt behavior in such a way as to guide and control the impressions others form of them to elicit the desired role-taking response. Like the actor on stage, they endeavour to give a good performance.

Goffman’s Idea of the Performance of Social Roles

From infancy onward, a person is socialized according to age-sex role scripts related to the institutionalized statues of males and females. At this point, we have to make distinction between sex and gender. Sex refers to the biological or anatomical differences between males and females, while gender connotes the psychological, social, and cultural differences between males and females (Giddens 1989:158)

Socialization for Sex Roles