Personality Development

Socializing the Individual

The Transmission of characteristics from parents to children.

Heredity

Nature – personality and social behavior are a direct result of heredity.

Nurture - personality and social behavior are a result of social learning and environmental factors.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Birth order

• Parental characteristics

• Cultural environment

• Heredity

Factors that influence personality and Social behavior

The Social Self

Socializing the Individual

Individuals are born without personalities and they acquire them as a result of social experiences.

• Human beings can be molded into any type of character

Locke’s Theory of Socialization

Interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others.The Process

1. Imagine how we appear to others

2. Based on their reactions to us, we attempt to determine whether others view us as we view ourselves.

3. We use our perceptions of how others judge us to develop feelings about ourselves.

Looking Glass Self

Taking or pretending to take the role of others.

The process:

1. Children can only imitate the actions of other people

2. Begin to play and act out the roles of specific people

3. Participate in organized games that require anticipating the actions and expectations of others.

Role Taking

Agents of Socialization

Socializing the Individual

1. Family

2. Peer group

3. School

4. Mass media

Agents of Socialization in Society

Primarily concerned with resocialization – forcibly changing an individuals personality and social behavior.

• Prisons

• Monasteries

• Military boot camps

• Psychiatric hospitals

Total Institutions