The importance of positive versus negative Experiences in childhood

Socialization

Transforms Biological Organisms into Social Beings

“Self”

Our recognition that we are at once distinct and part of a whole

If socialization makes us….

Then what does isolation do? = a dysfunctional self From Pavlov’s Dogs to

Harlow’s MonkeysSocial behavior is learned

Personality or “self”

Can be seen as having three components

Cognition Emotion Behavior

Feral Children - “mythic” –

legendary accounts Neglected Children

“reality” Raised in relative

isolation Cambodian "junglewoman"

ANNA: In the late 1930s and 1940s a noted sociologist, Kingsley Davis, was called to investigate the case of Anna, a young girl who was the illegitimate daughter of a poor and mentally impaired mother who left Anna alone, locked in the attic. Anna’s mother had kept her locked up in an attic room to avoid Anna’s grandfather’s anger at her birth. Aside from brief visits to bring food, she had almost no human contact. When found, she was unable to walk or to speak. Her hearing and vision were normal. She seemed to show potential to learn and did desire human contact. She died at age 10

Before her death, Anna learned to walk, understand simple commands, feed herself, and achieve some neatness. Although she seemed to show some potential to learn language, she spoke only in phrases, rather than complete sentences.

She could bounce and catch a ball, string beads, identify a few colors, and build with blocks.

When found, Anna had the mental capacity of a newborn infant. At her death she had achieved a mental level of approximately 2 to 3 years…

GENIE: A more recent case from the 1970s teaches us a lot. This is the case of Genie written about in your text. Extensive tests showed that in many ways Genie was highly intelligent.

But her language abilities never advanced beyond that of a 3rd grader. Genie never became a truly social being. Eventually the scientists who worked with her concluded that the most severe deprivation that caused her to fail at language was her lack of emotional learning and her feelings of loss and lack of love. Genie was never fully capable of living independently and spent her life in a home for developmentally disable adults.

Secrets of the Wild Child

Bulgaria's Children

ISABELLE was 6½ years old when she was found. Isabelle’s mother was a deaf mute (could not hear or talk) who stayed in a dark room with Isabelle, shut off from the rest of the family. Like Anna, Isabelle was in bad shape both physically and mentally. She spent most of her life in a room with her mother.

For speech she made a strange croaking sound. (secret language?)

She reacted to strangers, especially men, with much fear. She behaved like a deaf child, and her mental capacity was no more than that of a 6-month of baby.

An intensive training program was started right away and gradually Isabelle began to respond. Then suddenly she began to learn rapidly.

Two months – full sentences and Sixteen months - a vocabulary of 1,500-2,000 words

Her I.Q. tripled in a year and a half.

Spitz Research

Comparison of those raised in nursing home with those in orphanage

Much higher death rates for those left in the orphanages

Skeels and Dye Research

IQs increased by 28% over time with mentally disabled women

IQs decreased by 30% for those left in the Orphanage --

Teaches us that cognitive development depends upon healthy socialization

Stimulating interaction is essential for the development of “self”

Socialization into a full sense of “self” requires group experience and social interaction to develop a normal human personality.

Language (any kind we create) allows us to internalize and make sense of the

culture surrounding us

Social Psychological perspectives on the development of self

Informed by sociology as well as psychology

 Self concept

“totality of our beliefs and feelings about our selves”

physical “I’m wrinkled” active “I’m good at soccer” social “I’m nice to dogs and elderly

people” psychological “I am opposed to war”

Mead

Self develops in three social

stages

Imitation, play, game

 

Mead

“Without language there is no mind, therefore the mind itself is a social

product.”

Through socialization we learn to take the role of the “significant” other and

then the “generalized” other. results in …..

“I” and “Me”

Cooley

Looking Glass Self

Society is internalized & becomes part of the self through the interaction

Sociological perspectives on the self compliment traditional theories by placing the development of self in context

Goffman

We have virtual selves…… “If I were ever in a room with

everyone I have ever known, I would not know who to be”…..

Some call it “flexible”, others “mutable”

Some call it saturated…. We can be too many selves at once!!

Freud Civilization is dependent upon

the control of impulse!

Id

impulsive drives and is present at birth

the id is supposed to be the instinct which gives rise to our

more brutish, irrational behaviors

Ego

links the self to the real world, mediating the drives of the id and

the control of the superego. The ego is our cognitive system -

i.e., our perceptions - it's what controls action and organizes our

personalities

Superego

has three jobs to do – 1 - to inhibit the impulses of the id

2 - to persuade the ego to substitute moral goals for realistic

ones 3 - to strive for perfection.

Piaget’s “cognitive development” or “stages of

learning” Sensorimotor - no symbolic

thought “out of sight, out of mind” preoperational - begin to use to

words as mental symbols to describe but not translatable

concrete operational – begin to take the role of others but limited

formal operational – moral reasoning – can think abstract thought, impute motives, consider justice

Summary of Mead, Cooley, Freud, and Piaget

Mead and Cooley - personality/self develops through role-taking and interaction (development is social)

Freud - personality develops as inborn desires clash with social constraints (development is social but in response to biological drives)

Piaget - learning occurs in stages as our ability to reason increases, i.e., moral reasoning (highlights the stages of learning - also very dependent upon socialization)

Other seemingly natural aspects are also products of socialization

Moral Reasoning…….

Emotions……..

Kohlberg - moral development

Pre-conventional Levels little concern for views of others -

based on punishment Conventional Level

behavior is dependent upon approval wide approval is interpreted as right

(significant others, peers) Looking glass self

Post-conventional Level (few adults reach this stage)

Morality is viewed in terms of individual rights

Moral conduct -- the final stage is judged by

principles based on human rights that transcend

government and laws.

Gilligan

Gender roles influence morality as well

Men – often make decisions using notions of justice – What’s Fair?

Women – often make decisions using notions of relationships -- who gets hurt

the least?

She identified Justice based reasoning as male

Care-based reasoning as female 

Studies that have compared male and females have found examples of both.

Some have found one main factor is education.

Gender Socialization

(What is it to be male? Female?)

The role of parents and schools in gender socialization

 

Recent survey found…..

Boys and Men are called upon more frequently in school

African American boys are more punished for small infractions

College remains a “chilly” climate for women

Gender Stereotypes associated with Men:

Aggressive No Emotions Loud Messy?? Are Men really Messy? Athletic Math and Science Oriented CEO Money Maker

Gender Stereotypes associated with Women:

Submissive Emotional Quiet Neat/Clean Clumsy Artsy Housewife Child rearing

Some quizzes to check out!!

Early socialization Kids say the funniest things....Gender

Role Reversal Role reversal

Racial Socialization

What is it to be African American, Jewish, Italian, Hispanic, Asian, German,

Scotch, Irish, Native American, etc.. Rituals, Festivals, Food, Pop culture,

Religion – all facilitate racial socialization – some facilitate negative

racial socialization

Class socialization

Some children are taught early to demonstrate the following:

obedience, neatness, cleanliness

Which Social Class might this represent?

Some children are taught early to demonstrate the following:

Curiosity, happiness, and self-control

Which Social Class might this represent?

Kohn found that social class by itself was helpful but didn’t explain

it all.

Instead, he looked closer at the occupations the parents held….

And sure enough…..

Those with jobs that had autonomy… encouraged self expression etc..

Those heavily supervised encouraged obedience, promptness, etc..

Agents of socialization:

family -- the primary agent religion sports schools mass media peer groups workplace  

Family – Primary Socialization

1 - primary locus for procreation and socialization as well as the primary source of emotional support (functionalist might focus on this) 

2 - family is where we acquire our specific social position in society  (symbolic interaction might examine role-taking)

3 - the socialization reproduces the class structure as it is passed to next generation (conflict theorists look at this)

Education: secondary socialization

1 - teaches specific knowledge, skills affects self-image, beliefs, values

  2 - transmission of culture, social control selection, training, tracking

3 - “hidden curriculum”  poor schools versus wealthy schools - similar to

Kohn’s findings

Teachers socialize kids along class, racial and gender lines as well.. Emphasizing different traits…..

Media – informal agent

The most pervasive form is TV / Facebook / Video games– between the ages of 8 and 18 11hrs per day of media combined….

Story Telling through media Cultivation through the media creates a predisposition Cultivation through Media

Provides information and introduces us to variety, an array of viewpoints, norms available in culture, entertainment……

Kids who watch 28 hours of TV a week will see 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he/she reaches 18 years of age!

Globalization impacts socialization too

Greater exposure to variety, explosion of self expression, political activism

Potential of being toxic

Born digital... good, bad, and.....

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics) : There are over 800 million members Up to 50% of the members are online at any given time Approximately 250 million photos are uploaded everyday Average user is connected to 80 community pages and groups 75% of members are not American 350 million users access facebook through mobile devices

Front stage/back stage --

Media Critics argue…..

Advertising is an informal agent of socialization and can lead to unrealistic, even destructive, gender role images. Kilbourne (1990)

Advertisement Stereotypes in Advertising

Distortion of reality?

Working class and poor are disproportionately represented

with only 1.2% of the characters portrayed

Yet they constitute more than 30 percent of the population

Minorities on TV

Either under represented or presented as very rich or very poor

Women?

As women age, they get less roles and those they get are of stereotypes, e.g.,

Witches, Mothers, Nuns, etc…

“Class Dismissed”

How class is presented

See all 8 episodes

Peers

People linked by common interests, equal social position and usually, similar

ages 

1 - contribute to our sense of belonging -- self-worth 

2 - normative -- peer groups can have their own norms, attitudes, speech, and

dress codes....

Technology

Socialization – and technology – A good thing?????

Anticipatory socialization?

Learning how to take on new roles…..

Role Models – Parents, Sports, Class

What is re-socialization

(voluntary - involuntary)?

“rite of passage”

Anticipatory & Resocialization

Rites of passage…..

Say something about our social structure – Voluntary

Rites of passage can create a sense of belonging….. Durkheim: “They hold society together and are often the site of the sacred in a given society.”

Rites of passage help ease our changes in status

Rites of Passage Involuntary

De-socialization often occurs before

re-socialization

“total institution” Other examples of

resocialization? - kids and technology?

Emotions

Why do they fit in discussions about socialization?

Have you ever felt one way but expressed something different?

Emotions Defined

“a bodily cooperation with an image, a thought, a memory—a cooperation of which the individuals is usually aware.”

Structural View

Kemper’s model: within social structures we have varying degrees of (power) authority and status (prestige or honor). Kemper essentially uses Weber’s notion of power. Changes in relative power result in the arousal of negative and positive emotions.

More power = satisfaction, security, and confidence

Less power = anxiety, fear and loss of confidence

Status Shields

Primary Emotions

Result from situations that bring about physiological arousal

But society instructs us how to respond to them…..

Social Structure May Inhibit Certain Emotions……

Emotions are social objects experienced in public but felt in

private

There are emotion norms just as there are behavioral norms and we

learn these via socialization “feeling rules”

Emotions are……

responses that have been institutionalized by society and

transmitted through culture

FearAngerDepression/SadnessHappiness

Feeling rules – Boundaries that delineate the

privileges and obligations for what we must feel in a given situation – they provide direction for feelings and duration

“a zone” she calls it.

Secondary

Those emotions we learn to feel via feeling rules/emotion norms

Guilt Proud Shame Embarrassment

Emotions also reflect the Looking Glass Self and the Game

Stage Supposed to be Angry when insulted Calm and cool under pressure Happy at weddings Sad at funerals Rejoice at good news but not too

much if it is at someone’s expense

Commercialization of feelings…

Leads to blocked authenticity

Can lead to a new kind of alienation