Chapter 3 - Being Social Flashcards
What is Socialization?
The acquisition of knowledge, skills and motivation to participate in social life. It’s an ongoing, lifelong process
What is personality?
A person’s fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking and feeling
What is the difference between Nature and Nurture?
Nature is biology (born with)
Nurture is socialization (what you experience)
What is epigenetics?
How the environment modifies the way genes are expressed
What are effects of social isolation?
Profound effects in children later in life. There is a point at which social isolation results in irreparable developmental change
What age-linked stages of cognitive development did Jean Piaget identify?
1) Sensory (1D)
2) Pre-operational (2D)
3) Conrete Operational (3D)
4) Formal Operational (4D)
What is Watson and Skinner’s theory about Behaviorism?
Human being learn similar to animals
What is Classical Conditioning?
Links a response to a stimulus
What is instrumental conditioning?
Focuses on response (learn to make a response based on the outcome it produces)
By B.F. Skinner
What is Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory?
Emphasizes the role of early childhood experiences, biological drives and unconscious processes, and cultural influences
What are key ideas of the psychoanalytic theory?
Id - (impulsive, pleasure-seeking, selfish)
Ego - (cognitive, conscious thought)
Both are controlled by Superego (internalized societal restraints)
Parents play a key role in impulse taming
Socialization consists of stages of development through which individuals develop a healthy and mature personality
What was Erickson’s view of child development?
At each stage of development humans need to resolve or overcome a challenge of growth
What was Piaget’s view of child development?
Cognitive development, the ability to think and reason, occurs through stages
What was Kohlberg’s view of child development?
Moral development, the capacity for moral reasoning, reflects specific stages of development
How does a symbolic interactionist look at child development?
Humans must be studied on their own level. At birth the human infant is a social. A socialized being is an actor as well as a reactor
What is the Social Self?
Emerges through interactions with others. Individuals learn to perform roles associated with their statuses
What is George Herbert Mead’s contribution?
Distinguishes between the “I” (spontaneous, unsocialized self) and the “me” (the socialized self) 3 stages: 1) play stage 2) game stage 3) generalized other
What is the generalized other?
Individuals learn to view themselves and their behaviour from the perspective of others
What is the functionalist theory of socialization?
Socialization enables people to conform to meet the needs of society
What are the conflict perspectives of socialization?
Focus on power and control in processes of socialization. Socialization enables powerful groups to pass on their advantage to their children
What are the feminist theories of socialization?
Focus on gender-role socialization and its relation to social inequalities.
If you wanted to resocialize a whole community, which area would have the greatest influence?
The family
What is the primary agent of socialization?
The family
What is reciprocal socialization?
Views socialization as a two-way process. Parents and children negotiate learning, behaviours and outcomes
What are the agents of socialization?
The family, peer groups, mass media and schools
In schooling, what is the difference between the manifest and latent curriculum?
Manifest - passes on intended learned academic skills (like math)
Latent - hidden, passes on important cultural values, mostly implicitly (like being polite)
What is the second most influential agent of socialization?
Peer group
What are the three key factors in a peer group?
1) share same interests
2) share similar social position
3) roughly the same age
What is anticipatory socialization?
Individuals acquire the values and orientations they will likely take up in the future (rehearse for roles we might adopt)
What is resocialization?
Learning new ways of life (may be resocialized due to changing circumstances in life)
What is the over-socialized conception of man?
Idea that we passively accept what is taught to us in order to conform to societal norms
What are total institutions?
Groups or organizations that have complete control over the individual and direct all aspects of daily life
What is the goal of total institutions?
Individuals are isolated, manipulated, controlled with the aim of undoing previous socialization and instilling a new identity
What are the 2 stages of resocialization in a total institution?
1) erode person’s old self-image
2) create a new self-image
George Herbert Mead’s concept of “taking on the role of the other”refers to:
Imagining the situation from another’s point of view
What is the role the family plays in socializing children?
Family gives children social identity in terms of class, ethnicity, and religion
Which stage theorist suggested that humans not only go through stages of cognitive development, but also stages of moral development?
Kohlberg
What is a reasonable conclusion when comparing the case of Anna with the Harlow’s research on rhesus monkeys?
Long-term social isolation will lead to permanent developmental damage in both species
How long in our lives does socialization take place?
Throughout the lifespan
