Chapter 3 - Being Social

Question 1

What is Socialization?

Answer 1

The acquisition of knowledge, skills and motivation to participate in social life. It’s an ongoing, lifelong process

Question 2

What is personality?

Answer 2

A person’s fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking and feeling

Question 3

What is the difference between Nature and Nurture?

Answer 3

Nature is biology (born with)

Nurture is socialization (what you experience)

Question 4

What is epigenetics?

Answer 4

How the environment modifies the way genes are expressed

Question 5

What are effects of social isolation?

Answer 5

Profound effects in children later in life. There is a point at which social isolation results in irreparable developmental change

Question 6

What age-linked stages of cognitive development did Jean Piaget identify?

Answer 6

1) Sensory (1D)
2) Pre-operational (2D)
3) Conrete Operational (3D)
4) Formal Operational (4D)

Question 7

What is Watson and Skinner’s theory about Behaviorism?

Answer 7

Human being learn similar to animals

Question 8

What is Classical Conditioning?

Answer 8

Links a response to a stimulus

Question 9

What is instrumental conditioning?

Answer 9

Focuses on response (learn to make a response based on the outcome it produces)
By B.F. Skinner

Question 10

What is Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 10

Emphasizes the role of early childhood experiences, biological drives and unconscious processes, and cultural influences

Question 11

What are key ideas of the psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What was Erickson’s view of child development?

Answer 12

At each stage of development humans need to resolve or overcome a challenge of growth

Question 13

What was Piaget’s view of child development?

Answer 13

Cognitive development, the ability to think and reason, occurs through stages

Question 14

What was Kohlberg’s view of child development?

Answer 14

Moral development, the capacity for moral reasoning, reflects specific stages of development

Question 15

How does a symbolic interactionist look at child development?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is the Social Self?

Answer 16

Emerges through interactions with others. Individuals learn to perform roles associated with their statuses

Question 17

What is George Herbert Mead’s contribution?

Answer 17

Distinguishes between the “I” (spontaneous, unsocialized self) and the “me” (the socialized self) 
3 stages:
1) play stage
2) game stage
3) generalized other

Question 18

What is the generalized other?

Answer 18

Individuals learn to view themselves and their behaviour from the perspective of others

Question 19

What is the functionalist theory of socialization?

Answer 19

Socialization enables people to conform to meet the needs of society

Question 20

What are the conflict perspectives of socialization?

Answer 20

Focus on power and control in processes of socialization. Socialization enables powerful groups to pass on their advantage to their children

Question 21

What are the feminist theories of socialization?

Answer 21

Focus on gender-role socialization and its relation to social inequalities.

Question 22

If you wanted to resocialize a whole community, which area would have the greatest influence?

Answer 22

The family

Question 23

What is the primary agent of socialization?

Answer 23

The family

Question 24

What is reciprocal socialization?

Answer 24

Views socialization as a two-way process. Parents and children negotiate learning, behaviours and outcomes

Question 25

What are the agents of socialization?

Answer 25

The family, peer groups, mass media and schools

Question 26

In schooling, what is the difference between the manifest and latent curriculum?

Answer 26

Manifest - passes on intended learned academic skills (like math)
Latent - hidden, passes on important cultural values, mostly implicitly (like being polite)

Question 27

What is the second most influential agent of socialization?

Answer 27

Peer group

Question 28

What are the three key factors in a peer group?

Answer 28

1) share same interests
2) share similar social position
3) roughly the same age

Question 29

What is anticipatory socialization?

Answer 29

Individuals acquire the values and orientations they will likely take up in the future (rehearse for roles we might adopt)

Question 30

What is resocialization?

Answer 30

Learning new ways of life (may be resocialized due to changing circumstances in life)

Question 31

What is the over-socialized conception of man?

Answer 31

Idea that we passively accept what is taught to us in order to conform to societal norms

Question 32

What are total institutions?

Answer 32

Groups or organizations that have complete control over the individual and direct all aspects of daily life

Question 33

What is the goal of total institutions?

Answer 33

Individuals are isolated, manipulated, controlled with the aim of undoing previous socialization and instilling a new identity

Question 34

What are the 2 stages of resocialization in a total institution?

Answer 34

1) erode person’s old self-image

2) create a new self-image

Question 35

George Herbert Mead’s concept of “taking on the role of the other”refers to:

Answer 35

Imagining the situation from another’s point of view

Question 36

What is the role the family plays in socializing children?

Answer 36

Family gives children social identity in terms of class, ethnicity, and religion

Question 37

Which stage theorist suggested that humans not only go through stages of cognitive development, but also stages of moral development?

Answer 37

Kohlberg

Question 38

What is a reasonable conclusion when comparing the case of Anna with the Harlow’s research on rhesus monkeys?

Answer 38

Long-term social isolation will lead to permanent developmental damage in both species

Question 39

How long in our lives does socialization take place?

Answer 39

Throughout the lifespan