Chapter 4 Flashcards
Heredity
Transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children
Personality
Behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and values that characterize an individual
Nature argument
Instinct
Instinct
Unchanging, biologically inherited behavior pattern
Nurture argument
Behavior is a result of social environment and learning
Sociobiology
Systematic study of biological basis of all social behavior (nature based)
Factors in personality development
- heredity
- birth order
Heredity
- aptitude
- environmental factors: parent responses encourage/discourage development of aptitude
- parental reinforcement may effect traits such as shyness, sociability and aggression
- provides you with biological needs but culture determines how you meet those needs
- setting limits on individuals
- inherited characteristics limit what is possible
Aptitude
Capacity to learn a particular skill or acquire a specific body of knowledge
Birth order
- Siblings vs. only child
- firstborn: achievement oriented, responsible, conservative in thinking and defenders of the status quo
Later-born
More affectionate, more friendly, risk-takers and social and intellectual rebels
Common characteristics for only/firstborn children
Confident, perfectionist, organized, scholarly, conservative
-examples:Franklin d. Roosevelt, bill Clinton, j. K. Rowling, tiger woods
Common characteristics of middle children
Flexible, diplomatic, independent, balanced, generous
-example: John f. Kennedy, bill gates, Donald trump, princess Diana
Common characteristics of last-born children
Willing to take risks, outgoing, creative, rebellious, persistent
-examples: Ronald Raegan, Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Stephen Colbert
Birth order
Common characteristics of only/firstborn children, common characteristics of middle children, then common characteristics of last-born children
Parental characteristics
- age of parents when children are born
- level of education
- religious orientation
- economic status
- cultural heritage
- occupational background
The culture environment
- each culture gives rise to certain personality types (model personalities)
- U.S.=competitiveness, assertiveness and individualism
- gender differences in our cultures
- subcultural differences
- region of country or type of neighborhood
- influence of social environment
Example of the IK in Northern Uganda
Prior to WWII -hunters/gatherers -one large family After WWII -insufficient food supplies -children thrown out at 3 years -form age bands -parents do not help children -adult children do not help parents -need to be strong and clever
Anna
- born to an unmarried mom
- grandfather kept her in an attic room
- given minimal care
- undernourished and emaciated
- no human contact
- at 6 years old- could not talk, walk, or feed herself
- learned to walk, feed herself, brush her teeth and talk in simple phrases
- died at 10 years old
Isabelle
- found at same age as anna (6)
- kept in dark room with deaf mom
- did not learn to speak
- found at 6 years old- acted like an infant
- began to speak after training
- after two years…reached level of her peers
Genie
- discovered in 1970- 13 years old
- confined from age of 20 months to small bedroom
- beaten if she made noise
- father interacted by acting like angry dog
- did not learn to talk
- had skills of 1 year old when found and could not stand straight
- 8 years of training- did not progress past 3rd grade student
Institutionalization
- 1945 study by Rene Spitz (children living in an orphanage)
- given food and medical care
- given little human contact
- 1/3 of children died within 2 years
- survivors: less than 25% could walk or dress by themselves or use a spoon
- 1 could speak in complete sentences
Socialization
Interactive process through which people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs and behavior patterns of a society
Self
Conscious awareness of possessing identity that separates you and your environment from other members of society
John Locke
the tabula rasa
- each child is born a “clean slate”
- we are all born without a personality
- acquire personality as a result of social experience
- could be molded into a particular personality
Charles Cooley
- the looking-glass self
- three step process
- child in influenced by primary group
The looking-glass self (def)
- an interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others
- interactionist perspective
Three step process (the looking-glass self)
- we imagine how we appear to others
- we attempt to determine whether others view us as we view ourselves through their reactions
- develop feelings about ourselves based on our perceptions
George Meade
- role taking
- three step process
- parts of self
Role taking
Take on, or pretend to take on, the role of others
- first: we internalize the expectations of people closest to us (significant others)
- second: expectations/attitudes of society guide us more
- generalized others
Generalized others
Attitudes, expectations and viewpoints of society
Three step process (role taking)
- imitation (under 3)-don’t have a sense of self; mimic actions
- play (ages 3-6)-play and act out roles of specific people; trying to see world through someone else’s eyes
- organized games (over 6 or 7)-require children to take roles; anticipate the actions and expectations of others
Parts of self
- “I”-unsocialized, spontaneous and self-interested component of personality
- “Me”-aware of expectations and attitudes of society
- socialized self
Erving Goffman
- dramaturgy
- impression management
- because we are worried about impressing others, we change our self that we display
- albas and albas study
Dramaturgy
Social interaction is like a drama being performed on a stage
Impression management
An effort people make to play their roles and manage the impressions that the audience receives
-because we are worried about impressing others, we change our self that we display
Albas and albas study
-college students reactions to exam scores were different depending on who they were with
Agents of socialization
Specific individuals, groups and institutions that enable socialization to take place
- family
- peer group
- school
- mass media
Family
- most important agent
- socialization can be deliberate or unintended
- unintended may have a greater impact
- may be different from family to family
- single parents, family relationships, subgroups they belong to, etc.
Peer group
- primary group composed of individuals of roughly equal age and similar social characteristics
- influence during pre-teen and early teen years
- focus is the subculture of the group
School
- class activities= basic knowledge
- extracurriculars= prepare for life in society
- transmits cultural values
- teachers become role models
Mass media
- instruments of communication that reach large audiences with no personal contact
- television has the largest influence
- negatives
1) effect of violence-leads to more aggressive behavior
2) presents image of society limited to white middle-class - positives
1) educational tool
2) expands the viewers world
- negatives
Resocialization
Break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms
- voluntary resocialization
- involuntary resocialization
Voluntary resocialization
People who assume a new status
Involuntary resocialization
- total institution
- try to change a person’s personality and behavior (remove a person identity)
Total institution
Setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a time and are subject to tight control
