Socialization, social interaction and identity Flashcards
Describe Nature vs. Nurture
Nature: what we came into the world with (toolkit)
Nurture: interface w/ environment and reactions
What is the toolkit and what is it’s connection to nature vs. nurture?
– we have a toolkit w/ things that are malleable, some loud and some will never change
– malleable can change according to the response to environment
value of each thing in toolkit will be judged by humans, morals of society
– actually not Nature vs. Nurture BUT Nature AND Nurture, they work together
Describe socialization.
– a process that is ongoing throughout your life but potent in early years, you’re being trained to be a member of the group
– brain washing
What are the 4 main functions of socialization?
- Teaches us role taking in different situations, we act differently; ex: student, friend, mom
- Create a sense of identity, form sense of self –> who are you without the roles; the self is actually created by interacting w/ others
- creates intergenerational ties; creates stability why: preserve traditions/culture
- social control
- -> if I’m never social, I’m going to break the rules
- -> the techniques we use to control rules
- ->ex: family punishing kid, now knows the ryles was broken
What are the two socialization traditions?
- Social Learning Theories
2. Symbolic Interactionism
What are the two different social learning theories?
- Direct learning/ indirect learning
Ex: Watch someone’s behavior get punished (indirect)
Ex: actually changing behavior after getting punished (direct) - Just because you learn a behavior, doesn’t mean you act on the behavior
Ex: kids see grown-ups curse, but know that grown-ups curse, so the kid doesn’t
What are social learning theories?
– we model behavior through socialization and we react to that and learn certain habits
What is the difference between direct and indirect learning?
– Direct = something personally happening to you, reward/punish/no reaction to determine whether behavior is okay
Indirect = watching it/observing it
What are the key ideas of symbolic interactionism?
Key ideas = social structure (norms, rules, values), shared sense of meaning, script we follow
What was Erving Goffman’s key idea?
– Presentation of self
What is the presentation of self?
– when we are in interactions, we are presenting ourselves
–> we engage in impression management when we interact with others
–> impression management: i need someone to think of me like this, so I’m going to behave in a certain way
–> just a performance
–> that performance is ourselves, that may change w/ each person interaction
What is the front stage, backstage, script, props in terms of presentation of self?
– Ex: Front stage = interview (wherever performance is happening), back stage = prep work for interview, props = clothes, resume, script = what you say, sense of what you should say
What is impression management?
- we try to manage the impression people have of us
- no necessarily getting people to like us
Ex: a mafia guy will present himself as someone not to be messed with
What was Cooley’s main idea?
– the Looking Glass Self
What is the Looking Glass Self?
– we develop a sense of our selves based on how we perceive others to perceive us
- –> I am what I think other people think of me
- –> looking glass mirror
- –> but we never really know what people think of us… even if people act in consistent ways towards us
What are 3 steps by which we come into an interaction and see what people think of us?
- Our perception
2 Judgement – assessment of this perception and how much we value it - Response – how we think of ourselves based on what we have seen
Ex: (perceive) people think I’m pretentious –> (assess) how much does this matter to me –> (response) maybe I am an a**hole
– this isn’t just based on one interaction –> ongoing, however we do form a pretty enduring (endearing?) idea of ourselves that persists until a lot of contrary info comes in
T or F, different experiences and interactions draw out different reactions
True, shakes up our sense of self; traveling and having diverse experiences can change our sense of self
T or F, our judgements change by having lots more experiences
True, what might bother us today won’t bother us in 20 years
T or F, these interactions don’t have to be between two people
True, they can be with pop. culture
What is a combination of Cooley and Goffman?
– We present ourselves, then we are subject to reactions from other people, which might change our sense of self
What was George Mead’s main idea?
– he had the idea of “I” and “Me”
What is the concept of “I” and “Me”?
– when we go through socialization we develop a part of the self called the Me
– focused on the formative years but does not exclude the later years
Me = socialized self I = Unsocialized self
T or F, when we come into the world we are the “I”
True; hedonistic, self absorbed, untamed
T or F, the “I” is a blank canvas
False, not a blank canvas, there is already something there, like our toolkit, but it hasn’t been socialized
