Chapter 3

What is Human Nature?

Nature vs. Nurture - Oscar and Jack (page 66)

Social Environment - the entire human environment, including direct contact with others

Feral Children - children assumed to have been raised by animals, in the wilderness, isolated from other humans

What is Human Nature?

Isolated Children See opening vignette (page 65)

Institutionalized Children (page 67)Skeels and Dye orphanage experiment in

the 1930s

What is Human Nature? Deprived Animals

Example: The Harlow’s monkeys (1962) Each monkey had 2 artificial “mothers”, 1 wire mother that had

nourishment in a bottle, one soft mother covered in terry cloth.

The monkeys would feed from the

wire mother and then go back to the

soft mother for infant/mother intimate

bonding.

In Sum…

Socialization into the Self and Mind

Socialization – the process by which people learn the characteristics of their group – the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and actions thought appropriate for them

Self – the unique human capacity of being able t see ourselves “from the outside”; the views we internalize of how others see us

Cooley and the Looking Glass Self – a term coined by Charles Horton Cooley to refer to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others’ reactions to usWe Imagine How We Appear to OthersWe Interpret Others’ ReactionsWe Develop a Self-Concept

Socialization into the Self and Mind

Taking the role of the other – putting oneself in someone else’s shoes; understanding how someone else feels and thinks and thus anticipating how that person will act

Significant other – an individual who significantly influences someone else’s life

Generalized other – the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of people “in general”; the child’s ability to take the role of the generalized other is a significant step in the development of a self

Socialization into the Self and Mind (Page 71)

Mead and Role-TakingImitationPlayGames

Socialization into the Self and Mind

Piaget and the Development of ReasoningSensorimotor Stage – (birth – 2) don’t recognize

cause and effect, listening, looking, coming into contact with the environment

Preoperational Stage – (2-7) develop ability to use symbols

Concrete Operational Stage – (7-12) causation, concrete reasoning

Formal Operational Stage – (after age 12) abstract thinking, formal operations

Learning Personality, Morality, and Emotions

Freud and the Development of PersonalityId – Freud's term for our inborn basic driveEgo – Freud's term for a balancing force

between the Id and SuperegoSuperego - Freud's term for the

conscience, the internalized norms and values of our social groups

Learning Personality, Morality, and Emotions

Kohlberg and the Development of MoralityBelieves people go through 4 stages 1. Amoral (birth to 7ish)– no right or wrong just personal

needs to be satisfied2. Preconventional (7-10) – have learned rules and follow

them to avoid trouble, view right and wrong as what pleases authority figures

3. Conventional (about age ten) – morality means following norms and values they have learned

4. Post Conventional (Kohlberg believes most people don’t reach) – individuals reflect on abstract principles of right and wrong and judge a behavior according to these principles

Learning Personality, Morality, and Emotions

Carol Gilligan and Gender Differences in Morality

○ Questioned Kohlberg’s research because he only used boys in his studies

○ Interviewed 200 men & women & concluded women are more likely to evaluate morality in terms of personal relationships an men are more likely to think along the lines of abstract principles that define right and wrong.

○ Researches tested Gilligan’s conclusions and found both men and women use personal relationships and abstract principles to make moral judgments

○ More research is needed.

Socialization into Emotions (page 76)

Global Emotions (6)Anger, disgust, fear, happiness,

sadness, surprise Expressing Emotions What We Feel Research Needed

There are surely more that 6 global emotions

The Self and Emotions as Social Control

What stops most of us from doing really crazy stuff most of the time? Are We Free?

Society within usExpectations of Family and FriendsSocial Mirror

Socialization into Gender Gender Socialization – the ways in

which society sets children onto different courses in life because they are male or femaleGender Messages in the FamilyGender Messages from Peer Groups – a

group of individuals of roughly the same age who are linked by common interests

Gender Messages in the Mass Media – forms of communication such as Radio, Advertising, Television, Video Games, that are directed to mass audiences

Socialization into Gender Gender roles – the behaviors and attitudes

considered appropriate because one is male or female

Page 314

Agents of Socialization Agents of Socialization – people or groups that

affect our self concept, attitudes, behaviors, or other orientations toward lifeThe Family

○ The First Group with Impact○ The Family and Social Class

The NeighborhoodReligionDay CareThe School

○ Manifest Function – the intended beneficial consequences of people’s actions (kids learn reading, writing arithmetic)

○ Latent Functions – unintended beneficial consequences of people’s actions (kids learn the social facts of life)

Agents of SocializationPeer GroupsSports and Competitive SuccessThe Workplace

Resocialization – the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviorsExamples

○ Mild - New Boss○ Intense - Alcoholics Anonymous○ Total Institutions - Boot Camp

Total Institution – a place in which people are cut off from the rest of society and are almost totally controlled by officials who run the place

Agents of Socialization Degradation Ceremony – a term coined

Harold Garfinkle to describe an attempt to remake the self by stripping away an individual’s current identity and stamping a new one in its place

Socialization Through Life

Life Course – the stages of our life as we go from birth to deathChildhood - Birth to ~12 yrsAdolescence - 13 to 17 yrsTransitional Adulthood - 18 to 29 yrs – a

term that refers to a period following high school when young adults have not yet taken on the responsibilities ordinarily associated with adulthood; also called adultolescence

Socialization Through Life

The Middle Years - 30 to 65 yrs○ Early Middle Years - 30 to 49 yrs○ Later Middle Years - 50 to 65 yrs

The Older Years ~65 yrs on○ Early Older Years ○ Later Older Years

Sociological Significance of the Life Course

Does Not Merely Represent Biology

Social Factors Influence Life CourseWhen you live

Social Location Very SignificantSocial classGenderRace-ethnicity