The importance of positive versus negative Experiences in childhood

1. The importance of positive versus negative Experiences in childhood

2. Socialization • Transforms Biological Organisms into Social Beings • “Self” • Our recognition that we are at once distinct and part of a whole

3. If socialization makes us…. • Then what does isolation do? • = a dysfunctional self • From Pavlov’s Dogs to • Harlow’s Monkeys Social behavior is learned

4. Personality or “self” • Can be seen as having three components • Cognition • Emotion • Behavior

5. Feral Children - “mythic” – legendary accounts • Neglected Children “reality” • Raised in relative isolation • Cambodian "junglewoman"

6. ANNA: In the late 1930s and 1940s a noted sociologist, Kingsley Davis, was called to investigate the case of Anna, a young girl who was the illegitimate daughter of a poor and mentally impaired mother who left Anna alone, locked in the attic. Anna’s mother had kept her locked up in an attic room to avoid Anna’s grandfather’s anger at her birth. Aside from brief visits to bring food, she had almost no human contact. When found, she was unable to walk or to speak. Her hearing and vision were normal. She seemed to show potential to learn and did desire human contact. She died at age 10 • Before her death, Anna learned to walk, understand simple commands, feed herself, and achieve some neatness. Although she seemed to show some potential to learn language, she spoke only in phrases, rather than complete sentences. • She could bounce and catch a ball, string beads, identify a few colors, and build with blocks. • When found, Anna had the mental capacity of a newborn infant. At her death she had achieved a mental level of approximately 2 to 3 years…

7. GENIE: A more recent case from the 1970s teaches us a lot. This is the case of Genie written about in your text. Extensive tests showed that in many ways Genie was highly intelligent. • But her language abilities never advanced beyond that of a 3rd grader. Genie never became a truly social being. Eventually the scientists who worked with her concluded that the most severe deprivation that caused her to fail at language was her lack of emotional learning and her feelings of loss and lack of love. Genie was never fully capable of living independently and spent her life in a home for developmentally disable adults. • Secrets of the Wild Child • Bulgaria's Children

8. ISABELLE was 6½ years old when she was found. Isabelle’s mother was a deaf mute (could not hear or talk) who stayed in a dark room with Isabelle, shut off from the rest of the family. Like Anna, Isabelle was in bad shape both physically and mentally. She spent most of her life in a room with her mother. • For speech she made a strange croaking sound. (secret language?) • She reacted to strangers, especially men, with much fear. She behaved like a deaf child, and her mental capacity was no more than that of a 6-month of baby. • An intensive training program was started right away and gradually Isabelle began to respond. Then suddenly she began to learn rapidly. • Two months – full sentences and Sixteen months - a vocabulary of 1,500-2,000 words • Her I.Q. tripled in a year and a half.

9. Spitz Research • Comparison of those raised in nursing home with those in orphanage • Much higher death rates for those left in the orphanages

10. Skeels and Dye Research • IQs increased by 28% over time with mentally disabled women • IQs decreased by 30% for those left in the Orphanage -- • Teaches us that cognitive development depends upon healthy socialization

11. Stimulating interaction is essential for the development of “self” • Socialization into a full sense of “self” requires group experience and social interaction to develop a normal human personality. • Language (any kind we create) allows us to internalize and make sense of the culture surrounding us

12. Social Psychological perspectives on the development of self • Informed by sociology as well as psychology

13. Self concept “totality of our beliefs and feelings about our selves” • physical “I’m wrinkled” • active “I’m good at soccer” • social “I’m nice to dogs and elderly people” • psychological “I am opposed to war”

14. Mead • Self develops in three social stages • Imitation, play, game

15. Mead “Without language there is no mind, therefore the mind itself is a social product.” • Through socialization we learn to take the role of the “significant” other and then the “generalized” other. • results in ….. • “I” and “Me”

16. Cooley • Looking Glass Self • Society is internalized & becomes part of the self through the interaction

17. Sociological perspectives on the self compliment traditional theories by placing the development of self in context

18. Goffman • We have virtual selves…… • “If I were ever in a room with everyone I have ever known, I would not know who to be”….. • Some call it “flexible”, others “mutable” • Some call it saturated…. We can be too many selves at once!!

19. Freud Civilization is dependent upon the control of impulse!

20. Id • impulsive drives and is present at birth • the id is supposed to be the instinct which gives rise to our more brutish, irrational behaviors

21. Ego • links the self to the real world, mediating the drives of the id and the control of the superego. • The ego is our cognitive system - i.e., our perceptions - it's what controls action and organizes our personalities

22. Superego • has three jobs to do – • 1 - to inhibit the impulses of the id • 2 - to persuade the ego to substitute moral goals for realistic ones • 3 - to strive for perfection.

23. Piaget’s “cognitive development” or “stages of learning” • Sensorimotor - no symbolic thought “out of sight, out of mind” • preoperational - begin to use to words as mental symbols to describe but not translatable • concrete operational – begin to take the role of others but limited • formal operational – moral reasoning – can think abstract thought, impute motives, consider justice

24. Summary of Mead, Cooley, Freud, and Piaget • Mead and Cooley - personality/self develops through role-taking and interaction (development is social) • Freud - personality develops as inborn desires clash with social constraints (development is social but in response to biological drives) • Piaget - learning occurs in stages as our ability to reason increases, i.e., moral reasoning (highlights the stages of learning - also very dependent upon socialization)

25. Other seemingly natural aspects are also products of socialization Moral Reasoning……. Emotions……..

26. Kohlberg - moral development • Pre-conventional Levels • little concern for views of others - based on punishment • Conventional Level • behavior is dependent upon approval • wide approval is interpreted as right (significant others, peers) • Looking glass self

27. Post-conventional Level • (few adults reach this stage) • Morality is viewed in terms of individual rights • Moral conduct -- the final stage is judged by • principles based on human rights that transcend • government and laws.

28. Gilligan • Gender roles influence morality as well

29. Men – often make decisions using notions of justice – What’s Fair? • Women – often make decisions using notions of relationships -- who gets hurt the least?

30. She identified Justice based reasoning as male • Care-based reasoning as female • Studies that have compared male and females have found examples of both. Some have found one main factor is education.

31. Gender Socialization • (What is it to be male? Female?) • The role of parents and schools in gender socialization

33. Recent survey found….. • Boys and Men are called upon more frequently in school • African American boys are more punished for small infractions • College remains a “chilly” climate for women

34. Gender Stereotypes associated with Men: • Aggressive • No Emotions • Loud • Messy?? • Are Men really Messy? • Athletic • Math and Science Oriented • CEO • Money Maker

35. Gender Stereotypes associated with Women: • Submissive • Emotional • Quiet • Neat/Clean • Clumsy • Artsy • Housewife • Child rearing

36. Some quizzes to check out!! • Early socialization • Kids say the funniest things....Gender • Role Reversal • Role reversal

37. Racial Socialization • What is it to be African American, Jewish, Italian, Hispanic, Asian, German, Scotch, Irish, Native American, etc.. • Rituals, Festivals, Food, Pop culture, Religion – all facilitate racial socialization – some facilitate negative racial socialization

38. Class socialization • Some children are taught early to demonstrate the following: obedience, neatness, cleanliness Which Social Class might this represent?

39. Some children are taught early to demonstrate the following: Curiosity, happiness, and self-control Which Social Class might this represent?

40. Kohn found that social class by itself was helpful but didn’t explain it all. • Instead, he looked closer at the occupations the parents held…. • And sure enough…..

41. Those with jobs that had autonomy… encouraged self expression etc.. • Those heavily supervised encouraged obedience, promptness, etc..

42. Agents of socialization: • family -- the primary agent • religion sports • schools mass media • peer groups workplace 

43. Family – Primary Socialization • 1 - primary locus for procreation and socialization as well as the primary source of emotional support (functionalist might focus on this)  • 2 - family is where we acquire our specific social position in society  (symbolic interaction might examine role-taking) • 3 - the socialization reproduces the class structure as it is passed to next generation (conflict theorists look at this)

44. Education: secondary socialization • 1 - teaches specific knowledge, skills affects self-image, beliefs, values • 2 - transmission of culture, social control selection, training, tracking • 3 - “hidden curriculum”  poor schools versus wealthy schools - similar to Kohn’s findings

45. Teachers socialize kids along class, racial and gender lines as well.. Emphasizing different traits…..

46. Media – informal agent • The most pervasive form is TV / Facebook / Video games– between the ages of 8 and 18 11hrs per day of media combined…. • Story Telling through media • Cultivation through the media creates a predisposition • Cultivation through Media • Provides information and introduces us to variety, an array of viewpoints, norms available in culture, entertainment…… • Kids who watch 28 hours of TV a week will see 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he/she reaches 18 years of age!

47. Globalization impacts socialization too • Greater exposure to variety, explosion of self expression, political activism • Potential of being toxic • Born digital... good, bad, and.....

48. Facebook • http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics) : • There are over 800 million members • Up to 50% of the members are online at any given time • Approximately 250 million photos are uploaded everyday • Average user is connected to 80 community pages and groups • 75% of members are not American • 350 million users access facebook through mobile devices • Front stage/back stage --

49. Media Critics argue….. • Advertising is an informal agent of socialization and can lead to unrealistic, even destructive, gender role images. Kilbourne (1990) Advertisement • Stereotypes in Advertising

50. Distortion of reality? Working class and poor are disproportionately represented with only 1.2% of the characters portrayed Yet they constitute more than 30 percent of the population