Child, Family, School, and Community S ocialization and Support 6 th ed.

Child, Family, School, and CommunitySocialization and Support 6th ed. Chapter TwoOutcomes of Socialization

Aims of Socialization • Socialization enables children to: • learn what they need to know in order to be integrated into the society in which they live. • develop their potentialities and form satisfying relationships. • develop a self-concept. • learn self-regulation. • empower achievement. • acquire appropriate social roles. • implement developmental skills.

Develop a Self-Concept • Self-concept isan individual’s perception of his/her identity as distinct from that of others. • It emerges from experiences of separateness from others. • The value one places on that identity is known as self-esteem.

An Ecological Model of Human Development • Socialization involves bidirectional interactions between the child and significant others in • microsystems • mesosystems • exosystems • macrosystems • chronosystem

Concept of Self • As you mature, your concept ofself–your identity, your understanding of who you are–is influenced by significant others. Needs not met consistently • not given opportunities to discover things, explore environment • sense of doubt Needs met consistently • given opportunities to discover things • sense of autonomy • self-regulated • self-controlled

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Enable Self-Regulation • Self-regulation involves the process of bringing one’s emotions, thoughts, and behavior under control. • This can be interpreted as routing our feelings through our brains before acting on them according to the situation.

Empower Achievement • Socialization gives meaning or purpose to adulthood and to the long process children have to go through to get there. • Significant adults and peers influence children’s motivation to succeed. • Adults who understand child development provide appropriate challenges producing highly competent and motivated children.

Acquire Appropriate Social Roles • To be part of a group, individuals must have a function that complements the group. Role Supervisor Parent Friend Teacher Function Lead employees Nurture children Emotional support Facilitator

Gender is a Social Role • Boys and girls learn gender appropriate behaviors from significant members of their society. • What is appropriate is affected by: • culture • ethnicity • religion • time } Macrosystem influences Chronosystem influence

Implement Developmental Skills • Havighurst’s Theory examined how society’s expectations change. • Developmental tasks: • are midway between an individual need and societal demand. • arise from social pressure on individuals according to their development.

Agents of Socialization • The generalized community comprises many groups that play a part in socializing individuals. • These groups exert their influence in different ways and at different times. • Each agent has its own functions in socialization. • Sometimes the agents complement each other; other times they contradict each other.

Temperament • Children’s temperament—the innate characteristics that determine individuals’ sensitivities to various experiences and responsiveness to patterns of social interaction—can elicit different reactions in caregivers. • A relaxed, happy baby tends to elicit smiles. • A tense, crying baby tends to elicit concern or anxiety.

The Family • The child’s introduction to society. • The major responsibility for socializing. • Places children in a community and in a society which influences their opportunities. • Passes on its socioeconomic status. • Functions as a system of interaction that affects children’s psychosocial development • Serves as the child’s first reference group for values, norms, and practices one refers to in evaluating one’s behavior (Elkin & Handel).

Dimensions of Ethnic Behavior Patterns • Extreme examples are presented for purposes of illustration; individual members of groups can vary accordingly. • Orientation: From collectivistic to individualistic • Collectivism (orientation towards the group) • Individualism (orientation towards the individual) • Coping style: From active to passive. • Active coping style (doing, getting things done) • Passive coping style (being, becoming)

Dimensions cont. • Attitude toward authority: From submissive to egalitarian. • Submissive (respect and obey without question) • Egalitarian (more nearly equal figures) • Communication style: From open/expressive to restrained/private. • Open/expressive (African heritage) • Polite/ritualistic (Asian heritage) • Restrained/private (Euro-American heritage)

Schools and Child Care • The school acts as an agent-organized to perpetuate society’s knowledge, skills, customs, and beliefs. • The school’s part in the transmission of culture is continually under debate because the growth of knowledge and technology make it impossible to convey all information. • The school acts as an agent to foster respect and adherence to the existing social order of society.

John Goodlad • Four broad categories of goals: • academic (reading, writing, arithmetic) • vocational (preparation for world of work) • social and civic (preparation to participate in a democracy) • personal (develop individual talent and self-expression)

Schools…cont. • Teachers evaluate according to norms and standards. • Organization of classroom setting affects socialization. • Teachers serve as models for children to imitate. • Child care has become an important socialization agent due to societal changes.

Peers • The peer group is comprised of individuals who are of approximately the same age and social status and who have common interests. • Children start to understand the views of others and are able to cooperate, share, and take turns (perspective taking skills improve). • Move away fromegocentrism—the characteristic of being able to look at the world only from one’s own point of view begins to diminish. • As children mature and develop new interests, their peer groups change.

Mass Media • Newspapers • Magazines • Books • Radio • Television • Videos • Movies • Computers • Other means of communication

Mass Media cont. • The mass media do not ordinarily directly involve personal interactions; the interactions are of a more technical nature. • Considered socializing agents because they reveal many aspects of the society and elicit cognitive processes in children that affect their understanding of the world. • Convey information about society.

The Community • The term community is derived from the Latin word for “fellowship”. • Community refers to the affective relationships expected among closely knit groups of people with common interests. • Refers to people living in a particular geographical area. • The function is to provide a sense of belonging, a source of friendship, and socialization of children.

The Community cont. • One function of community groups is to give children different perspectives on life—to broaden their range of experience and give them new statuses or roles. • A community can have an informal social support system—relatives, friends, and neighbors who can be counted on to help in a crisis.

Advocacy • Formal support systems in a community usually emerge through the process of advocacy. • Advocacy means speaking or writing in support of something. • Setting goals on behalf of children. • Seeing that politicians or government agencies implement them.

Methods of Socialization • Affective (effect emerges from feeling) • Attachment • Operant (effect emerges from acting) • Reinforcement • Extinction • Punishment • Feedback • Learning by doing

Methods of Socialization • Observational (effect emerges from imitating) • Modeling • Cognitive (effect emerges from information processing) • Instruction • Setting standards • Reasoning

Methods of Socialization • Sociocultural (effect emerges from conforming) • Group pressure • Tradition • Rituals and routines • Symbols • Apprenticeship (effect emerges from guided participation) • Structuring • Collaborating • Transferring

Operant Methods: Effect Emerges from Acting • “Operant” refers to producing an effect. • When some behavior is followed by a favorable outcome (reinforcement), the probability of that behavior occurring again is increased. • When the behavior has no favorable outcome (for example, it does not get attention or is ignored) or has an unfavorable outcome (it results in punishment), the probability of that behavior occurring again is decreased.

Reinforcement • An object or event that is presented following a behavior. • Serves to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur again. • Shaping is the systematic, immediate reinforcement of successive approximations of the desired behavior until that behavior occurs and is maintained.

Reinforcement Negative • The termination of an unpleasant condition following a desired response • Removal from time out (after appropriate behavior) • Restoring privileges (after an apology) Positive • A reward given for desired behavior • Food • Physical contact • Praise

Extinction • If reinforcement increases the likelihood of a response occurring again, then the removal of the reinforcement should eventually eliminate, or extinguish, the response. • The gradual disappearance of a behavior due to the removal of the reinforcement. • Must be used in conjunction with reinforcement to be effective as a socializing method. • “Time-out” is a type of extinction in which all reinforcement is removed.

Punishment • Children have to be taught to process what they are not supposed to do, as well as what they are. • Consists of physically or psychologically painful stimuli. • The temporary withdrawal of pleasant stimuli when undesirable behavior occurs.

Feedback • Evaluative information, both positive and negative, about individual behavior • an approving nod • a questioning look • a comment • further instructions • a reminder • Provides knowledge of results and ways to improve them

Learning by Doing • Sometimes socialization occurs through experiencing and interacting. • Psychologist Albert Bandura (2000) relates learning by doing to the attribute of self-efficacy—the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive effects.

Observational Methods: Effect Emerges from Imitating • Modeling is a form of imitative learning that occurs by observing another person (the model) perform a behavior and experience its consequences. • Enables us to learn appropriate social behavior, attitudes, and emotions vicariously or second-hand.

Models • Athletic Stars • Movie Stars • TV Stars • Teen Idols • Cartoon Characters • Parents • Siblings • Relatives • Friends • Teachers • Coaches There is much evidence that children learn both prosocial and antisocial behavior by watching TV.

Cognitive Methods: Effect Emerges from Information Processing • Socialization techniques using cognitive methods involve those that specifically focus on how individuals process information or abstract meaning from experiences. • Strategies: • Instruction • Standard setting • Reasoning

Instruction • For instructions to be effective, they must be understood. • For instructions to be understood, the instructor must be willing to: • rephrase • demonstrate • repeat

Setting Standards • A standardis a level of attainment or degree of excellence regarded as a goal or measure of adequacy. • When parents set standards, they are telling children what they should do. • Provides children with advance notice of what is/isn’t expected of them—helping them become socialized.

Reasoning • Involves giving explanations, causes for an act. • Some children may not be able to • understand reasons. • generalize a reason to another situation. • Egocentric children lack the cognitive ability to take another’s point of view thus making reasoning difficult. • Altruism refers to actions that are intended to aid or benefit another person without anticipation of external reward.

Sociocentrism • The ability to understand and relate to views and perspectives of others • Transductive = connecting one particular idea to another based on appearance rather than logic • Inductive = connecting a specific idea to a more general idea based on similarities • Deductive = connecting a general to a particular one based on similarities and differences

Parenting Styles • Baumrind: • Authoritative = parents are willing to offer reasons for their directives • Permissive = parents offer no directives and rely on manipulation to obtain compliance • Authoritarian = parents expect children to accept their word as right and final without any verbal give-and-take Children who are habitually given reasons for directives benefit.

Sociocultural Methods: Effect Emerges from Conforming • Culture involves learned behavior including • knowledge • beliefs • morals • law • customs • traditions that is characteristic of the social environment in which individuals grow up.

Culture • Some of the socializing techniques by which sociocultural expectations influence behavior are • Group pressure • Traditions • Rituals • Routines • Symbols

Group Pressure • A sociocultural method of socialization • Involves conforming to group norms • Communities comprise social groups • Families • Neighborhoods • Churches • Peers • Clubs • Schools

Tradition • The handing down of • customs • stories • beliefs and so on from generation to generation. • Ethnic groups • Religious groups • Families

Rituals and Routines • A ritual is a set form or system that • connects us with our past. • defines our present. • gives us a future direction. • Rites of passage signify changes in people’s status. • Routines are repetitious acts or established procedures • bedtime • mealtime • anything done on a regular basis

Symbols • Acts or objects that have come to be generally accepted as standing for or representing something else. • Abstract • Dove = symbol of peace • Cross = symbol of Christ’s death • Circle = never ending (wedding ring)

Apprentice Methods: Effect Emerges from Guided Participation • Children efforts are guided by • Parents • Siblings • Relatives • Peers • Coaches

Child, Family, School, and Community S ocialization and Support 6 th ed.