Personality Development: Section One Important People:

1. Personality Development: Section One Important People: 1. John B. Watson: American sociologist, he claimed that he could take a dozen healthy infants and train them to become anything he wanted 2. Rene Spitz: studied the effects of institutionalization on a group of infants living in an orphanage 3. Edward O. Wilson: leading sociobiologist

2. Birth Order: • Personality influenced by having brothers and sisters • The order of birth plays a part: • First-born tend to be more achievement-oriented, cooperative, and cautious • Later-born tend to better in social relationships and to be more affectionate, and friendly, and creative 2. Parental Characteristics: age, level of education, religious orientation, economic status, cultural heritage, and occupational background 3. The Cultural Environment: - in the United States competitiveness, assertiveness, and individualism are common personality traits

3. 4. Heredity: - physical features: body build or hair, eye, and skin color - we inherit certain basic needs and capacities Isolation in Childhood: 1. Anna: - born to a unmarried woman which upset her father, who did not want the child - confined to an attic room and was given only a minimum of care - almost no human contact, and was not spoken to, held, bathed, or loved

4. - Anna was finally discovered by a social worker. She was six years old - she was unable to walk, talk, or feed herself - Anna died at the age of 10 1. Isabelle: - born to an unmarried woman. Her father kept his daughter and granddaughter in a dark room - her mother was a deaf-mute woman - Isabelle was six when she was discovered, but she only crawled and grunted like an animal. She would eat with her hands

5. - after several months of therapy she began to speak and function 3. Genie: - was discovered when she was 13 - she was locked in a small bedroom where she was tied to potty chair during the day and wrapped up in a sleeping bag in a mesh covered crib - after time she was not able to adapt to society and she was institutionalized

6. Institutionalization: children raised in institutions might be taken of, but sociologist Rene Spitz indicates that these children only live a short time - Spitz indicated these children just wasted away, they lacked of cuddling and love

7. The Social Life: Three theories on developing a sense of self 1. Locke: The Tabula Rasa - each child is born with a clean slate - our personality is a result of our social experiences 2. Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self - an American sociologist and is one of the founders of the interactionist perspective

8. - we will develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others The development of the Looking-Glass Self occurs in three stages. 1. we imagine how we appear to others 2. based on their reactions to us, we attempt to determine whether others view us as we view ourselves 3. we use our perceptions of how others judge us to develop feelings about ourselves - This theory puts a lot of responsibility on parents and other family members

9. 3. Mead: Role-Taking - American sociologist who also was a part of the interactionist perspective - he added to Cooley’s theory of socialization Mead stated that we actually take or pretend to take the role of others. - he said that we first internalize the expectations of those closest to us – our parents, brothers, and sisters, relatives, and other specific people.

10. Agents of Socialization: 1. The Family: - most important agent of socialization in almost every society - socialization in a family setting can be both deliberate and unconscious 2. The Peer Group: - as a child gets older, they begin to relate more and more to their peer groups - it is important for us to be accepted by our peers - the focus is on group interests and acquiring the skills needed to fit into a subculture

11. 3. The School: - kids are in school for 13 to 20 years of their life. School plays a major role in socializing individuals - class activities, extracurricular activities, and cultural values help kids with socializing 4 The Mass Media: - one of the most influential agents of socialization - Tv seems to have the most influence on the socialization of children. 98% of the homes in the U.S have at least one tv in the home. Tv sets are on an average of 7hrs a day

12. 5. Other Agents: - Religion is another important agent of socialization. 65% of the population of the U.S. claims membership in an organized church or synagogue - Total Institution is a rather unique agent of socialization. Ex: prisons, military boot camps, monasteries, and psychiatric hospitals. Total institution primarily are concerned with resocializingtheir members