Soc. Chapter 4-Socializing the Individual

Personality

• more likely achievement-oriented & responsible than others
• We not only see ourselves as others see us but actually take on, or pretend to take on, the roles of others
• the specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place
• the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, & values that are characteristic of an individual

Heredity

• Transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children
• Influential during pre-teen & early teenage years & winning peer acceptance is important
• children may show similar characteristics of isolate children
• a term coined by Cooley to refer to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others' reactions to us

Instinct

• the unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of personality & self-identity
• An English philosopher from the 1600s who believed we could be molded into any type of character
• Influential during pre-teen & early teenage years & winning peer acceptance is important
• an unchanging, biologically inherited behavior pattern

Sociobiology

• the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior
• instruments of communication that reach large audience with no personal contact between those sending the information & those receiving it
• most important agent of socialization in most societies
• After years of training, still at a 3rd grade level of functioning

Aptitude

• the part of the identity that is aware of the expectations & attitude of society
• a capacity to learn a particular skill or acquire a specific body of knowledge
• change a personality and social behavior by removing individualism
• Teaching basic skills, extracurricular activities, &transmit cultural values like responsibility & good citizenship

Socialization

• a primary group composed of individuals of roughly equal age & similar social characteristics
• Confined to an attic room w/ minimal care
• involves a break with past experiences & the learning of new values and norms
• The interactive process though which people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, & behavior patterns of a society

Self

• your conscious awareness of possessing a distinct identity that separates you & your environment from other members of society
• Argue that biological factors determine most of human social life
• can be both deliberate and unintended
• taking on or pretending to take on the role of others

Looking-glass self

• Individuals who were not raised with human contact or care
• Could not reverse the effects of prolonged isolation
• the interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others
• 1. we imagine how we appear to others

Role-taking

• Transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children
• a theory that proposes that social interaction is like a drama being performed on a stage
• Confined to an attic room w/ minimal care
• taking on or pretending to take on the role of others

Significant others

• 2. based on their reactions, we attempt to determine whether other view us as we view ourselves
• specific people, such as parents, siblings, relatives, & others, who directly influence our socialization
• Similar inabilities as Anna
• the unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of personality & self-identity