Socialization, social interaction and identity

Question 1

Describe Nature vs. Nurture

Answer 1

Nature: what we came into the world with (toolkit)

Nurture: interface w/ environment and reactions

Question 2

What is the toolkit and what is it’s connection to nature vs. nurture?

Answer 2

– we have a toolkit w/ things that are malleable, some loud and some will never change

– malleable can change according to the response to environment

value of each thing in toolkit will be judged by humans, morals of society

– actually not Nature vs. Nurture BUT Nature AND Nurture, they work together

Question 3

Describe socialization.

Answer 3

– a process that is ongoing throughout your life but potent in early years, you’re being trained to be a member of the group

– brain washing

Question 4

What are the 4 main functions of socialization?

Answer 4

1. Teaches us role taking in different situations, we act differently; ex: student, friend, mom
2. Create a sense of identity, form sense of self –> who are you without the roles; the self is actually created by interacting w/ others
3. creates intergenerational ties; creates stability why: preserve traditions/culture
4. social control
   - -> if I’m never social, I’m going to break the rules
   - -> the techniques we use to control rules
   - ->ex: family punishing kid, now knows the ryles was broken

Question 5

What are the two socialization traditions?

Answer 5

1. Social Learning Theories

2. Symbolic Interactionism

Question 6

What are the two different social learning theories?

Answer 6

1. Direct learning/ indirect learning
   Ex: Watch someone’s behavior get punished (indirect)
   Ex: actually changing behavior after getting punished (direct)
2. Just because you learn a behavior, doesn’t mean you act on the behavior

Ex: kids see grown-ups curse, but know that grown-ups curse, so the kid doesn’t

Question 7

What are social learning theories?

Answer 7

– we model behavior through socialization and we react to that and learn certain habits

Question 8

What is the difference between direct and indirect learning?

Answer 8

– Direct = something personally happening to you, reward/punish/no reaction to determine whether behavior is okay

Indirect = watching it/observing it

Question 9

What are the key ideas of symbolic interactionism?

Answer 9

Key ideas = social structure (norms, rules, values), shared sense of meaning, script we follow

Question 10

What was Erving Goffman’s key idea?

Answer 10

– Presentation of self

Question 11

What is the presentation of self?

Answer 11

– when we are in interactions, we are presenting ourselves

–> we engage in impression management when we interact with others

–> impression management: i need someone to think of me like this, so I’m going to behave in a certain way

–> just a performance

–> that performance is ourselves, that may change w/ each person interaction

Question 12

What is the front stage, backstage, script, props in terms of presentation of self?

Answer 12

– Ex: Front stage = interview (wherever performance is happening), back stage = prep work for interview, props = clothes, resume, script = what you say, sense of what you should say

Question 13

What is impression management?

Answer 13

• • we try to manage the impression people have of us
• • no necessarily getting people to like us

Ex: a mafia guy will present himself as someone not to be messed with

Question 14

What was Cooley’s main idea?

Answer 14

– the Looking Glass Self

Question 15

What is the Looking Glass Self?

Answer 15

– we develop a sense of our selves based on how we perceive others to perceive us

• –> I am what I think other people think of me
• –> looking glass mirror
• –> but we never really know what people think of us… even if people act in consistent ways towards us

Question 16

What are 3 steps by which we come into an interaction and see what people think of us?

Answer 16

1. Our perception
   2 Judgement – assessment of this perception and how much we value it
2. Response – how we think of ourselves based on what we have seen

Ex: (perceive) people think I’m pretentious –> (assess) how much does this matter to me –> (response) maybe I am an a**hole

– this isn’t just based on one interaction –> ongoing, however we do form a pretty enduring (endearing?) idea of ourselves that persists until a lot of contrary info comes in

Question 17

T or F, different experiences and interactions draw out different reactions

Answer 17

True, shakes up our sense of self; traveling and having diverse experiences can change our sense of self

Question 18

T or F, our judgements change by having lots more experiences

Answer 18

True, what might bother us today won’t bother us in 20 years

Question 19

T or F, these interactions don’t have to be between two people

Answer 19

True, they can be with pop. culture

Question 20

What is a combination of Cooley and Goffman?

Answer 20

– We present ourselves, then we are subject to reactions from other people, which might change our sense of self

Question 21

What was George Mead’s main idea?

Answer 21

– he had the idea of “I” and “Me”

Question 22

What is the concept of “I” and “Me”?

Answer 22

– when we go through socialization we develop a part of the self called the Me

– focused on the formative years but does not exclude the later years

Me = socialized self
I = Unsocialized self

Question 23

T or F, when we come into the world we are the “I”

Answer 23

True; hedonistic, self absorbed, untamed

Question 24

T or F, the “I” is a blank canvas

Answer 24

False, not a blank canvas, there is already something there, like our toolkit, but it hasn’t been socialized

Question 25

What are the 3 stages of socialization?

Answer 25

• • preparatory stage
• • play stage
• • game stage

Question 26

What is the preparatory stage?

Answer 26

• • 0-2 years
• • babies are unaware that there are other people in the world. They are aware of their own needs but they don’t know that others provide for those needs
    
    • ——> babies imitate adults without knowing what any of it means

– babies then learn cause and effect and that others responded to them

——> they figure out that there are other people

– they then figure out that there are expectations that other people have

Question 27

What is the play stage?

Answer 27

– 2 - 6 years

• • language acquisition
• —–> through language, kids can communicate more complex ideas. More complex social expectations can be learned

– the growth of the “Me”

• —–> we start to take on the role of the other
• —–> “if I were that person I’d expect this of me” instead of just “what do you want from me”

– but, they still don’t understand how these roles are supposed to interact

——-> when young toddlers play together, they don’t really play the same game, they each do their own thing (parallel play)

Question 28

What is the game stage?

Answer 28

– take on the role of the generalized other

• —> capacity to think about the abstract and with more complexity
• —> we are able to participate in the “game”

– understand how the roles are supposed to interact

• —> better prepared for different social situations
• —> anticipate how others would act

—-> able to take a step back from the role you are in

Question 29

What is dramaturdy? And who is this idea associated with?

Answer 29

– Goffman

– there’s a front stage, backstage, scripts, props, and a social realm

– we basically are performing in our social interactions