Early socialization

 

III. Theories in Early Socialization

1. Behaviorism

·     Operant conditioning

·     Social learning Theory

o    Model Learning (Bandura)

·     Self Perceptions Theory (Bem)

 

2. Developmental Theories

·     Individuals pass through stages of development that determine their ability to interact with the environment.

 

3. Symbolic Interactionist Theories

 

Reflexive Behavior and Role Raking (Cooley & Mead)

 

·     Looking-glass-self (Cooley 1902)

1.            how we think to appear to others

2.    how we think others judge what  they see

3.            how we feel about their judgments

·     Mead: reflexive behavior

we simultaneously are subject in doing the viewing and object, being viewed.

 

A Contemporary Micro Perspective of Role Performance

·     Stryker: Salience hierarchy of role identities

 

 

1. Behaviorism

Bandura: Model Learning

Experiment: Children watch a movie representation of someone hitting a puppet.

Three conditions:

IV1:  the person who hit the puppet was observed to have received a reward

IV2: no reward was shown for that person

IV3: negative reward (punishment) was shown for the person

 

Distinction between learning and performance:

DV1: under what conditions do the observing children learn the behavior?

Operationalization: Children are interviewed

 

DV2: under what conditions do children show the behavior?

Operationalization: children are brought together with the puppet that they have seen in the movie.

 

 

 

2. Developmental Theories

Developmental Stages (Erik Erikson)

 

Stage 1: learning trust

Mother

 

Stage 2: 18 month to 3 years.

Learn to make choices = autonomy

Parents intervene to show what is wrong and what is right

 

Stage 3: 3-6 years  Initiative versus Guilt

By receiving reward and punishment, children learn where their  initiatives will be successful and where they fail.

 

Stage 4: 6-12 compare and compete

Success => sense of industry

Failure => feeling inferiority

 

Stage 5: puberty and adolescence, but also later “Who am I?”

 http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.htm

 

 

3. Symbolic Interactionist Theories

overhead

Reflexive Behavior, an Interactionist View 

SI  I.   Looking-glass-self (Cooley 1902)

We see ourselves reflected in other people=s attitudes and behaviors toward ourselves.  This looking-glass-self has three components:

1.  how we think to appear to others

2.  how we think others judge what  they see

3.  how we feel about their judgments

 


SI  Reflexive behavior (Mead 1932)

 

Mead builds upon the ideas of Cooley when he develops the dual perspective:

 

Engaging in reflective behavior we are simultaneously the subject (“I”) in doing the viewing and the object (“me”) that is in view.

 

 

Two consequences of the “I”

1. Self-awareness

Awareness directed towards oneself.

The state of self-awareness is called self-consciousness.

2. Self-regulation

If we are self-aware we can engage in self-regulation, that is, we can control and direct our actions.

 

Two consequences of the “me”

1. If we are self-aware we can create theories about ourselves that define our self-concept.

2. Self-esteem is a product of the evaluation of our self-concept.

 

 

A Contemporary Micro Perspective of Role Performance

Overhead

Role Performance: Sheldon Stryker

·      Identity salience determines the relative standing of the roles.

·      Identity salience in turn is determined by structural and cultural variables.

·      This results in a dynamic model of role identity.

 

Social Structure

Structural Commitment

 

 

 

 

 

 

#of relationships affected

Identity Salience

Role Performance

Interaction History

Affective Commitment

 

current salience hierarchy

 

 

 

 

value of a specific relationship

 

 

 

 

 

Important Concepts:

Salience hierarchy

Commitment

·     Intensiveness:  affective commitment

·     Extensiveness:  structural commitment (# of relations)

 

 


 

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Before we go to the Structural perspective of Socialization, let us speak about Self and Self-esteem

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Self-Consistency or self-verification is the cognitive, cold perspective. Focus: How do different identities fit into a self.

We had two examples so far:

·      classic role theory

·      Stryker’s identity salience model

 

Self-Enhancement, the hot perspective focuses on the individual

maintaining high self-esteem.

 

“High self-esteem individuals perceive their lot in life more optimistically than those with low self-esteem”(Franzoi p.69).

 

Low self-esteem people

·      Do not necessarily see themselves as losers, but see themselves more neutral.

·      Conservative taking risks, tend to protect

·      are more appreciated in collectivistic cultures

 

High self-esteem people

·      See themselves more positive as they are

·      Are more likely to take risks to further enhance their esteem

·      are more appreciated in individualistic cultures

 


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