soc Quiz 2

primary socialization,

"all the ways in which the newborn individual is molded into a social being." This process takes place from birth through adolescence and is primarily guided by primary caregivers, educators, and peers.

Role set

- a person generally has many more roles than statuses, as each status typically has multiple roles attached. Robert Merton defines a ___ ____as a number of roles attached to a single status. The ___ ___ attached to a single status vary from society to society around the world. Each of you may be a student, employee, friend, family member, etc.

Achieved status

- acquired by an individual based upon a special skill, knowledge, or ability (earned by merit); a social position a person assumes voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort (being on the Dean's List / an honor student / the employee of the month). Most often, there is a combination of ascribed and achieved factors in each of our statuses.

Role conflict

- fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status; (paradoxical expectations--being president of a group and being a friend); two or more statuses and the conflict among roles corresponding to those two or more statuses. Examples: • The conflict experienced between having to be a mother, a student, and having to be a wage earner simultaneously. • Teenagers often experience conflict between the role of child and that of an adult.

Master status

- is a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life. Having AIDS or being physically disabled may be considered a ____ in the U.S. today. A _____ is a label that supersedes all other labels

Presentation of self

- is an individual's efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others (Professionalism). This process is also referred to as impression management.

Demeanor

- is our general conduct or deportment;

The Social Construction Theory of Reality

- is the idea that we build the social world through an active process by which people creatively shape reality through their social interactions with others; • The theory of social construction states that both meaning and knowledge are socially created. • Our understandings of gender, race, social class, and disability are all socially constructed and consequently are frequently not an accurate reflection of reality. • Social constructs are often created by specific institutions and cultures, and come to prominence in specific historical periods. • Social constructs' dependence on historical, political, and economic conditions lead these constructs to evolve and change.

Dramaturgical analysis (the presentation of self)

- is the study of social interaction and everyday life in terms of a theatrical performance; presupposes people as being mere actors on a stage with ourselves being the directors. (Erving Goffman).

Ethnomethodology

- is the study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings; ____ reveals the assumptions and understandings people have of their social world. This concept was created by Harold Garfinkel in the 1950's, and may be summarized as "What we see depends on the assumptions we make about the world". In the United States, one background assumption is that emergency personnel, such as police officers, wear identifiable uniforms when on duty.

Performance

- means the ways in which individuals, in various settings, attempt to create specific impressions in the minds of others; the way we present ourselves to others; 5 our costumes, props, tone of voice, and gestures are all designed to convey information (scrubs and stethoscopes). _______ are conscious (intentional), un-intentional and unconscious (nonverbal communication).

Role strain

- person has difficulty fulfilling the expectations of a single status (unrealistic performance expectations for a single role— "you as a student will complete the reading of War and Peace and prepare a group presentation on this topic for this Friday"); ____ ____ involves incompatible roles linked to a single status (a mother who is a surgeon chooses not to operate on her own son).

Social network

- refers to the web of relationships that is formed by the sum total of a person's interactions with other persons.

Role expectation

- socially appropriate behaviors associated with this role; Moms assume a maternal role.

Role performance

- the match up of actual behaviors with those deemed appropriate; how good a mom is she?

Social structure

- the network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction; provides guidelines for behavior, which helps to make everyday life understandable and predictable.

Idealization

- we construct performances to idealize our intentions. Professionals typically idealize their motives for entering their chosen careers. We all use idealization to some degree. Erving Goffman suggests that we attempt to idealize our intentions when it comes to our performances. The context of a hospital involving physicians making their rounds with patients is used to illustrate how people, in this case doctors, try to convince people they are abiding by ideal cultural standards, when, in fact, less noble reasons are often involved.

Thomas Theorem

-"situations defined as real become real in their consequences". (W.I. Thomas) This concept is referred to as the "Social Psychological Axiom" in psychology, or more commonly related to a "self-fulfilling prophecy". For example, a teacher who believes a certain student is intellectually gifted may well encourage exceptional academic performance. Those are the teachers we need in our schools. Or, a teenager who is defined as deviant might begin to act deviant. He makes his label real.

Socialization at each stage of the life course

1. Although linked to the biological process of aging, the essential characteristics of each stage of the life course are socially constructed. 2. Each stage presents characteristic problems and transitions that involve learning something new and, in many cases, unlearning what has become familiar. 3. General patterns relating to age are always modified by social variables such as race and gender. 4. People's life experiences vary depending on when they were born. Cohort - a category of people with a common characteristic, usually their age.

Goals of Socialization

1. Impulse control and the development of a conscience 2. Role preparation and performance, including occupational roles, gender roles, and roles in institutions such as marriage and parenthood. 3. The cultivation of sources of meaning, or what is important, valued, and to be lived for.

Cross-Cultural Research on the display of human emotions:

1. What triggers an emotion varies from one society to another. 2. People display emotions according to the norms of their culture. 3. Gender differences in the expression of emotions have been found. 4. Societies differ in terms of how people cope with emotions. 5. There are gender differences in language and control, value, and attention.

Body Language and Deception

A discussion of Paul Ekman's research reveals examples of nonverbal clues, which can be identified to suggest if a person is telling a lie. Words, voice patterns, body language, and facial expressions can be analyzed to see if the informal cues are consistent with the formal messages. Several photographs demonstrating emotional expression ask the reader to determine whether these are universal or culturally constrained.

Genie

A girl who was locked up for 14 years and when she was found, she had missed the critical period where she could have learned language so she could not speak and was extremely socially retarded.

Embarrassment and Tact

As hard as we may try to craft perfect performances, slip-ups do occur and may cause embarrassment, or the recognition that we have failed through our performance to convince our audience. Often times, audiences will ignore flaws in performances, using tact to enable the performance to continue. This is because embarrassment causes discomfort for all present. Embarrassment is "losing face." Tact is helping someone "save face." Although behavior is often spontaneous, it is more patterned than we think.

The gender factor and moral development

Carol Gilligan (1936 -) Gilligan, as a response to the gender-limited work of Kohlberg, concludes that males and females make moral judgments in different ways. Males use a justice perspective: "It's wrong if the rules define it that way". This perspective stresses formal rules and abstract standards of "rightness". Females use a care and responsibility perspective and the effects of their actions on relationships "It's wrong if it damages relationships." Her recent research on self-esteem demonstrates that female self-esteem begins to slip during adolescence as they encounter more authority figures who are men.

looking-glass self

Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929), the idea that self-image is based on how we think others see us (People see themselves as they believe others see them).

The Lonely Crowd.

David Riesman How it is that society gets at least the minimal conformity to norms necessary for its survival? • He suggested that this is accomplished through three distinct types of social character: the tradition-directed, the inner-directed, and the other-directed.

operant conditioning

Edward L. Thorndike and B.F. Skinner occurs when a creature does something and almost immediately experiences reinforcement in the form of pleasure or pain.

Psychosocial Stages of Development

Erik H. Erikson (1902 - 1994) Personality development is a life-long process, occurring in eight stages as we age. • Erikson's theory of personality is completely social, allowing no biological element at all.

Agents of Socialization

Every social experience affects us in at least a small way. The following four agents of socialization offer critical experiences to the socialization process.

Classic Studies with Nonhuman primates

Harry and Margaret Harlow (1962), Using various experimental situations with artificial "mothers" for infant monkeys, they determined that while physical development occurred within normal limits, emotional and social growth failed to occur. • One important discovery was that monkeys deprived of mother-infant contact, if surrounded by other infant monkeys, did not suffer adversely. • This suggested the importance of social interaction in general rather than specifically a maternal bond. • A second conclusion was that monkeys who experienced short-term isolation (three months or less) recovered to normal emotional levels after rejoining other monkeys. • Long-term separation appears to have irreversible negative consequences. Harlows' proposal - Adult physical affection is essential to normal development for children.

Emotions: The Social Construction of Feeling

Human emotions are rooted in both biology and culture o Some emotional responses are "wired" into humans. Culture defines what triggers an emotion. Happiness is differentially distributed worldwide. Quality-of-life research tries to define what a good life is and how well reality meets these standards. Its trust is to find ways to a better life. • The new information technology is changing how people work, how they see themselves and how they interact with others, including in cyberspace where face-to-face contact becomes unnecessary.

Classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov training an organism to exhibit an involuntary response when presented with a stimulus that would not normally evoke the response. In Pavlov's best known experiment, Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate at the ring of a bell

Developmental Approach

Jean Piaget (1896-1980): Cognitive development A prominent psychologist of the twentieth century, Piaget's work centered on human cognition, or how people think and understand. He was concerned with not just what a person knew, but how the person knows something. He identified four major stages of cognitive development.

behaviorism

John B. Watson all human behavior was learned within particular social environments. 2 ▪ "Human behavior is not instinctive, but is learned within a social environment." This is the essence of ____. ▪ ____is based upon the assumption that people are the result of their experiences; "one is what one does".

Language and Value

Language conveys different levels of status in many subtle ways. Typically, the masculine terms carry higher status. The traditional language function of the following suffixes denote femininity; "ette", "ess" in French (actor / actress). We have made progress in eliminating this sexist language usage in the past generation.

Moral development

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927 - 1987) applied Piaget's theory as a springboard to a study of moral reasoning development.

In child raising

Lower socioeconomic class people tend to stress obedience and conformity. • Upper socioeconomic class people emphasize creativity and good judgment (NORC, 2001). affluent parents are more likely to provide their children with "cultural capital" that advances learning and creates a sense of confidence.

Status set

No person holds only one status position, he or she holds many. All the statuses that a person holds at a given time One can be a female, a student, a daughter, and a wife among others. A person's status set changes over the life course.

sublimation

Often a compromise between society and the individual is struck, where fundamentally selfish drives are redirected into socially acceptable objectives.

Language and Control

One example of this is that males tend to attach female pronouns to valued objects, consistent with the concept of possession. Another traditional illustration is women changing their name to that of their husband's family when they marry.

Psychoanalytic Approach

Sigmund Freud the development of psychoanalysis and the study of personality development. humans had two basic needs or drives: • Eros - a need for bonding, love, or the life instinct and • Thanatos - the drive of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence, and the death instinct.

repression

Society's controlling influence on drives is referred to as

The Psychosocial stages of development v

Stage 1 - Infancy; the challenge of trust versus mistrust Stage 2 - Toddlerhood; the challenge of autonomy versus doubt and shame Stage 3 - Preschool; the challenge of initiative versus guilt Stage 4 - Preadolescence; the challenge of industriousness versus inferiority Stage 5 - Adolescence; the challenge of gaining identity versus role confusion Stage 6 - Young Adulthood; the challenge of intimacy versus isolation Stage 7 - Middle Adulthood; the challenge of making a difference, or generativity versus self -absorption Stage 8 - Old Age; the challenge of integrity versus despair

Language and Attention

The English language seems to almost ignore what is feminine. This is reflected in our pronoun usage; it is challenging to think of examples of both biased and bias-free words. Attention typically involves using the masculine pronoun to refer to all people ("he" or "you guys"). Southerners avoid this issue with the more generic, "y'all".

the "Me"

The objective part of the self concerning how we perceive ourselves from the perspective of others.

The "I"

The subjective part of the self by which we initiate social action

Symbolic Interactionism

Theory of the social self Mead's analysis is often referred to as social behaviorism, where he focuses on mental processes.

Staring, Smiling, and Touching

While women tend to maintain interactions through sustaining eye contact longer than men 6 do, men tend to stare more. Meanings associated with smiling also seem to vary with gender as do touching patterns, with men tending to touch women more than women touch men. Various rituals are created in which men tend to express their dominance over women.

Personality

a person's consistent patterns of acting, thinking, and feeling. Today, social scientists no longer argue about nature versus nurture. Instead, they try to discover how biological factors interact with environment to help shape personality.

status

a social position that is part of our social identity and that defines our relationships to others. he term for a recognized social position that an individual occupies

Critical Evaluation of Cultural Determinism

a. Cultural determinism was criticized as lacking the specificity required for scientific purposes. b. The psychological theories were criticized as being too individualistic.

Critical Evaluation of Freud's Work

a. Freud's notion that we internalize norms and his idea that childhood experiences have lasting importance in the socialization process remain critical. b. Much of Freud's work has been criticized as reflecting the sexist bias of the Victorian Era'.

Critical Evaluation of Gilligan's Research

a. Gilligan's work enhances our understanding of gender issues. In a related study, Gilligan found that girls begin adolescence with high levels of self-esteem, but their self-esteem gradually decreases as they go through adolescence. Gilligan further posits that female self-esteem begins to slip during adolescence as they encounter more authority figures who are men. b. However, she does not adequately address the issue of the origin of the gender-based differences that she has identified.

Critical Evaluation of Kohlberg's Research

a. Kohlberg's model applies Piaget's approach to moral development in distinct stages. b. His research subjects were all males, therefore these cannot be generalized to both sexes. c. Kohlberg's theory may not apply equally well in all societies and it would appear that many North Americans do not reach the final stage of moral development.

Critical Evaluation of Mead's theories

a. Mead showed that symbolic interaction is the foundation of both self and society. b. He may be criticized for ignoring the role of biology in the development of the self. c. Mead's work is further criticized as being radically social he helps us to understand the importance of symbolic interaction to the development of self.

Critical Evaluation of Piaget's research

a. Piaget showed that human beings' ability to shape their social world unfolds gradually as the result of both biological maturation and social experience. b. Some critics suggest that this model may not fit traditional societies and that, even in our own society, as many as a third of adults do not reach the final stage.

Social power

affects performance, which is one reason men's behavior typically differs from women's behavior. It tends to vary by an individual's power. Given that, men are more likely than women to be in positions of dominance it is suggested that women must craft their performances more formally and display appropriate deference. o Competition involves two or more individuals / groups who oppose each other in order to achieve a goal (winner/loser). o Conflict involves hurting the opponent (anywhere on the continuum between "slighting" to killing). o Cooperation involves working together in order to succeed. o Accommodation involves a state of balance between conflict and cooperation. o Assimilation involves groups blending together into one unified group ("We're all Huskers!!!").

Peer groups

are also important as members typically share: similar interests, social position, and age in common. The peer group takes on great importance during adolescence. • The peer group socialization typically occurs outside the context of adult supervision. Anticipatory socialization - learning that helps a person achieve a desired position (provides an information base, as we mimic the style and slang of the group they hope to join; learning to be a health care professional). Where do you want to be 10 years from now?

Reciprocal roles

are corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses. Nurse / Patient; Instructor / Student

Ascribed status

based upon inherited traits, determined by who your parents are: age, gender, S.E.S., race / ethnicity, etc. (this status is given to you); a social position a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily during their life (being teenagers, or a senior citizen).

Old Age

begins during the mid-60s and older • The status of the aged varies greatly cross-culturally. • In rapidly changing modern societies, the aged tend to be defined as marginal or even obsolete. • This period is quite different from previous ones as it is characterized by the leaving of roles instead of entering new ones. • Traditional societies give power and respect to "elders". • Industrial societies define the "elderly" and "old age" as: unimportant, obsolete, out of touch with reality, and thus lessens their influence. • Growing older means facing physical decline, which in the U.S. culture is more painful for women. • The U.S. is currently experiencing an increase in the elderly population. • Acceptance of death and dying is part of socialization for the elderly. • As the proportion of people in old age increases, we will likely be more comfortable with the idea of death. • More people now make legal and financial preparations for a surviving spouse. • The work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes the transition from denial to acceptance of death. This process typically involves distinct stage: denial, anger, negotiation, resignation and acceptance.

Socialization is an interactive process

context (the SES of your family largely determines the values inculcated and emphasized); content and process (gender behaviors and stereotypes in expectations regarding behavior, social roles and academic performance; Black and Hispanic parents having "the talk" with their children on how to remain 4 calm, compliant and safe in the presence of teachers and the police) and results (awaiting one's turn; obeying authority figures, rules, and laws; organizing one's life around institutional schedules - at Clarkson this involves courses, clinicals, work...).

Sensorimotor stage

described as the level of human development in which the world is experienced only through direct sensory contact (their senses). This stage lasts for about the first two years of life. The understanding of symbols does not exist during this period. The child experiences the world only in terms of direct physical contact.

A major criticism of behaviorism is

does not consider what a person thinks. -Most of the findings have been based upon experiments with animals. -Explanations of the behavior of animals cannot include what they are thinking because we have no way of knowing that information. -believe that knowing what people think cannot increase our understanding of human behavior.

Naturalists

during the mid-19th century, applying Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, claimed that all human behavior was instinctive. ___ would ascribe a person's selfishness to his "basic human nature." A century ago people thought human behavior resulted almost exclusively from biological instinct.

The Self

emerges from social experience. Anna's lack of social experience inhibited her development of "self". Mead understood the basis of humanity to be the self, a dimension of personality composed of an individual's self- conception. For Mead, the self was a totally social phenomenon, inseparable from society

Schools

expose children to greater social diversity and introduce them to impersonal performance evaluations children are likely to cluster in playgroups made up of one race, class, and gender. Hidden curriculum - passes on important cultural values such as competition, showcasing success, bureaucracy (impersonal rules, strict time limitations), and strict gender roles. Examples: Spelling bees, Playing sports

Childhood is grounded not in biology, but in culture.

in American culture lasts roughly the first twelve years of life

Conventional stage

in the teenage years, moral decision making takes into account parental attitudes and cultural norms; Learn to take into consideration in terms of what pleases parents, as well as understanding right and wrong based upon the broader cultural norms. acceptance of the status quo

Development of the Self

infants as responding to others only in terms of imitation. use of symbols emerges the child enters a play stage, in which role-taking occurs. Initially, the roles are modeled after significant others (children model themselves after key people in their lives, such as their parents). Through further social experience, children enter the game stage where the simultaneous playing of many roles is possible. The final stage involves the development of a generalized other, in which widespread cultural norms and values are used as a reference in evaluating ourselves.

Gender

is a central element in personal performances. The way we act and carry ourselves in a sexist society, having greater social power, men have more freedom in how they act.

Adolescence

is often a period of social and emotional turmoil reflecting cultural inconsistency. The turbulence attributed to biological changes, more correctly reflects cultural inconsistency. It is a time of social contradictions when people are no longer children but not yet adults.

Adulthood

is the stage of life when most accomplishments take place. Although personality is now formed it continues to change with new life experiences.

Personal space

is the surrounding area over which a person makes some claim to privacy (personal space varies by gender as well as by culture). Power is a key here as well. Masculinity has been traditionally associated with greater amounts of personal space. In addition, men tend to intrude on a woman's space more often than women intrude on a man's space.

Isabelle

kept in isolation in a dark room with her mother who was deaf and without speech

Early adulthood:

lasts approximately from the early 20s to age 40 Learn to manage day-to-day affairs for themselves adult socialization, "the person learns the norms associated with new statuses such as wife, husband, nurse, PTA, medical imaging professional, and parent, etc Many women are trapped in the "do it all" pattern due to our culture's relegating major responsibility for childrearing and housework to women.

Middle adulthood

lasts roughly between the ages of 40 and 60. • A distinctive quality of this period is reflection on personal achievements in light of earlier expectations. Working men and women are often forced to recognize their failure to realize earlier expectations. • Women must also confront their aging in a society that is less generous, in this respect, to them as compared to men. • People sense that our life circumstances are pretty well set.

formal operational stage

level of human development characterized by highly abstract and critical thought. This stage begins about age twelve. The ability to think in hypothetical terms is also developed.

concrete operational stage

level of human development characterized by the use of logic to understand objects or events. This period typically covers the ages of seven to eleven. Cause-andeffect relationships begin to be understood during this period. The ability to take the perspective of other people also emerges, as well as to attach more than one symbol to a particular event or object.

pre-operational stage

level of human development in which language and other symbols are first used by children to describe their world. In their perception, "a tall cup still holds more water than a short cup". This stage extends from the age of two to the age of six. Children continue to be very egocentric during this time, having little ability to generalize concepts.

Preconventional stage

moral decision making was based upon pain and pleasure; we first judge rightness according to their individual needs; Rightness amounts to "what feels good to me".

Secondary socialization

occurs in later childhood and adolescence, when the child leaves the family for schooling and comes under the influence of adults and peers outside the household and immediate family." This continues throughout one's life as one encounters new situations, places, or groups of people whose norms, customs, assumptions and values may differ from one's own. • Secondary groups are generally larger and more impersonal and are not generally used to meet the need for intimate human response.

The family

one of the most important agents of socialization and may have the greatest influence on a child's attitudes and behavior. While parenting styles vary, the most important aspect in parent-child relations seems to be the attention paid by parents to their children. • Research shows that nothing is more likely to produce a happy, well-adjusted child than being in a loving family

Postconventional stage

reasoning allows individuals to criticize society itself. Make an abstract critique of the social order taking into consideration abstract ethical principles. critiquing of the status quo

Total institutions

refers to a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff, such as prisons, mental hospitals, military boot camps (USMC - Marine recruits at Boot Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina) and even monasteries. The purpose is re-socialization, which is radically altering an inmate's personality through deliberate control of the environment (Goffman). • Breaking down and removing inmates' old existing identity • Building a new self through a system of rewards and punishments.

Nonverbal communication

refers to communication using body movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather than spoken words. Types of smiles, eye contact, and hand movements can convey particular meanings. When an American Indian in the U.S. is testifying in a courtroom their reluctance to establish eye contact makes them appear to 'look guilty' to those unfamiliar with native ___ ___ norms.

Social Roles

refers to patterns of expected behavior attached to a particular status; the behavior--rights and obligations expected of someone occupying a particular status; the dynamic expression of a status. ___ performance can differ somewhat from the expectations society attaches to a ____.

Mass media

refers to the means for delivering impersonal communications to a vast audience and thus has huge impact on socialization in modern, high-income societies

the ego

representing a person's conscious attempt to balance the innate pleasure-seeking drives of the human organism and the restraints and demands of society, Ich moechte.

institutionalization

residents become dependent on the structure of the institution and are unable to function outside the institution.

the id

rooted in biology and representing the human being's basic needs and drives, which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction. Ich will!

Social isolation

shows the effect of minimal human contact on the socialization process. For obvious ethical reasons, research on the effects of___ ___ has been limited to the study of animals. A few rare cases of human isolation, like Anna's, have been investigated.

There is basic conflict between

the id and the superego, which the ego must continually try to manage. If the conflict is not adequately resolved, personality disorders result.

superego

the internalized presence and operation of culture within the individual that ultimately defines, for the individual, moral limits. Wir moechten.

socialization

the lifelong social process of learning to both individually develop our human potential and to internalize one's culture and how to effectively function within it. For the society, means introducing its members to its culture, including: the norms, folkways, attitudes, values, motives, social roles, language and symbols. • is the 'means by which social and cultural continuity are attained

Social interaction

the process by which people act and react in relation to others in everyday life.

Cultural determinists

view personality as almost entirely the result of culture.

Anna

who had been largely deprived of human interaction until she was about six years old (the catastrophic effect of minimal human contact).

Critical Evaluation of Erickson

• Not everyone confronts the challenges in the same order. • Not clear if failure to meet one challenge predicts failure in other stages • Do other cultures share Erickson's definition of successful life?