Chapter 4: Socialization and the Life Course
Which sociologist developed the theory of the self as a matter of learning to assume the perspective of others?
George Herbert Mead
______ was among the first sociologists to analyze the connection between symbols and socialization.
George Herbert Mead
Children play a(n) ______ role in socialization because they influence and alter their family, school, and peers.
active
Family, schools, mass media, and the state are considered ______ socialization.
agents of
A young woman decides she wants to become a professional model, so she surfs the Internet for information and attends modeling classes. This is an example of
anticipatory socialization.
The process of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships is referred to as
anticipatory socialization.
Which of the following best defines occupational socialization?
behavior that people learn where they work
The process of socialization begins when children are
born.
Moral development becomes an important part of socialization as children develop the ability to
think more abstractly.
In the United States, the most important agent of socialization for children is the
Family
According to George Herbert Mead, the self is developed through what three stages?
Game Play Preparatory
Which term describes the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that children learn to consider?
Generalized other
Sociologists consider the transition from student to graduate an example of
a rite of passage.
According to Erving Goffman, what is an institution that regulates all aspects of a person's life under a single authority?
a total institution
The process of socialization in which a person rehearses for future positions and occupations is ______, and the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones is ______.
anticipatory socialization; resocialization
Which term did Erving Goffman use to describe how individuals alter their appearance and behavior for the sake of particular audiences?
impression management
Susan is texting on her cell phone while taking an exam. When her professor walks toward her desk, she hides the phone so she appears to be focused on the exam. Susan is engaging in
impression management.
What type of socialization is most intense during the transition from school to the workplace?
occupational
The phrase "looking-glass self" refers to our view of ourselves that comes from
our impressions of how others perceive us. contemplation of our personal qualities. imagining how we present ourselves to others.
The term ______ is used to describe an individual's patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior.
personality
According to George Herbert Mead, children mimic or imitate others during the ______ stage of development. At this stage the children are not pretending to be someone else; they are only doing what they see others doing.
preparatory
According to George Herbert Mead, when children enter the play stage of development they begin to
pretend to actually BE other people and engage in role-playing.
According to sociologists, both government and ______ shape the socialization process by regulating the life course and influencing behavior at particular ages.
religion
What is the process in which an individual rejects former patterns of thought and/or behavior and accepts new ones?
resocialization
The two types of socialization that occur at many points throughout life are ______.
resocialization anticipatory socialization
According to George Herbert Mead, which of the following is an important aspect of the play stage of the self?
role playing (also called role-taking)
What did Mead call the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint?
role taking
Which of the following is the correct order for the development of children's thought processes in Piaget's theory?
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Psychologist Sigmund Freud studied the relationship between ______ gratification and human development.
sexual
If children read or hear negative messages about their race, their ______ development can be affected.
social
The process by which individuals learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for a particular culture is called ______.
socialization
A woman who loves statistics but decides not to pursue mathematics in college because she has internalized the societal expectation that women are not typically good at math has undergone
socialization.
George Herbert Mead was the first sociologist to analyze the relationship of symbols to
socialization.
According to Erving Goffman's dramaturgical approach, what do people's social interactions resemble?
stage performers in action
Which of the following types of mass media has had the most profound effect on childhood socialization in the United States?
television
What is the most important agent of socialization for children in the United States?
the family
The term generalized other refers to
the idea that an individual acts are influenced by whole groups of people
Who of the following are typical examples of a significant other in the development of the self?
A teacher A close friend A parent
Which of these situations could be analyzed from a microsociological perspective?
A new college graduate learns how to interact with other adults
What is one way in which religion and government both impact the life course?
By instituting important rites of passage
Who were the first sociologists to pioneer the interactionist approach to an individual's sense of self
Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead
Who were the first sociologists to pioneer the interactionist approach to an individual's sense of self?
Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead
Match each stage in Piaget's cognitive theory of development with its description.
Sensorimotor- Young children use their senses to make discoveries. Preoperational- Children begin to use words and symbols to distinguish objects and ideas. Concrete operational- Children engage in more logical thinking. Formal operational- Adolescents become capable of sophisticated abstract thought and can think logically.
Which of the following statements reflect the importance of human contact in the socialization process?
Social isolation affects children's ability to communicate effectively. Human relationships are shaped through socialization. Toddlers' social interaction with peers is critical for emotional growth
As children develop skills in communicating through symbols and begin to pretend to be other people, they gradually become more aware of social relationships.
True
True or false: As we grow up and grow older, our peers increasingly assume the role of Mead's significant others.
True
Psychologist Jean Piaget observed the stages of ______ development from birth to adolescence.
cognitive
What do children begin to do during the game stage?
consider the effect their behavior has on others grasp their own social positions as well as those of other consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously
What factors help establish gender roles in a society?
culturally defined behaviors and attitudes of men and women activities typically expected of men and women
According to Jean Piaget, what do children pay more attention to as they grow older?
how other people think why people act in particular ways
When sociologists use the term agents of socialization, what are they referring to?
different social forces that influence our lives and alter our self-images
The self is a(n) ______ identity that sets us apart from others and continues to develop and change throughout our lives.
distinct
According to Goffman, we use the ______ to understand the behavior of a young man who pretends to be conducting online research when he is actually playing video games at wo
dramaturgical approach
What term did Goffman use to describe maintaining a proper image of the self during social interaction?
face-work
Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead developed the approach to the self.
interactionist
As children grow older, the family's influence becomes ______ important to their social development.
less
The process of socialization is a(n)
lifelong process.
Recent studies involving identical twins note that certain characteristics appeared to be strikingly similar even in twins reared apart. What were some of these characteristics?
voice patterns temperaments nervous habits
Which of the following are true of the looking-glass self?
It may be an inaccurate perception of how others view us. It is subject to change.
What term did Charles Horton Cooley use to emphasize the importance of social interactions in relation to the self?
Looking-glass self
According to Goffman, we use the ______ to understand the behavior of a young man who pretends to be conducting online research when he is actually playing video games at work.
dramaturgical approach
Even though children are highly influenced by their peer group and the mass media, the ______ exerts more influence in their socialization than any other agent.
family
In George Herbert Mead's stages of the self, the ______ stage is when children begin to understand not only their own social positions but also those of others around them.
game
In his stages of the self, George Herbert Mead noted that children eventually develop what he called generalized other, which applies to the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that children take into account in their behavior. This concept is applied as part of the
game stage.
Socially defined expectations of male and female behaviors, attitudes, and activities are called ______ roles.
gender
Which of the following require resocialization?
getting a divorce moving to another state becoming a parent
Which agents of socialization play the most critical role in guiding children into gender role expectations?
parents
Which of the following are agents of socialization that play the primary role in guiding children toward acceptable gender roles in society?
parents and family
Transitions that bring about changes in one's life are called rites of . (Remember to type only one word per blank.)
passage
In George Herbert Mead's stages of the self, children become more aware of social relationships and begin to pretend to be other people in the ______ stage.
play
People who play a crucial role in developing an individual's self are called ______ others.
significant
Which of the following statements are true about the effect of negative messages about race on children's development?
Children as young as two years of age can pick up negative messages about race. Toys designed primarily for white consumers can send Black children negative messages about race.
True or false: Social isolation has a negligible impact on children's social and emotional development.
False
Microsociology
Focuses on how individuals learn to behave properly in regards to society's norms and values
Macrosociology
Focuses on the transmission of a culture from one generation to the next
Which of the following statements are true about total institutions?
People often lose their individuality within total institutions. Total institutions are generally cut off from the rest of society.
Which of the following statements is true about how social scientists view human development today?
Social scientists believe that the interaction of heredity and the environment shapes human development.
Which statements about media are true?
Television and other modern media help people learn about different societies around the world. Mass media can have both a positive and a negative influence on society.
In Harry Harlow's 1971 study on rhesus monkeys, what were some of the characteristics of the monkeys who were raised in isolation from their mothers?
The monkeys did not mate. The females who were artificially inseminated became abusive mothers. The monkeys were fearful and easily frightened.
What did Harry Harlow find when he gave monkeys raised in isolation the choice of cloth-covered or wire substitute mothers?
The monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother. The monkeys went only to the wire mother to feed. The monkeys' social attachments depended more on warmth and intimacy than on getting food.
Which of the following best defines Mead's theory of the self?
The self begins at a person's most self-centered point.
Which phrase correctly describes the self?
The self is not a static phenomenon but continues to develop and change throughout life.
Understanding the expected values and behaviors of a job position can be vital to success.
True
Rank the steps of the process of developing a self-identity according to Cooley's concept of looking-glass self, with the first step at the top.
We imagine how we present ourselves to others. We imagine how others evaluate us. We develop feelings about ourselves as a result of various impressions.
Which of the following situations might lead you to engage in face-work?
You ask someone out and they reject you. You give the wrong answer when called on in class.
Learning to behave appropriately at work represents
a fundamental aspect of occupational socialization.
Personality refers to
a person's typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behaviors.
According to recent studies involving identical twins, what heavily influences human development?
both genetic factors and socialization experiences