Socialization Social Psychology SYP3000 Christina Partin1 Socialization Key question Are you the person you are because of your genetics or because of the environment you were raised in Nature vs Nurture argument Christina Partin 1 Feral children children raised in the wild tend to act less human and more animalistic Ex Genie The Wild Child Becoming a Social Being Phases of Socialization ways the newborn individual is molded into a social being occurs as a child is influenced by adults and peers outside the family when a person learns the norms associated with specific adult statuses Christina Partin 2 Theories of Socialization Behaviorism states that people learn from a system B F Skinner Rewards punishments teach behavior Behaviorism Christina Partin 3 Ivan Pavlov Rewards punishments can teach http nobelprize org educational games medicine pavlov index html John Watson You can teach like Behaviorism Behaviorism Christina Partin 4 PROBLEM with behaviorism How do you figure out the Rewards and punishments must be otherwise you will create learned helplessness where the learner Christina Partin 5 Children learn by mimicking so according to this theory you should expose your children only to role models that you want them to take after Developed by child psychologist Jean Piaget The brain grows and matures just like any other organ You have to introduce socialization when the brain is ready for it otherwise it won t work Christina Partin 6 Stages in Cognitive Development Stage 1 The Sensory Motor Stage ages Children are incapable of abstract thought Stage 2 Preoperational Thought Stage 18mo 7yrs Would be able to engage in abstract thought but could not The child has learned how to count but does not know how to move the object forward on a board game to correspond with the counting Christina Partin 7 Stage 3 Concrete Operational Stage 7yrs 11yrs Could relate two abstract objects like shape and size but would not be able to engage in hypotheticals Stage 4 Formal Operational Stage age and up Can understand hypothetical statements Christina Partin 8 Internalization The process by which something moves form the conscious you have to think about something to do it to the subconscious mind you can do it without thinking about it Studies show that Agents of Socialization primary agent of socialization most important agent outside the family involved in socialization in different ways throughout an individual s lifetime the dominant agent in middle and late adulthood most agent in American society Christina Partin 9 Continuity Discontinuity Theory Agreement between agents of socialization is continuity Disagreement between agents is discontinuity Socialization works best if which is Christina Partin 10