Socialization & Perception

Perception of people in our class

How do you appear in the eyes of those around you?

(List characteristics or qualities that others would use to describe

you)

Areas to Consider:

Personality

Popularity

Intelligence

Skills

Activities

Interests/Hobbies

Goals

Friendship

Clothing

Appearance

Now, we’ll see how others perceive us.

Put your name at the top of a piece of

notebook paper.

We’ll take a few minutes to pass the sheets

around

Only POSITIVE responses…If you do not have

anything positive to say, don’t write anything down!

SMART

POPULAR

SHY

SILLY

Questions to Ponder:

1. Does the perception/opinion of your peers reinforce what you

already knew or does it change your perception in a certain

area(s)?

2. Do you think or care about what other people think of you?

3. Are these accurate descriptions?

Charles Cooley (sociologist/professor at Univ. of Michigan) said,

“our sense of self develops from interaction with others”

Cooley coined the term “looking glass self”

the process by which our self develops through internalizing

others’ reactions to us

1. We imagine how we appear to those around us

2. We interpret others’ reactions (opinions)

3. We develop a self concept

Socialization into the Self and Mind

teachers, coaches, boss, other family members

Development of “self” is not always accurate

We sometime misinterpret how others think about

us

Self concept is ongoing, lifelong process

We monitor how other react to us (think of us)

and modify ourselves

Things to Consider:

Childhood Development:

George H. Mead & Taking the Role of the Other

•Mead agree with Cooley; however, he also felt a person

needs to understand others to develop a concept of

themselves and who they want to be. In order to do this,

Mead believed people need to put themselves into the shoes

of someone else to completely understand how someone

feels and thinks thus anticipating how that person will act.

Mead’s 3 Stages for “Taking the Role of Others” Three stages of development:

1. Preparatory stage (under 3 years) - child imitates basic behaviors without understanding

2. Play stage (3 – 6 years) - imitates and understands the role of the “significant other” (e.g. children play at being parents, doctors, police office, etc.)

3. Game stage (6 +) - imitates and understands the role of “generalized other” (children understand rules of game, different positions, etc.)

Play Stage

Playing “cops & robbers” or “doctor & patient”

Understands the roles of each “significant other”,

but is limited in the roles they can play

Game Stage

Child must understand the role of not only

themselves, but of those around him/her

E.g. baseball:

A little boy playing 1st base on a tee-ball team must

be able to anticipate what the pitcher will do, what

the hitter will do, what the catcher will do, and

respond accordingly (the “generalized others”)

Learn: the function of the organization (team)

and the role they play in the organization

(position)

Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Stages of Childhood Development

Jean Piaget

Swiss Philosopher

and psychologist…

focused on

epistemology

Piaget studied the natural process of how children

learn to reason; after years of testing Piaget

concluded children clearly go through 4 stages to

develop their ability to reason

•Studied his own children to better understand

Basic Theories…

1. The child used "schemas" to master and gain information about the environment

2. The sophistication of a child's cognitive structures increase as the child grows and develops, as does the child’s schemas

We understand the world through schemas…e.g. rattles

We assimilate new objects into preexisting schemas…e.g. dad’s watch

We accommodate objects that do not fit by changing our schemas…e.g. beach balls

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage (infancy)

2. Preoperational Stage (pre-school)

3. Concrete Operational Stage (childhood)

4. Formal Operational Stage (adolescence)

Sensorimotor Stage

Birth to Age 2

Child interacts with environment through physical

actions (sucking, pushing, grabbing, shaking, etc.)

These interactions build the child's cognitive structures

about the world and how it functions or responds.

Peek-a-boo

Out of sight out of mind…or at least existence

The here and now is all that exists for infants

Object Permanence is discovered (things still exist while out of

view).

Emerges between the ages of 7-12 months

Representational Thought

18-24 months: children will begin to visualize something

they’ve seen or experienced in their mind

Preoperational Stage

Ages 2-7

Understands past and present

Symbols develop however children do not understand common concepts such as size or causation

Conservation - a given quantity does not change even when its appearance is changed

This is why - according to Piaget, children are egocentric -

they have no sense of varied perspectives (cannot take the role of the other)

Preoperational Stage

Egocentrism

Concrete Operational (Reasoning) Stage

Ages 7-12

Reasoning abilities are more developed, but remain

concrete

Can now understand numbers, size, causation

Can take the role of the other

Classification & Seriation (ability to sort by size)

Reversibility - can identify relationships between

categories

Formal Operational (reasoning) Stage

Deductive Reasoning / Hypothetical Thinking

Abstract thought & problem solving

Age 12 - adulthood

Development of Personality

Testing Personalities

Aim to assess characteristics and identify psychological disorders

Objective vs. Projective Objective tests provide a limited

number of questions with responses - paper or computer based

Projective tests are unstructured and require interpretation on the part of the person being tested

Where do you fall on the Big 5?

Log on to the computer and navigate to the following website: http://www.personalitytest.org.uk/

Take the 41 question survey and write down your results for each of the 5 categories

Rorschach Inkblot Tests

Hermann Rorschach

How is the test implemented?

Psychiatrist will have a patient look at 10 inkblots individually.

The cards are placed in your hands in the sequence I will show you.

You are told you can do whatever you like with the cards and to respond as to what you see.

The psychiatrists will take notes as you respond.

1.

3.

4.

5.

Examining the Results:

Your responses should not be overly sexual, or negative…for instance, it is better to see two rabbits playing than two vampires fighting.

Butterflies, people holding hands, leaves, mountains, etc are all generally considered to be “safe” responses

The “TAT” Test

The Thematic Apperception Test

TAT Tests

Thematic Apperception Test is an example of a projective test.

The test claims to tap a subject's unconscious to reveal

repressed aspects of personality

motives and needs for achievement

power and intimacy

problem-solving abilities

Write A Story…

For the next 5-7 minutes, I will show you a picture.

You need to write a story about what you fantasize the picture is about… What has led up to the event shown ?

What is happening at the moment ?

What the characters are feeling and thinking, and ?

What the outcome of the story was.?

Sigmund Freud

was an

Austrian

physician who

founded the

psychoanalytic

school of

psychiatry.

Freud believed personality consisted of 3 elements:

The Id

The Ego

The Superego

The Id – inborn drives (impulses) that seek self

gratification

The id is pleasure seeking:

Food – Sex - Attention

The Superego – the conscience (our moral part)

Provokes guilt/shame or pride/satisfaction

The Ego – part of personality that maintains balance

between our impulses (id) and our conscience

(superego)

The ego balances the id so we aren’t out of control

from our inborn drives but also keeps the superego

in check so we aren’t to stringent or rigid

The Office:

Michael: id (childish and impulsive)

Dwight: superego (moralistic)

Jim: ego (sensible and balance – drive the office)

Two and a Half Men:

Charlie: id (pleasure seeking lifestyle)

Alan: Superego (straight-laced)

Jake: ego (stuck in the middle)

Sociologists object to Freud’s view that inborn and

subconscious motivations are the primary reason

for human behavior

This contrasts the basic ideas of sociology

Freud and Sociology

Moral

Development

Lawrence Kohlberg

Expands on Piaget –

focuses on moral

development

Identifies stages that we

move through as “moral”

social beings

Moral

Development

1. Amoral Stage

2. Pre-Conventional Stage

3. Conventional Stage

4. Post-Conventional Stage

Amoral Stage 1. Totally egocentric

2. No concept of moral

right or wrong

3. Kids want to be

fulfilled regardless

of the moral cost.

Pre-Conventional Stage Kids learn a fear of

punishment/obedience

Focus is on self-

interest

Usually develops in

early childhood

(preschool)

Conventional

Stage

Kids learn to conform to others

Rules and laws are upheld based on norms

Obedience without question

Usually begins around middle school

Post-Conventional Stage “The Social Contract”

Young adults develop their own ideas on important issues

Alternatives (from parents) are considered

Ideas are based on accepted principles

Usually occurs around college-age

1.Tamara has five tests in one day. She is a good student but did not have time to study for her French test. She knows the person next to her is also a good student. This girl has copied from Tamara on occasion. Tamara decides to look at the other girl’s test for the questions she doesn’t know. Besides, thinks Tamara, “I never should have five tests in one day anyways.” 2. Scott thought about leaving school early and going to a baseball game. He stayed in school because he was afraid of getting caught. 3. Juanita’s friends were at the mall, and someone suggested they do a little shoplifting just to see if they could get away with It. Juanita wouldn’t participate and said stealing is wrong. 4. Muhammad lives with his mother in a poor section of the city. His mother is quite Ill and needs outpatient services daily at a hospital some miles away from their home. Muhammad steals a car to take his mother to the hospital. 5. Martina, a young woman living in a war-torn region of the world, distributes food to orphans living In the streets. This activity is actually against the law. She frequently has to deceive the authorities In order to keep these children alive. 6. Grant wants to spend time after school volunteering at the hospital. However, he is a good basketball player, and practice interferes with this volunteer program. The coach and other teammates pressure him to play. Grant decides to play with the team.