SOCI 323 Social Psychology Session 5 Socialisation: the Humanising Process Lecturer: Dr. Peace Mamle Tetteh, Department of Sociology Contact Information: ptetteh@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 2016/2017 godsonug.wordpress.com/blog
Session Overview Though physical growth is granted given food and time, social growth is not automatic. Where does it come from and how is it done? How does an infant become a fully socialized adult, able to fully participate with people around him and in the world at large? These are some of the questions we seek to answer in this session. We shall explain the social learning theory and the classical sociological experiments that underpin it. At the end of the session, the student will be able to: define and explain the concept of socialization, identify and differentiate between the two main theories of socializationthe continuous process and stage theories of socialisation understand, explain and critique the social learning theory of socialization be able to explain and differentiate between the concepts of sex identification and gender socialization and its implications for social interaction Slide 2
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: Definitions of Socialisation Theories of Socialisation Sample Question Agents and sources of socialisation Gender Socialisation Session Summary Slide 3
Reading List Read chapter four (4) of the required test and the journal articles on this session posted on Sakai. Slide 4
Topic One DEFINING SOCIALISATION Slide 5
What is Socialisation? The total upbringing that prepares the child for full adult participation in sođietlj (Steven Penrod,2003). Those processes planned and unplanned by which an individual, inexperienced in a given society learns about and acquires that culture as an aspect of his behavior. (Roucek, in Abotchie,1998). The process by which people learn the characteristics of their group- the attitudes, values and actions thought appropriate for them (Henslin, 1997). Slide 6
Socialisation: Nature/Nurture Divide These definitions portray socialization as a broad and holistic subject: it involves physical, emotional, psychological, social and cultural training of the individual. Thus what you become in life is a result of the socialization or nurturing you receive. So what role does genetics play in who we become? Are people born a ĐertaiŶ ǁaLJ (ǁith ĐertaiŶ ďehaǀior ĐharaĐteristiĐs iŷ their ďlood as ǁe salj in our local parlance? Are people born the way they are (biology and genetic factors) or are they made who they become (socialization)? Is human behavior a culmination of nature and nurture? Do humans play active or passive roles in their development? In other words if people are born a certain way (genetic determinations), can socialization change these genetic factors or predispositions? And do humans passively accept external stimuli or actively seek and choose what controls our responses Slide 7
Topic Three THEORIES OF SOCIALISATION Slide 8
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Social learning is the process through which we acquire new information, forms of behavior, or attitudes from other people (Baron & Branscombe, 2012) This theory asserts that growth takes place continuously and its focus mainly is on the environment and experience. The process includes; Classical Conditioning (based on association) Instrumental Conditioning (based on reinforcements) Modeling and Observation (based on imitation) Direct Instruction Slide 9
Direct Instructions Individuals learn to exhibit any behavior when they are directly instructed to do so. For instance, parents may tell their child to hit back when he is hit. This instruction may subsequently influence the Đhild s behavior. Or again, police officers on assignment may have been directly instructed to shoot when they are attacked. This direct instruction is ultimately what their behavior will be in the face of an attack. See Stanley Milgram s Electric shocks Experiment on Obedience Slide 10
Observation and Imitation People imitate those they perceive as similar to them same sex People model a behavior they consider rewarding (reinforcements) People consider/take into account what happens to other people when deciding whether or not to copy soŵeoŷe s actions. Thus, a person learns by observing the consequences of other persons (models)-known as vicarious reinforcement Slide 11
Mediational Processes in Imitation Humans are active information processors, thinking about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences Thus individuals do not automatically observe the behavior of a model and imitate it There is some thought prior to imitation referred to as mediational processes This occurs between observing the behavior (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response) Slide 12
Mediational Processes in Imitation Attention: the extent to which we are exposed to the behavior. A behavior would have influence if we pay attention to it Retention: How well the behavior is remembered. The behavior but not only be noticed but also remembered to make impact Reproduction: the ability to perform the behavior that the model has exhibited (physical limitation may hinder us 80 year old dance) Motivation: The will to perform the behavior. This would involved consideration of the rewards and punishment that follow the behavior. Cost benefit analysis is then made before imitation Slide 13
Operant Conditioning Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at its causes and consequences. Operant conditioning deals with operants (intentional actions that have an effect on the surrounding environment) Based work on the concept of law and effect (what he called Reinforcement) Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tend to die out (weakened or extinguished) Slide 14
Operant Conditioning Behaviour would be modelled if it is reinforced Reinforcement can be external (compliments) or internal (feeling happy about being approved of); or positive or negative Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement offered does not match with the individuals needs Slide 15
Classical Conditioning Involves leaning a (new) behaviour via the process of association (learning phobias) Simply, two stimuli are linked together to produce a learned response in a person. Three stages of classical conditioning namely: Before Conditioning During Conditioning After conditioning Slide 16
Evaluating Classical Conditioning Emphasizes the importance of learning from the environment and supports nurture over nature It is scientific in nature-based in empirical evidence carried out by controlled experiments It is reductionist explanation of behavior- ie. Complex behavior is broken down into bits for analysis It is deterministic-does not make room for any degree of free will from the individual-that a person has no control over the reactions they have learnt such as a phobia Slide 17
A Critique of the Social Learning Theory Does not adequately explain some quite complex behavior- eg how we may not follow significant other or models Its emphasis on the environment influence on human behavior is limiting-cos behavior is more an interaction between nature and nurture than either one of them Sometimes there is no apparent role model in a persons life Slide 18
Topic Four OTHER VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE SOCIALISATION Slide 19
Other Factors that Influence Birth Order and Family Size Socialisation Interactions within the family (father, mother, siblings, step parents, grandparents, foster parents, househelps etc) Interactionsfrom outside the Family (school, religious group, (social)media, peers etc) Slide 20
Sample Question Critically evaluate the social learning theory. Slide 21
Topic Four SEXUAL IDENTIFICATION AND GENDER SOCIALISATION Slide 22
SedžDefiŶed Sex refers to the biological differences that exist between males and females. These differences are hormones (estrogen testosterone), internal sex organs (uterus prostate glands), external genitalia (clitoris penis) and reproductive ability (pregnancy impregnation). and and and and The sexual differences that exist between men and women are natural and remain relatively unchangeable.
Sexual Identification Sexual identification is the process by which males and females come to realize their different sexes either through biology or sex labeling. Though biology determines sex, it is not always the sole determinant! We have instances of hermaphrodites (ambiguous sex) where the individual arbitrarily chooses either sex to live. Again there are transsexuals who take on the identity of the opposite sex. Slide 24
Gender Role Socialisation Gender roles are defined as the different sets of behaviours that are exhibited by women and men. They are usually expectations regarding proper behaviours, activities of males and females. Gender roles usually occur in pairs, one for each gender. For instance men are usually thought to be breadwinners and women homemakers. In addition, toughness is seen as masculine where as tenderness as feminine. Gender roles are entirely socially created. Some societies do not necessarily assign these qualities to each Slide 25 gender.
Gender Role Socialisation Depending on which sex is established during sexual identification, sex roles are developed. Sex roles are learned through modeling or observational learning and through reinforcements. Children especially imitate their parents and also the actions of similar models more than those of dissimilar models. Hence, they gradually come to exhibit many of the behavior shown by their same sex parent. Sex roles are also learned through reinforcements. Parents provide positive reinforcements for the right models and punishment/ criticism for imitating models of the opposite sex. Slide 26
Eriksons Theory of Psycho Social Stages Slide 27
Summary of Session Socialization is a essential part of life-needed to equip the individual for full participation in society Many theories (continuous process and stages theories) that explain the nature and process of socialization Gender role socialization is one of the main components of socialization Slide 28
References Robert, B. and Branscombe, N. (2012). Social Psychology. 13 th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. & Akert, R. (2007) Social Psychology. 6 th Edition. Pearson Education Inc. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. & Akert, R. (2010) Social Psychology. 7 th Edition. Pearson Education Inc. Slide 29