1. SOCIALIZATION: A STUDY GUIDE REVIEW
TEST PREP
STRUCTURE
45 QUESTIONS
ONE SHORT ANSWER

2. #1. What is socialization?
The lifelong social experience by which human beings develop their potential and learn culture.

3. #2. What is personality?
The term used for a person’s fairly consistent pattern of acting, thinking, and feeling.
Social experience forms its foundation.

4. #3. What is behaviorism?
The belief that behavior is NOT instinctive but learned – that human behavior is rooted NOT in nature but in nurture!

5. #4. What is the nature vs. nurture debate?
The question over the influence of biology/ genetic factors in contrast to the impact of social experience (socialization) in human development.

6. #5. What were the findings of the Harlow experiments on the effects of social isolation on rhesus monkeys?
The Harlow experiments to discover the effects of social isolation on rhesus monkeys showed that monkeys isolated for more than six months were highly anxious when returned to others of their kind.
Conclusion: Infant monkeys could recover from about three months of isolation. But by about six months, isolation caused irreversible emotional and behavioral damage.

7. #6. Regarding social isolation, what do the cases of Anna, Isabelle, and Genie all have in common?
Taken together, the cases of Anna, Isabelle, and Genie provide strong evidence that social experience has a crucial role in forming human personality.

8. #7. What was Freud’s focus?
Personality: id, ego, superego
An idea in Freud’s thinking that has special importance to sociology is his assertion that humans have basic, self- centered drives that must be controlled by learning the ways of society.

9. #8. What is the id? “Freudian term”
Our basic human drives or needs which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction
Is present at birth, making the newborn “a bundle of demands”
*Society opposes the self-centered id, which is why one of the first words a child learns is NO!

10. #9. What is the superego? Another Freudian term…
In Freud’s model of personality, the part of the personality that represents the demands of society, balancing innate pleasure-seeking drives.
Acts as our conscience - a moral sense of right and wrong!

11. #10. What was Jean Piaget’s focus?
Cognition: how people think and understand
Not what you know but how you know it
Aka “the acquisition of knowledge”
Identified four stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor : learning = senses
Preoperational: ages 2 – 6; glass experiment
Concrete-Operational: ages 7 – 11; more than one symbol recognition (Today is ____ & my birthday,too!)
Formal Operational: ages 12+; level of human development at which individuals think abstractly & critically; fully embraces symbolism/ multiple symbol recognition

12. #11. What was the focus of Kohlberg’s research?
Moral Reasoning
HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY PIAGET
BUILT ON PIAGET’S WORK IN STUDYING MORAL REASONING, THE WAYS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS JUDGE SITUATIONS AS RIGHT OR WRONG
CONCLUDED THAT MORAL REASONING, LIKE COGNITION, DEVELOPED IN STAGES…
Pre-Conventional Conventional Post-Conventional

13. #12. With which issue was Carol Gilligan involved / concerned?
Gender Issues / Equality
Inclusion of girls in sociological studies
Reacted to Kohlberg’s male-only studies
Extended Kohlberg’s research
Found that girls and boys typically use different standards in assessing situations as right and wrong.
By ignoring gender, we end up with an incomplete view of human behavior.

14. #13. What did Mead mean by “taking the role of the other?”
Imagining a situation from another person’s point of view…

15. #14. What did Cooley mean by the term “the looking-glass self?”
People see themselves as they think others see them.

16. #15. What / who is a “significant other?”
Parents
Those people who are most important/ influential.

17. #16. What / who is a “generalized other?”
Other factors, NOT people, influencing the socialization process
Widespread cultural norms and values people take as their own.

18. #17. How did Erik Erikson view socialization?
Believed that because we face challenges throughout the life course, development is actually a life-long process.
Recognized eight distinct stages with each stage serving as preparation for the next.
Infancy
Toddlerhood
Preschool
Preadolescence
Adolescence
Young Adulthood
Middle Adulthood
Old Age

19. #18. What are the four recognized “agents of socialization?”
Family
Impact:HAS THE GREATEST IMPACT ON SOCIALIZATION
THE FIRST TO TEACH SKILLS, VALUES, & BELIEFS
EVEN TEENS CONTINUE TO PLACE THEIR GREATEST TRUST IN THEIR PARENTS
See next three slides regarding:
School - Peer Group - Media

20. #18. Agents of Socialization, cont.
School
ENLARGES CHILDREN’S SOCIAL WORLDS TO INCLUDE PEOPLE WITH BACKGROUNDS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THEIR OWN.
TEACHES A WIDE RANGE OF KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS…
FEATURES “THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM” HONORING COMPETITION, ACADEMIC SUCCESS, SOCIETAL VALUES, ETC.
ARE MOST CHILDREN’S FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH BUREAUCRACY
RUNS ON IMPERSONAL RULES
A STRICT TIME SCHEDULE
“JUST A NUMBER” EX. JULIA = #17
THESE BEING THE HALLMARKS OF MANY ORGANIZATIONS THAT WILL EMPLOY THEM LATER IN LIFE.

21. #18. Agents of Socialization cont.
Peer Group: A SOCIAL GROUP WHOSE MEMBERS HAVE INTERESTS, SOCIAL POSITION, AND AGE IN COMMON.
UNLIKE FAMILY & SCHOOL, THE PEER GROUP LETS CHILDREN ESCAPE THE DIRECT SUPERVISION OF ADULTS.
OFFERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS INTERESTS AND TOPICS NOT DONE WITH ADULTS

22. #18. Agents of Socialization cont.
MEDIA: IMPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS AIMED AT A VAST AUDIENCE
SPREAD INFORMATION ON A VAST SCALE
NEWSPAPERS = > RADIO => TV
IN THE U.S., IT HAS AN ENORMOUS EFFECT ON OUR ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR.
HIGHEST RATE OF TV OWNERSHIP IN THE WORLD
THE AVG. HOUSEHOLD HAS THE TV ON FOR 7 HRS. A DAY
PEOPLE SPEND ALMOST ½ OF THEIR FREE TIME WATCHING

23. #19. What are the stages of the life course?
Childhood: approximately the first 12 years
Adolescence: aka the teenage years
Adulthood: 2 stages
Early: begins in late teens to early 30s
Middle: ranges from 40 – 60 years of age
Old Age: begins around mid-60s

24. #20. How do industrial societies typically define/ treat people in old age?
Not as respected as in more traditional societies
Diminished role / importance in the family
Seen as a burden
Nursing home reality boom
At times seen as vulnerable, “an easy target” for crime
Money scams
Car jackings
Parking lot muggings

25. #21. What are the five stages of dying according to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross?
DENIAL – “NO, CAN’T BE ME…”
ANGER – “THIS IS SO UNFAIR….”
NEGOTIATION – BARGAINING WITH GOD
RESIGNATION – DEPRESSION
ACCEPTANCE –
RATHER THAN BEING PARALYZED BY FEAR & ANXIETY, THE PERSON WHOSE LIFE IS ENDING, SETS OUT TO MAKE THE MOST OF WHATEVER TIME REMAINS….

26. #22. What is “anticipatory socialization?”
The term for when people model themselves after the members of peer groups they would like to join.

27. #23. What is a “total institution?”
An institution to radically alter a person’s personality or behavior.
Examples of identifying features:
Staff members supervise all spheres of daily life.
Inmates have standardized food, clothing, and activities.
Formal rules dictate daily routines.

28. #24. Resocialization
The process of eroding an old identity, then building a new identity.

29. #25. Rockdale What? Where? When? Why? How?
Case study / prime example of the impact of the peer group on adolescent behavior
1996 syphilis outbreak in a well-off Atlanta suburb affect over 200 teenagers and revealed lives unknown to parents: group sex, binge drinking, drugs, and violence
Where?
Conyers, Rockdale County, GA., USA
When?
1996
Between 3 – 7 pm.
After parents went to bed
Why? How?
Lack of guidance, structure
Lonliness => seeking acceptance

30. Happy studying!