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Chapter 3
Socialization
Chapter Outline
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Perspectives on Socialization
Agents of Childhood Socialization
Processes of Socialization
Outcomes of Socialization
Adult Socialization
Socialization
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The ways in which individuals learn and
recreate skills, knowledge, values, motives,
and roles appropriate to their position in a
group or society.
Perspectives On Socialization
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Is heredity or environment the more important
influence on behavior?
 Although both influences are important, one
view of socialization emphasizes biological
development (heredity), whereas another
emphasizes social learning (environment).
The Developmental Perspective
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Some theorists view socialization as
dependent on biologically determined
physical and psychological maturation.
 They see the development of many social
behaviors as primarily due to physical and
neurological maturation, not social factors.
The Social Learning Perspective
Emphasizes the child’s acquisition of
cognitive and behavioral skills from the
environment.
 Considers socialization a process of children
learning the shared meanings of the groups
in which they are reared.
 What is learned varies from group to group,
however the processes by which social
learning takes place are universal.
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Interpretive Perspective
Views the child’s task as the discovery of the
meanings common to the social group (such
as the family or a soccer team).
 This process requires communication with
parents, other adults, and other children.
 According to this perspective, development is
a process of interpretive reproduction.
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Components of Socialization
Agent - Someone who serves as a source for
what is being learned,
2. A learning process.
3. A target - A person who is being socialized.
4. An outcome - Something that is being
learned.
1.
Agents of Childhood Socialization
Family
2. Peers
3. School
1.
Children’s Living Arrangements,
2000
Arrangement
Working father/nonworking mother
Married, both working
Male-headed
Female, previously married
Female, never married
Cohabiting couple
Grandparents
%
21
41
2.3
10
5
4.1
6
Instrumental Conditioning
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A process wherein a person learns what
response to make in a situation in order to
obtain positive reinforcement or avoid
negative reinforcement.
 The person’s behavior is instrumental in the
sense that it determines whether he or she is
rewarded or punished.
Shaping
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Learning in which an agent reinforces
behavior that resembles the desired response
and later requires increasing correspondence
between the learner’s behavior and the
desired response before providing
reinforcement.
 Involves a series of successive
approximations in which the learner’s
behavior comes closer to resembling the
response desired by the reinforcing agent.
Punishment
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The presentation of a painful or discomforting
stimulus that decreases the probability that a
behavior will occur.
 Punishment is one of the major child rearing
practices used by parents.
% of Parents who Use Physical
and Psychological Punishment
Self-Reinforcement and SelfEfficacy
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Children learn behavior through instrumental
learning.
 Some of these behaviors will remain
extrinsically motivated, dependent on whether
someone else will reward appropriate
behaviors or punish inappropriate ones.
 Other behaviors will become intrinsically
motivated, performed in order to achieve an
internal state that the individual finds
rewarding.
Self-reinforcement
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As children are socialized, they learn
performance standards.
– The child uses these standards to judge
his or her own behavior and thus becomes
capable of self-reinforcement.
Observational Learning
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Refers to the acquisition of behavior based
on the observation of another person’s
behavior and of its consequences for that
person.
 By watching another person (the model)
perform skilled actions, a child can increase
his or her own skills.
Internalization
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The process by which initially external
behavioral standards (for example, those held
by parents) become internal and
subsequently guide the person’s behavior.
 An action is based on internalized standards
when the person engages in it without
considering rewards or punishments.
Outcomes of Socialization
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Outcomes of socialization include:
– gender role
– linguistic and cognitive competence
– moral development
– orientation toward work
Gender Role
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Behavioral expectations associated with
one’s gender.
 Children learn gender appropriate behaviors
by:
– observing their parents’ interaction
– Interacting with parents who reward
behavior consistent with gender roles and
punish behavior inconsistent with these
roles.
Language
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A child’s acquisition of speech reflects the
development of the necessary perceptual and
motor skills and the impact of social learning.
Main Components of Language
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–
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Sound system (phonology)
Words and their meanings (lexicon)
Rules for combining words into meaningful
utterances (grammar)
Stages of Language Acquisition
Pre-speech - Up to about 10 months.
Involves speech perception, speech
production, and early intentional
communication.
2. Word - 10 to 14 months. Involves the infant’s
recognition that things have names.
3. First sentence - 18 to 22 months
4. Grammaticization - 24 to 30 months
1.
Knowledge of Social Rules
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To interact with others, people must learn
social rules.
 Norms are beliefs about which behaviors are
acceptable and which are unacceptable in
specific situations.
 Without norms, coordinated activity would be
difficult, and we would find it hard to achieve
our goals.
Kohlberg’s Model Of
Moral Development
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Preconventional morality - Moral judgment
based on external consequences of acts.
 Conventional morality - Moral judgment
based on social consequences of acts.
 Postconventional morality - Moral judgment
based on universal moral and ethical
principles.
Preconventional Morality
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Stage 1: Obedience and punishment
orientation.
– Rules are obeyed in order to avoid
punishment.
 Stage 2: Hedonistic orientation.
– Rules are obeyed in order to obtain
rewards for the self.
Conventional morality
Stage 3: “Good boy/nice girl” orientation.
– Rules are obeyed to please others, avoid
disapproval.
 Stage 4: Authority and social-order
maintaining orientation.
– Rules are obeyed to show respect for
authorities and maintain social order.
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Postconventional Morality
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Stage 5: Social-contract orientation.
– Rules are obeyed because they represent
the will of the majority, to avoid violation of
rights of others.
 Stage 6: Universal ethical principles.
– Rules are obeyed in order to adhere to
one’s principles.
Adult Socialization
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In adulthood, socialization is concerned with
equipping the individual to function effectively
in adult roles.
 Three processes:
– role acquisition
– anticipatory socialization
– role discontinuity
Role Acquisition
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The major roles we acquire as adults include
spouse, parent, work roles, grandparent and
retiree.
– Midlife (40 to 60) involves several role
transitions:
• marital (divorce, widowhood)
• parental (children leave home)
• work (entry or exit)
• caregiver (aging parents)
Anticipatory Socialization
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Activities that provide people with knowledge
about, skills for, and values of a role they
have not assumed.
– Usually works best for future roles that are
highly visible.
– Eases role transition if future roles are
presented accurately.
– Entails goal setting, planning, and
preparation for future roles.
Role Discontinuity
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When values and identities associated with a
new role contradict those of earlier roles.
 On entering a discontinuous role, we must
revise our expectations and aspirations.