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Socialization is the process by which human infants begin to acquire the skills necessary to perform as a functioning member of their society, and is the most influential learning process one can experience.[9] Unlike many other living species, whose behavior is biologically set, humans need social experiences to learn their culture and to survive.[10] Although cultural variability manifests in the actions, customs, and behaviors of whole social groups (societies), the most fundamental expression of culture is found at the individual level. This expression can only occur after an individual has been socialized by his or her parents, family, extended family, and extended social networks. This reflexive process of both learning and teaching is how cultural and social characteristics attain continuity. Many scientists say socialization essentially represents the whole process of learning throughout the life course and is a central influence on the behaviour, beliefs, and actions of adults as well as of children.[11] Klaus Hurrelmann From the late 1980s, sociological and psychological theories have been connected with the term socialization. One example of this connection is the theory of Klaus Hurrelmann. In his book "Social Structure and Personality Development" (Hurrelmann 1989/2009), he develops the "Model of Productive Processing of Reality (PPR)." The core idea is that socialization refers to an individual's personality development. It is the result of the productive processing of interior and exterior realities. Bodily and mental qualities and traits constitute a person's inner reality; the circumstances of the social and physical environment embody the external reality. Reality processing is productive because human beings actively grapple with their lives and attempt to cope with the attendant developmental tasks. The success of such a process depends on the personal and social resources available. Incorporated within all developmental tasks is the necessity to reconcile personal individuation and social integration and so secure the "I-dentity." (Hurrelmann1989/2009: 42) Lawrence Kohlberg Lawrence Kohlberg's (1981) theory of moral development studied moral reasoning (how individuals judge situations as right from wrong) within three stages of young childhood. The first is the pre-conventional stage, where children experience the world in terms of pain and pleasure. Second, the conventional stage appears in the teen years of maturation. Teenagers learn to define right and wrong according to the desires of their parents and begin to conform to cultural norms resulting in a decrease of selfishness. The last stage of moral development is the post-conventional level where people move beyond society's norms and consider abstract ethical principles.[12] Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan compared the moral development of girls and boys in her theory of gender and moral development. She claimed (1982, 1990) that boys have a justice perspective meaning that they rely on formal rules to define right and wrong. Girls, on the other hand, have a care and responsibility perspective where personal relationships are considered when judging a situation. Gilligan also studied the effect of gender on self-esteem. She claimed that society's socialization of females is the reason why girls' self-esteem diminishes as they grow older. Girls struggle to regain their personal strength when moving through adolescence as they have fewer female teachers and most authority figures are men.[13] Erik H. Erikson Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994) explained the challenges throughout the life course. The first stage in the life course is infancy, where babies learn trust and mistrust. The second stage is toddlerhood where children around the age of two struggle with the challenge of autonomy versus doubt. In stage three, preschool, children struggle to understand the difference between initiative and guilt. Stage four, pre-adolescence, children learn about industriousness and inferiority. In the fifth stage called adolescence, teenagers experience the challenge of gaining identity versus confusion. The sixth stage, young adulthood, is when young people gain insight to life when dealing with the challenge of intimacy and isolation. In stage seven, or middle adulthood, people experience the challenge of trying to make a difference (versus self-absorption). In the final stage, stage eight or old age, people are still learning about the challenge of integrity and despair.[14] George Herbert Mead George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) developed a theory of social behaviorism to explain how social experience develops an individual's self-concept. Mead's central concept is the self: It is composed of self-awareness and self-image. Mead claimed that the self is not there at birth, rather, it is developed with social experience. Since social experience is the exchange of symbols, people tend to find meaning in every action. Seeking meaning leads us to imagine the intention of others. Understanding intention requires imagining the situation from the others' point of view. In effect, others are a mirror in which we can see ourselves. Charles Horton Cooley (1902-1983) coined the term looking glass self, which means self-image based on how we think others see us. According to Mead the key to developing the self is learning to take the role of the other. With limited social experience, infants can only develop a sense of identity through imitation. Gradually children learn to take the roles of several others. The final stage is the generalized other, which refers to widespread cultural norms and values we use as a reference for evaluating others.[15] Judith R. Harris Group Socialization. Judith R. Harris (b. 1938) graduated magna cum laude with her masters degree in psychology from Harvard University. She received the George A. Miller Award for her proposed theory of group socialization (GS theory). This theory states that a child’s adult personality is determined by childhood and adolescent peer groups outside of the home environment and that “parental behaviors have no effect on the psychological characteristics their children will have as adults.” Harris proposes this theory based on behavioral genetics, sociological views of group processes, context-specific learning, and evolutionary theory.[16] While Harris proposed this theory, she attributes the original idea to Eleanor E. Maccoby and John A. Martin both of whom are doctors at Standford University and wrote the chapter on family socialization found in the fourth edition of the Handbook of Child Psychology. After extensively reviewing the research conducted on parent-child interactions, Maccoby and Martin (1983) state that their findings suggest that parental behavior and the home environment has either no effect on the social development of children, or the effect varies significantly between children.[17] Behavioral genetics suggest that up to fifty percent of the variance in adult personality is due to genetic differences.[18] The environment in which a child is raised accounts for only approximately ten percent in the variance of an adult’s personality.[19] As much as twenty percent of the variance is due measurement error.[20] This suggests that only a very small part of an adult’s personality is influenced by factors parents control (i.e. the home environment). Harris claims that while it’s true that siblings don’t have identical experiences in the home environment (making it difficult to associate a definite figure to the variance of personality due to home environments), the variance found by current methods is so low that researchers should look elsewhere to try to account for the remaining variance.[16] Harris also states that developing long-term personality characteristics away from the home environment would be evolutionarily beneficial because future success is more likely to depend on interactions with peers than interactions with parents and siblings. Also, because of already existing genetic similarities with parents, developing personalities outside of childhood home environments would further diversify individuals, increasing their evolutionary success.[16] |
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