Chapter 6- Textbook Flashcards
What is a personality?
An individual’s relatively stable pattern of behaviours and feelings.
What is the nature versus nurture debate?
The debate between whether biological forces or environment define the person we become.
What is socialization?
The lifelong process by which we learn our culture, develop our personalities, and become functioning members of society.
What is social interaction?
The ways in which people interact in social settings, recognizing each person’s subjective experiences and/or intentions.
What are the two basic approaches to understanding how we develop our personalities?
biological approach and the environmental approach, traditionally referred to as the nature versus nurture debate.
What does the nature side of the debate hold?
That our actions and feelings stem from our biological roots.
What does the nurture side of the debate argue?
That we are the product of our socialization.
What is sociobiology?
A science that uses evolutionary theory and genetic inheritance to examine the biological roots of social behaviour.
Which two people began sociobiology?
Konrad Lorenz and Edward O. Wilson
What did Wilson’s book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis apply?
The principles of Darwinian inheritance to show how human behaviours are selected for and passed on from one generation to the next.
What is the core assertion of sociobiology?
Social behaviour among humans, as with all organisms, has evolved over time to secure the survival of the species. The attributes that help an individual to produce offspring are elected for, and the attributes that diminish an individual’s ability to produce offspring are selected against.
What is evolutionary psychology?
A relabelled form of sociobiology that argues that Darwinian inheritance can explain contemporary human behaviour.
Why has empirical support for the assertion that human behaviour is determine by genetics remain contentious and only has limited support in the social science?
Social scientists suggest that to extend biological theories of behaviour beyond the animal realm disregards the ability of humans to think before they act. Our capacity to reflect on our own behaviour is one that social scientists believe must be fully recognized and appreciated. Some advocates for the evolutionary perspective also suggest that the structure of our brain, and the emotions and behaviours it inspires does not mean that the mind cannot transcend biology.
What do sociologist that remain committed to the belief that the factors influencing the people we become are defined not by nature, but by nurture, generally acknowledge?
That some genetic linkages exist and influence human behaviour.
What is the most compelling argument to explain why sociologists believe that we become the people we are through social interaction?
What happens when young children are isolated from human contact.
What do sociologists argue about social reality?
It is constructed by people every time they interact with others.
Human beings are the product of both___and___ ___.
- genetics
- social
- interactions
Our genetic makeup (___) gives us the capacity to be social beings, but it is the process of social interaction (___) that enables us to develop that capacity.
- nature
- nurture
Do sociologist argue that nature of nurture has a more central role in defining our behaviour than a genetic legacy from our past.
nurture
What is the self?
One’s identity, comprising a set of learned values and attitudes that develops through social interaction and defines one’s self-image. The self may be defined as “a composite of thoughts and feelings” from which we derive our “conception of who and what” we are.
What is self-image?
An introspective composition of various features and attributes that people see themselves as having.
What is the self a key component of?
Personality
What gives an individual the sense that they are unique and special?
The joining of the personality and self
What can consciousness not develop in the absence of?
Social interaction
According to Cooley, to be aware of oneself, what must one be aware of?
society
Why are self-consciousness and social consciousness inseparable?
Because people cannot conceive of themselves without reference to others.
What is the self a result of, acc. to Cooley?
Social interaction
What is the ‘I’?
Mead’s term for that element of the self that is spontaneous, creative, impulsive, and often unpredictable. The ‘I’ is the part of consciousness that responds to things emotionally.
What did Mead argue that the self is composed of?
Two complementary elements: the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’
What is the ‘Me’?
Mead’s term for the socialized element of the self. It is the part of consciousness that thinks about how to behave so that you don’t embarrass yourself. It helps us to control the spontaneous imposes of the ‘I’.
What demonstrates the dynamic relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’?
When we are compelled to act one way but discipline ourselves to act in another.
What are Mead’s significant others?
People we want to impress or gain approval from
What are generalized others, acc. to Mead?
A compilation of attributes associated with the average member of society; represents an individual’s appreciation that other members of society behave within certain socially accepted guidelines and rules. It is a reference point for proper and expected behaviour.
What is role-taking, acc. to Mead?
Assuming the position of another to better understand that person’s perspective. It is critical for empathizing with another person’s situation.
What concept is critical to explaining symbolic interactionists’ analysis of how we interpret ourselves, other people, and the social world?
role-taking
In order to investigate how young children are socialized, what are the three stages Mead asserted children pass through as they grow up?
1) Preparatory stage (birth to age 3)
2) Play stage (ages 3-5)
3) Game stage (elementary-school years)
Describe Mead’s preparatory stage.
- First experiences when interacting with others are to imitate what they see others doing
- Do not understand the meanings behind these early interactions
- Begin to develop the ‘I’, but the ‘Me’ is also forming in the background
Describe Mead’s play stage.
- Children learn a great deal about themselves and the society around them through play
- The ‘Me’ continues to grow because children want to receive positive reinforcement
- Language skills are developing throughout this stage.
Describe Mead’s game stage?
- Become increasingly proficient at taking on multiple roles at one
- Begin to identify with the generalized other
- The skills developed during the game stage are readily transferred to other real-life situations
- Language skills are refined through, and children begin to gain their first sense of self as a unique individual
During which of Mead’s 3 stages does primary socialization occur?
The game stage
