Chapter 4 Sociology example #63696

Charles Horton Cooley developed the idea of self-concept from watching his own children play. It is an image of yourself as having an identity separate from other people. Children learn to judge themselves in terms of how they imagine others will react to them.

-we use others as mirrors to reflect back what we imagine they think of us. -part of a 3 stage process: -we imagine how we appear to others -we imagine the reaction of others to our appearance -we evaluate ourselves according to how we imagine others have judged us

Because the looking-glass we use comes from our imaginations, it may be distorted. The mirror may not accurately reflect others' opinions of us. This works even if we are mistaken about others' opinions of us.

We use our significant others as mirrors more than others. These are people whose reactions are most important to our self-concept.

-Role taking is assuming the viewpoint of another person and using that viewpoint to shape the self-concept. -ability for role taking is the product of a three-stage process. These are called the imitation stage (imitate behaviors without understanding why), the play stage(act as ways that others would), and the game stage(children anticipate actions of others based on social rules).

During the game stage, a child's self-concept, attitudes, beliefs, and values gradually come to depend less on individuals and more on general concepts. As this change takes place, a generalized other emerges.

The self is composed of two parts: "me" and "I" -"me"- part of the self formed through socialization -"I"- part of the self that accounts for unlearned, spontaneous acts

-Family- child learns to think and speak, form attitudes, acquire self-image, internalize norms, values, and beliefs, develop capacity for intimate, and personal relationships. -Schools- hidden curriculum- informal and unofficial aspects of culture that children are taught in school; schools have rules and regulations to cover almost all activities(dress code, hairstyle); young people depend on each other for social life -Peer groups(people of roughly same age)- experience in self-direction; young people experience conflict, competition, and cooperation; peers are more important in socializing children than parents; independence is promoted.

-provides children with images of achievement and success, activity and work, equality, and democracy. -offers children ideas about the values in their society. -behavior taken for granted- waitress, sheriff, hospital, hotel, languages different places, and other realtionships.

most studies conclude that watching aggressive behavior on television significantly increases aggression. -Ex: kid started house fire with matches imitating what he saw in a cartoon.

-John Bender- Juvenile delinquent; bold and outspoken; the criminal; insulting to others and disrespectful -Claire- snobby rich girl; acts perfect, no flaws; drama queen -Brian- nerd; sticks out; always wants to do the right thing -Andrew- jock; tough guy; sticks up for people in the group -Allison- basket case, steals things, weird outbursts, keeps to herself at first, and displays weird actions and acts nuts

-Bender becomes more caring and a good listener. -Claire isn't as snobby and isn't that much stuck up with herself anymore. Her and Bender get together. -Brian is alone at the end and writes the essay for everyone. He is caring as well. -Andrew is less selfish and doesn't act like a jock as much. He respects the others' and falls for Allison. -Allison acts more normal and isn't a basket case much anymore. She dresses up nice and falls for Andrew.