Chapter 5 Socializing the Individual

       We all are different. This is because we have different personalities. Some are more outgoing, others are shyer. Some are easy going and others have a quick temper. But why is this? Are we born with a personality or do we develop a personality? There are many theories on how we develop a personality or sense of self but there are still many debates over it.

       Personality is the total sum of behaviors attitudes and beliefs in one person. Our individual personality traits determine how we adapt to an environment. No individuals have exactly the same personality. People’s personality keeps changing over time specific traits change at certain times and at certain paces making personality development vary from individual to individual. A heated debate between social scientists is nature vs. nurture. Some argue that heredity, the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children, is the cause of an individual’s personality. Others say that it is the result of the individual’s social environment and learning. It is also argued that instinctual behavior can be taught. One of the most influential factors in someone’s personality development is culture. Culture gives individuals an example of the different personalities that can be found in that culture do that individuals can emulate them.

       There are cases, however, in which children live in isolation and don’t have culture’s influence. In a few cases feral children, wild or untamed children, were found living with animals. In other cases the children were found isolated in their homes by their family. These children had few human characteristics. They had no reasoning skills, no manners, no control of bodily functions and couldn’t move about like other human beings. An example is the case of Anna who at the age of six was given back to her mother because of the hostility of her grandfather. She had been confined to an attic and given the minimum amount of care. At the age of six she could not talk, walk or feed herself.  Anna died at the age of ten.

The Wild Child is a film based on a true story of a child found living in the woods.

       We all have a self. This self is our conscious awareness of possessing a different identity that separates individuals from other members of society. There are three theories of the social self. The first is Locke’s theory, the Tabula Rasa. Locke believed that human beings could be molded into any type of character. Tabula rasa literally means clean slate, on which anything can be written. He claimed that humans were not born with a personality but acquire a personality through their experiences. He said that if he were given a new born child, he would be able to mold that child’s personality into any type of character. Social psychologist Charles Horton Cooley is most noted for developing the looking -glass self theory. This theory explains how individuals develop a sense of self. The looking glass self is an interactive process by which we create an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others. Finally we have Mead’s role-taking theory. He had many of his idea based on Cooley’s theories. He claimed that seeing ourselves through others’ eyes is only the beginning. After a while we start to take or pretend to take the roles of others. This is called role-taking. This socialization process lets us know what is expected from us.

       Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to describe individuals, groups or institutions that force us to socialize. The first one is family. Family is the most important agent of socialization because it is the first interaction children have. Then there is the peer group which is a primary group composed by people of roughly equal age. This group is most important in early teenage and pre teenage years. School is another agent. People from the ages five to eighteen spend a lot of time and effort in school. One of the main goals in school is to teach children how to work with others. The mass media is one of the largest agents because it can reach many people with no personal contact- this includes television, magazines, the internet, newspapers and the radio. Finally there is resocialization in a total institution. A total institution is a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and are under tight control. Here the act of resocialization occurs which is a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms. Examples of total institutions are prisons, military boot camps, monasteries, and psychiatric hospitals.

Prisons are an example of total institutions.

       We can all agree that culture/society is a great influence on our personality. We have seen how it affects us and we have seen the effects of lack of societal influences on people. There are theories on how we develop a personality based on other people and society. Our personality can even be changed under strict control.