Briana Holguin

Soc 01

Socialization Nature vs. Nurture

Researchers choose to use twins to study how personalities are developed. By this they
are able to see how factors such as nature and nurture influence the way behavior and traits are
formed. Researchers usually use identical twins to form these studies since they share 100% of
their genetic make-up. Since identical twins show the alikeness of their families, has allowed
researchers to be able to make sense of what is shared by genes and environment. Another
interesting fact that I have discovered was how some researchers have studied twins who have
been adopted into separate homes. These studies exist to determine if there is a difference
between twin siblings who grow up into adults, to either be similar or dissimilar that were raised
in different environments. Most cases they do end up having similar traits and behaviors.
Heredity is what we get from our parents, the characteristics (physical & mental) that describe us
are from them such as hair color, skin color, and possible anxiety disorders. For example, I
believe that I inherited an anxiety disorder from my mother, she has an issue with panic attacks
and I just started experiencing them back in 2014, and now I have a panic disorder. But not only
that I have other same genetic characteristics such as big almond eyes that I get from my father,
same nose as my mother, and I also believe that I gained open-mindedness from my mother.

Self is described to being what and who we are as an individual being and how our
experience has an impact of how we uniquely identify ourselves as. The self is also made of two
parts, “I” and “me.” The I part is described what our self wishes to be free of others control and
just someone who is in-tuned with themselves. For example, the I part of my self wishes to be
more extroverted and not be afraid of what others think of me. The me part is what we learned
through our environment, such as the people around us (family, friends, etc.). For example, when
you’re a student you know not to be obnoxious during a lecture because its what we learned and
know how to act in a classroom. The me behaviors dominates the I’s, we can’t always. While the
looking glass self is based on three phases on how we perceive ourselves by others. The first
phase, we see how others see our actions, such as someone might start wearing expensive brand
clothing so that others could believe that they have money. The second phase, is how we are
judge by other of the course of our actions, since this person is wearing expensive clothing and
may look like they have money, people would want to be friends with them, by this they might
think they will start gaining a lot of friends and be popular. The third phase, we then make a final
self-judgment based on how other have judged you to be, people then start talking to this person
who is wearing expensive clothing and decided that they were gaining popularity and was what
they imagined when they decided to start dressing differently. Significant others are those who
have an important part in your life, they are the ones who you see everyday like teachers, close
friends and family members. Significant others are important of the stage “me” of the self
because they shape our environment and we learned so much from them through socialization.
Mead also includes three stages of self development. Stage one is known as “preparatory stage”
this is from the ages 0-3 years old, in this stage is when children tend to imitate the actions of the
people around them. Stage two is known as “play stage” this is starts at the ages 3-5 years old, in
this stage is when children begin to grasp the concept of seeing what kind of relations they have
with others. The third stage is known as “game stage” this is focused on early school years, when
children learn their social positions, demands, and expectations of other.

Goffman uses a method called the dramaturgical analysis that idolizes social interactions
and how culture play apart with one another. How does one show patterns of their culture within
socialization in any given situation? Goffman also uses terms such as front stage and back stage
that display different behaviors. In the front stage is where our actions are being watched by
others, mostly in public places. We sometimes do not realize that we are being monitor by
others, such as our behavior, how we talk and react to certain things, people are analyzing us to
see how we are and if they can relate to us. In the back stage is where we are free to do whatever
it is that we want, we believe that no one is watching us or judging us we are usually in a more
private place like at home. During this stage we are more relaxed and don’t have to worry about
what we do and let our guard down. Goffman also has ideas about impression management and
face-work, they both have a significant part of understanding social behavior, such as acceptance
by others. These social behaviors reflect based on our culture and norms.

The agents of socialization are important factors that influence on the way we socialize.
We are exposed to the agents of socialization as early during our childhood, such as in school,
within our family and even in media. The role of schools in gender role socialization is how our
behavior and personality have within school grounds, being males tend to be picked on more
while being a female you are more mature. Technology has such an important factor within
socialization, especially now since the growth of technology has scaled up. Such as those who
are not much of social person in person they can use the web (social networks) to have a voice
and yet people are still analyzing one another behind the screen.

Total institutions are places where certain people are away from society, these are
orphanages, mental health institutions, etc., for a period time of their lives. These are places
where one is deprived from outside social interaction and must obey the institution’s rules. A
degradation ceremony is used to achieve self humiliation. Such as in fraternity’s they use this
method for one to be accepted into their society.

Society deals with the elder population as to be wise and the ones who know and been
through it all. And some believe that they have no importance. Though in some cultures they are
viewed as important, the respect of your elder is one important rule in Hispanics and Asian
cultures. The differences between disengagement and activity theory is that disengagement
theory believes that the elder population is the final stage and relations in a society, while in
activity theory views the elderly still have an active part in society. A solution to ageism would
be to build better communication with them and have a better understanding on where they come
from because they have helped shape what society is today.