Review questions
what is socialization and why is it important for humans?
what is anticipatory socialization? what is one example of this?
describe mead’s three stages of self. what ages does each typically occur at? what activity might a child do in each of the stages?
discuss cooley’s looking-glass self. what are the three stages in this theory?
what happens to children who grow up in extreme isolation? what does this tell us about socialization?
critical thinking questions
describe the nature vs. nurture debate. which do you think has a greater influence on humans—nature or nurture?
which of the agents of socialization do you think is most important to teaching culture? why?
discuss one way that your family to socialize you to your culture’s norms or values. who was involved? what did you learn?
cooley argues that our self develops through interactions and our impressions about how other people see us. do you think that he is correct? why or why not?
sociologists argue that we internalize some norms so that we feel guilty or “icky” if we break those norms. what is an example from your own life of a norm that you’ve internalized? why do you think you’ve internalized this norm? (think about rules or behaviors that you’d feel guilty breaking or things that you can’t imagine doing because they would be really bad or gross to you find an example).