Department of Mass Communication

Code: 5638
Unit-XII

Self and Socialization

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

Objectives
After reading this unit along with the suggested readings,
you should be able to:

 Explain the social psychological concepts of the self and personality

and how they develop;

 Differentiate the three major approaches to the development of self;

 Elaborate the process of socialization;

 Identify the different approaches -- active versus passive; and nature

versus nature; and

 Comment on the three major theories of the socialization process

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.1 Definition
Social Psychology, (1980), S.L. Albrecht, D.L, Thomas, B.A. Chadwick, P.27-29

 All port listed seven aspects of selfhood that deserve special consideration.

 Body self, a sense of one's body as different from "other things".

 Self identity, the sense of continuity through time.

 Self esteem, the sense of wanting to do things and take all the credit.

 Self-extension, the sense of possessions, that some other people and things are
mine and some are not.

 Self-image, a sense of how others view me.

 Self-value, the things and events that a person esteem, most highly.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.2 Psychoanalytic Theory of the Self

According to him personality can be divided into three basic integrating parts.

 The id is the reservoir of drives present in the individual at birth and throughout life. It
is the unconscious part of the self. The self of the very young child consists entirely of
the id but the child soon learns through interaction with other people that the demand
of the id cannot always be satisfied. Accordingly,

 Ego emerges, It is the conscious part of the self that attempts to mediate between the
unconscious urges of the id and social environment. The child learns about the
demands of society from others, particularly from parents and internalizes these
demands into personality in the form of the ,

 Superego, is equivalent to the person's conscience. The superego is thus an internal

version of the rural authority of the society, and works through feelings of shame and
pride of influence the decision of the ego.

Sociology, (1980) IAn Robertson, P.102-103

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.3 The Symbolic Interaction view of the
self

 According to this theory, self is the combination of "I" the "Know"

and "Me" the "Known". James believes that "Me" is more important
than "I" because "Me" is a social object that was identified by others
response to the person.

 Cooley defined the social self as "a system of ideas, drawn from
communicative life". He believes that the self develops via the
reaction of others to the person. The resulting self-conception was
labeled the looking-glass self. The self is thus shaped by the
response and interpretation one receives from other people.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.3.1 Development of the Self

 According to Cooley (1902), there are three steps

in the development of the looking-glass self:

 Imagination of one's appearance to others

 The imagination of others judgment

 Some resulting self feeling. It is important to note

that the looking-glass self develops from the
imagination of the response of others.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.3.2 Multiple Selves
Symbolic-interaction theory implies that somewhere in the

individual there is a "core-self" that provides meaning and

identity as well as direction for action. However, some symbolic

interactions contend that we have multiple selves to deals with

social context.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

 2.4 The Behavioral View of the Self
 This view defines the self as the collection of several statements a
person makes about him/her self. A favorable self-concept or high self-
esteem is stating positive evaluations or receiving high score on a self-
concept scale and vice versa. Behaviorists explain that verbal or written
self descriptive statements are the only observe action we have of the
internal state labeled the self.

 This theory defined the self-concept as the frequency or self-

reinforcement or self-punishment. A favorable self-concept or high
esteem is conceived of as a high rage of self-reinforcement, a negative
self-concept or low self-concept is a high rate of self-punishment.

 In the behaviorist view, two basic processes, respondent conditioning

and operant conditioning are used to explain the development and
Respondent/
change in attitudes, including self-attitudes.
Operand
Classical
Conditioning
Conditioning
Ch. M. Rasheed Sal
2.5 Socialization
Definition
Socialization has traditionally been the study of the process by which a
human organism becomes a social being concerned with the rights and
duties and others, with ethical and unethical behavior, and so on.

Socialization is the process of social interaction through which people

acquire personality and learn the way of life of their society. Socialization
is the essential link between the individual and society -- a link so vital
that neither individual nor society could survive without it. It enables the
individual to learn the norms, values, language, skills, beliefs and other
patterns of thought and action that are essential for social living.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

 Socialization…
Personality thus includes three main components: the cognitive component of
thought, belief, perception, memory, and other intellectual capacities; the
emotional component of love, hate, jealousy, sympathy, anger, pride, and
other feelings; and the behavioral component of skills, aptitudes,
competence, and other abilities.

The
The Active
Active
Participant
Human
Participant
View
View Nature

Tabula
Tabula Rasa
Rasa
View
View of
of
Socialization
Socialization

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

2.6 Theories of Socialization
Social-
Psychoanaly
learning
tic Approach
Approach

Symbolic-
Cognitive
Approach

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal