Lesson 7.

Socialization and Personality Development

Introduction
A baby is born helpless and dependent. He needs other people like the members of his family
for the satisfaction of his basic needs like food, water, clothing, shelter and other provisions for his
survival. Without other people around him. Thus, at birth, he is mere biological organism, an individual
unmindful of and unsocialized to the ways of life of the group to which he belongs. As he grows and
develops, he is initiated in the ways of the society. He acquires the modes of thinking; feeling and acting
that are necessary for his effective adaption to the demands of his physical and social environments. He
learns the skills, abilities, attitudes, values, group expectations and norms that are necessary for his
effective functioning in the family and in the larger community. In the process, he acquires qualities that
make him a unique social being or, better still, a person. As a person, he acquires a unique identity, a
social self, and a personality composed of the totality of his physical, mental, social, emotional, and
spiritual traits.

Discussion and Analysis

Definitions and Nature of Socialization and Personality
Socialization makes it possible for society to perpetuate itself from one generation to another. A
child is socialized in the ways of his particular society. Socialization is the process whereby the cultural
heritage is socially transmitted from one generation to another.

Socialization refers to that lifelong process of learning and relearning as people move from
different stages of growth and development, or from one social group to another (Panopio,
1996).

Socialization is the process by which we acquire those modes of thinking, feeling, and acting
that are necessary to participate effectively in the larger community.

(page 120)

Socialization is the process by which we acquire social identities and internalize the values
and roles of our social world. (D. Light, 1995).

Socialization is the process by which a society transmits its cultural values to individuals in
order that can they can function properly as its members. It is a process whereby a person
acquires and internalizes that behavior, concepts, knowledge and skills that are essential for
social living. (Conklen, 1984).

Socialization is the process of fitting into an organized way of life and established cultural
traditions; it includes the complementary process of transmission of the culture and social
heritage and the development of personality. (Broom and Selznick, 1977).

Socialization is the learning process where the individual acquires a status, plays a
corresponding role and emerges with a personality. Social status refers to the social position
of a person in the group. Ascribed status is determined by birth where a person has no choice
like sex and age. Achieved status refers to the status which the person attains through his
efforts, intelligence and choice. On the other hand, social role refers to the functions, duties,
responsibilities and behavioral expectations attached to the social status.

Personality
Personality is the organization of the biological, psychological, social, cultural and moral factors which
underline a person’s behavior. It refers to a more or less enduring organizations of forces within the
individual, associated with the complex of fairly consistent attitudes, values and modes of perception
which account, in part, for the individual’s consistency of behavior (Barrnow, 1963).
Personality refers to the sum total of all the physical or biological, psychological or mental, social or
cultural, emotional, and spiritual traits of a person which underlie his behavior and which makes him
distinct, unique, or different from all the others.

Factors that Influence Personality Development and Self-Identity

Personality is the by-product of socialization process and is largely determined by the interplay
of heredity and environment.

1. Biological inheritance or heredity

Heredity refers to the physical and mental traits transmitted by the parents to their
offspring through the germ plasma. The child inherits the biological or physical structures
and mental capacity of his parents. All these affect socialization and personality
development because they set the limit on physical and mental development and what a
person can do.

(page 121)

2. Environment
Environment refers to the physical surroundings, both natural and artificial, which
affect the growth, development and existence of living organisms. It refers to the
geographic, cultural and social environment.

Relative Roles of Hereditary and Environment

Hereditary and environment (nature and nurture) interact in complex ways of forming our social
identities.

Hereditary provides the raw material or the potentials for growth and personality formation.
Such genetic materials set the limit for growth and development.

Environment, on the other hand, provides the opportunities, nurture and stimulation that would
determine whether the inherited biological makeup would be developed or stunted. A rich learning
environment can stretch genetic potential to its limit. But even so, a rich environment cannot overcome
the limitations imposed by the genetic endowment.

Theories of Personality Development

1. Freud’s Theory of Socialization
Sigmund Freud, a Viennese psychologists, holds that personality consists of three major
systems, namely:
a. Id
The “id” is the reservoir of sexual and aggressive urges. It is centered on the
satisfaction of basic needs like food and sex dominated by the pleasure principle.
b. Ego
The “ego” is the rational part of the self that interprets the information obtained
through the senses that finds realistic and acceptable ways of satisfying biological
cravings. The cognitive and intellectual processes are controlled by the ego.
c. Superego
The superego or conscience stand for the internalized ideas of right and wrong,
the traditional values and morals of the society. The id (biological drives) and the
superego (conscience) are continually in conflict; while the ego mediates between
them.
2. Cultural Determinism Theory

The cultural determinism theory held by Anthropologists’ views culture and the cultural
environment as the main factor that determines human behavior. Franz Boas’s view is that
personality development is a result of learned ways of the group. Ruth Benedict maintains that
individual personalities of members of society are tiny replicas of their overall culture, with the
culture as the sum total of their personalities. Personality is culturally conditioned. The
 personality of a member of a social group generally reflects the culture of the group to which
he/she belongs.

3. Symbolic Interactionism Theory

The basic idea in this theory is that personality is the result of the interaction between
individuals mediated by symbols or language. Language is crucial in the development of social
self.
Charles Horton Cooley (1964) calls the social self the “looking glass self.” This is the
conception of the self or the ability to visualize oneself through the responses of others. We
acquire our sense of self by seeing ourselves reflected in others’ behavior and attitude toward us
and by imagining what others think about us. The looking glass self involves three processes:
presentation, identification, and subjective interpretation. We start by ‘imagining’ the way we
appear to others, and then we ‘identify’ with how we imagine others judge that appearance
when we are wearing that shirt. Next, we conclude that others perceive us as charming and
fashionable (or sloppy and ‘badoy/baduy’), and we think of ourselves in similar terms. Then we
react to this image. We experience feeling of joy, happiness, and satisfaction (or despondency,
sadness, and dissatisfaction). Whether we will buy the shirt or not depends on a large degree
upon our positive or negative self-image based on the would-be behavior of other people once
we wear the shirt.
4. Biological Determinism Theory
This theory views the inherited biological structures as the main factor that determines
human behavior. The genetic endowments provide the foundations that determine the type and
quality of personality that will be formed through social interaction.
5. Labeling Theory
In this theory, personality is viewed as the result of society’s labeling on human behavior
as either good or bad. Different forms of behavior are given labels or tags through the consensus
of the members of the society. Behavior which conforms to the values, customs, beliefs and
norms of the society is labelled as good, ethical, acceptable and appropriate. Behavior which is
unacceptable and inimical to the group’s welfare is labeled as bad. In fine, the labeling theory
suggests that a particular behavior is neither good or bad. It is society’s labeling that makes a
particular behavior as either good or bad.

Agents of Socialization
Any person or institution that shapes a person’s values and behavior is an agent of
socialization. Most of the important socializers in our lives fall into five major categories – family, peer
groups, the media, the school, and the workplace.

Socialization for Sex Roles

The concepts sex and gender acquire different connotations in relation to socialization for sex
roles.

Sex refers to the general classification of human beings as males and females based on the
differences of their primary sex organs and their anatomical biological characteristics.

Gender connotes the physical, social and cultural indifferences between males and females.
Bases for classification are sex-role stereotyping, cultural prescriptions and proscriptions. Gender is the
result of socialization.

Gender identity refers to the conception that we have of ourselves as men or women as a result
of socialization.