Social Psychology

The role of socialization in the formation of personality


Aim of this lecture

Introduce the connection between social phenomena and evolution.

Elucidate early social relationships in childhood and their impact on later life.

Explain social learning theory.




Lecture 1

Questions for thought:

  • Who influenced you the most in your childhood?
  • With whom did you feel safe and liked to learn from them?
  • How would you describe their being and behaving towards you?
Questions after reading:
  • What is Dunbar number?
  • How is social brain related to learning?
  • Who are the authors of attachment theory?
  • Explain role of attachement in early socialisation?
  • What kind of impact can early social experiences have later in life?
  •  Why does a child who is brought up restrictively often show more attachment behaviour than usual?
  • What are 'parental styles' and why are they important?
  • If a child bonds too closely with his or her teacher, what may this indicate about the child's home life?
  • Explain the importance of trust in early social development.
  • Why are the children from socially and economically underprivileged homes often at a disadvantage when they start school?



Social phenomena in terms of evolution





Social relationships in early childhood


Chyba: Odkazovaný objekt neexistuje nebo nemáte právo jej číst.
https://is.muni.cz/el/ped/podzim2021/SZ6609/110617354/Fontana__1995__Psychology_for_teachers._Early_social_development.pdf



Social learning theory

Observational learning, imitation (Albert Bandura)

 - learning through imitation and observation happens as a result of vicarious reinforcement: by observing a model’s behavior, the imitator expects to be reinforced just like the model was. Humans learn many complex and social behaviors through observational learning. Some imitation is the result of simple conditioning (e.g. mother’s fear of insects develop fear in her children).

The models of behavior can be:

  • real life - children learn how to behave and respond to others by observing how their parents, relatives and teachers interact with each other and with other people (ideally modelling prosocial behaviors)
  • symbolic - presented in text or pictures (fairy tales, stories)
  • representational - audiovisual (TV, PC games)
These observed activities are copied and perpetuated because they were rewarded or were pain-avoiding in their consequence. The mechanisms of observational learning were studied and described by Albert Bandura and they were extremely important for understanding learned aggression in children and adults. Theories about learned aggression challenged dominant views about cathartic properties of observing violence (e.g. in films). 


Unlike primates or any other animals, human children are prone to "overimitation". It is thought to be a result of a cultural influence in the area of ritualisation of behaviors and of obedience to authority (social conformity)