Education For africa

Sociology

Sociology: How Past Experiences Affect Your Life

Sociologist Herbert Mead developed a theory known as social behaviorism, which helped

explained why past social experiences help form an individuals’ personality. Mead did not

believe that personality was developed by drives or biologically, but more on terms

socially. He stated that the self only developed when people interact with one another.

Without the interaction of other people an individual can’t develop a personality. An

example of this is if a child is left in total isolation for a long period of time then they

don’t mature both physically or mentally.

Next, social experience is crucial, and this includes the exchange of symbols. Only people

attach meanings to words and symbols. If you tell a dog to sit and it obeys then you may

give it a snack. However, this doesn’t mean it knows why to sit down, but it does so to get

food. You can tell a dog to sit for numerous of reasons such as wanting to impress your

friends, or to calm it down because it is running all over the place. Also, Mead noted that

understanding individual intentions is critical. This will help us to analyze how an

individual will respond even before we act. For example, when we’re driving we all

anticipate what others may do because of experience. If an individual behinds you is

speeding up rather quickly, then you can assume that they are about to switch lanes, or you

can assume that they are in a rush and need to get somewhere quickly. Mead refers to this as

taking another individual’s role.

three criterias

There are three criteria’s for crossing the line between abnormal behavior and normal

behavior. Abnormal behavior is usually deviant which means it abstracts from the norms of

society. However, remarkable people like Martin Luther King and Bill Gates are not the

average person but they are far from being abnormal. When a behavior deviate from what is

expected by society than it could be called abnormal. The second criteria are that it is

usually maladaptive which means that it interferes with a person’s ability to function

properly in the real world. Last, abnormal behavior includes personal distress. This means

that the person is deeply bothered by this and it causes them unnecessary pain and

suffering. The causes for abnormal behavior can vary tremendously.

We can look at several factors such as biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors

to help determine this. Psychologists who favor the biological approach tend to emphasize

the brain and genetic traits as the primarily cause of abnormal behavior. When using this

approach the primarily form of treatment is drugs or drug therapy. The biological approach

is used often in the medical model, which describes psychological disorders as diseases

related to biological origins.