October 28, 2020
Theme: Individuals, Groups, & Institutions
Question 1: How are our expressions of “self” governed by our perceived responses by others?
Other people’s responses govern our expressions of self, where our responses usually follow the social contexts as humans are social beings different from animals.
Question 2: How does Mead’s “Nature of the Self” shape social interactions?
The nature of ‘self’ shapes social interactions in dictating how individuals should behave hence awareness.
Directions:
- Annotate the text by highlighting important information that allows you to answer the guiding question.
- After highlighting, take a couple of notes based on the reading below.
- Answer the corresponding focus questions.
Notes (based on reading):
- The choice of behavior in individuals stems from social interactions.
- The social interactions that individuals get conditioned to result in them seeing themselves as seen by other people in society.
- Individuals tend to be different from animals in conforming to the ‘I’ and ‘Me’ parallel parts that make up the ‘self’ aspect that animals lack.
- Human behavior tends to be more conforming to social interactions and social context rather than instinctive.
Focus Questions:
1) According to Mead, how are people different from animals? Cite evidence from the text.
People are different from animals, according to Mead, since humans have the parallel parts depicted as the ‘self’ which animals lack. With the parallel parts, humans get the ‘self-concept’ and hence aware, a fete that animals lack.
2) How do the “I” and “Me” shape social interaction?
The ‘I’ and ‘Me’ aspects shape social interactions since through ‘Me,’ they put themselves in other people’s shoes and behave in a manner that they expect an individual to act. This way, they agree to the social aspects and hence shape social interactions.
3) What is the “Nature of the Self?” How can you tell?
The nature of self is individuals’ ability to choose to act in a manner dictated by a social context despite being conscious thinking individuals. You can tell of the nature of self in an individual through an individual’s actions getting conditioned by the social context where they see themselves as other people see them.
Activity #2: Can we apply Mead’s theory to societal actions?
Directions: Read each scenario and complete the graphic organizer.
| Scenario | Audience | Instinctive Reaction
(I) |
What action would you take? (Me) | Explain your action?
(Self) |
|
A classmate punches your brother.
|
The audience will laugh and find the action amusing.
|
For punching my brother, I will want to retaliate and punch the classmate back. | I will laugh alongside my classmates and let my brother finish his fights. | Laughter would be appropriate since we are all peers and like joking around where hitting my classmate would be overreacting. |
|
A police officer arrests you for a crime you did not commit.
|
The crowd will sympathize and want to know whether I was guilty of the crime.
|
I will want to resist the arrest since I did not commit the crime. | Eventually, I will opt to go with the police and try to prove that I am innocent in the court of law. | Acting hastily in resisting arrests can lead to more consequences that may be detrimental and hence better to prove my innocence. |
| A TV reporter conducts a surprise interview about the crime you did not commit but was arrested for. |
The audience will be attentive and curious to know whether I was guilty or arrested for a crime I did not commit.
|
I will want to curse and conduct the interview bitterly, cry for being arrested wrongfully, and call for help from anyone who can help. | Being that the interview will be aired to all audiences, I will compose myself and communicate with the reporter in proving I am innocent by providing my alibis. | Acting impulsively will only have me look bad and cursing on television inappropriate. Instead, taking the chance to prove my innocence on TV appropriately will be beneficial to my case, thus accounting for the composure. |
|
A waiter spills food on you while you are on a date.
|
The audience will expect me to understand that accidents do happen and ask the waiter to be careful.
|
I will want to curse loudly and insult the waiter for being careless. | I will control my anger, ask the waiter to be careful next time, and excuse myself to go clean up. | Despite wanting to act angrily, the audience will expect me to understand that accidents happen, and no waiter will intentionally spill food on a client. The case will thus lead to my controlled anger and composure. |
|
A baby burns your apartment down. (baby survives)
|
The audience will be terrified and will fear for the child, thankful that the baby survived.
|
The first impulse will be to get very angry and curse loudly at the baby for burning down my apartment. | I will be glad that the baby survived and ask him not to play with fire as it is dangerous and destructive. | The accident could have ended up with the baby not surviving and hence lead to my understanding that babies are curious and, therefore, glad that they survived but leave them with a stern warning on playing with fire. |
Question 3: How can we use symbolic interactionism theory to explain the “self?”
We can use symbolic interactionism to explain the ‘self’ in theory, bringing the aspect of an individual’s behavior as expected by social interactions. The approach brings the ‘self-concept’ where individuals base their actions on social contexts and explain their behavior that is different from that of animals.