Deck 4: Socialization and the Life Course

Question 1

Which of the following best exemplifies resocialization?

A) a child learning how to say thank you as she receives a gift
B) a recruit learning the rules of the military in boot camp
C) a student repairing a car engine for the first time by herself
D) a pregnant woman learning how to be a parent in a parenting class

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What percent of American teens go online at least once a day?

A) less than 30
B) 50
C) 70
D) more than 90

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In contrast to modern societies, a person's lifelong position in most premodern societies was mostly determined by the:

A) city in which a person was born
B) amount of education a person achieved
C) occupation and income a person achieved
D) family into which a person was born

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In 2015, about how many hours of television did the average American watch per day?

A) 1
B) 3
C) 6
D) 9

Question 5

Which is the main agent of socialization associated with primary socialization in most modern societies?

A) small-scale families
B) extended multigenerational households
C) television and other media
D) peer groups

Question 6

What is an example of the hidden curriculum?

A) encouraging boys to take advanced math and science classes
B) making physical education classes a graduation requirement
C) providing nutritious school lunches
D) requiring graduating seniors to pass a minimum skills test

Question 7

Diego is going through the most concentrated period of socialization in his life. What is he experiencing?

A) formal operational socialization
B) primary socialization
C) secondary socialization
D) generalized other socialization

Question 8

What percent of all Americans use social media?

A) less than 30
B) 50
C) 70
D) more than 90

Question 9

Formalized peer groups in small traditional cultures are known as:

A) age-grades
B) peer groups
C) agents of socialization
D) social identity

Question 10

Which of the following best exemplifies anticipatory socialization?

A) a child learning how to say thank you as she receives a gift
B) a recruit learning the rules of the military in boot camp
C) a student repairing a car engine for the first time by herself
D) a pregnant woman learning how to be a parent in a parenting class

Question 11

One can generalize from Barrie Thorne's (1993) research that children:

A) rigidly enact the behaviors of adults
B) are creative actors in their own socialization
C) are ultimately unable to resist or alter socialization
D) influence their peers more than they are influenced by them

Question 12

Based on the text discussion, one can infer that for humans to be adequately socialized, it is imperative that they have:

A) two parents: a mother and a father
B) formal schooling
C) regular social interaction with adults
D) educational toys, particularly books

Question 13

The process of perpetuating values, norms, and social practices through socialization, which leads to structural continuity over time, is known as:

A) cognitive development
B) the life course
C) social reproduction
D) social interaction

Question 14

The various transitions and stages people experience during their lives are known as:

A) cognitive development
B) socialization
C) social reproduction
D) the life course

Question 15

Mia is a working-class parent. According to Annette Lareau, she is likely to:

A) promote accomplishment of natural growth
B) practice concerted cultivation
C) closely monitor the development of her children
D) enroll her children in the city youth orchestra and club soccer team

Question 16

Devah's friends include Victor and Amina. They are all of similar age and social background. Victor and Amina would be part of Devah's:

A) generalized other
B) peer group
C) master status
D) social identity

Question 17

Joe is learning from his parents the values and norms of American society. He is going through a process known as:

A) cognitive development
B) socialization
C) self-consciousness
D) the life course

Question 18

Alma is in later childhood, and her peers, the media, and other social institutions are important socializing forces. She is experiencing:

A) formal operational socialization
B) primary socialization
C) secondary socialization
D) young adulthood socialization

Question 19

Erving wants to minimize the number of violent acts that his daughter watches. Which type of television program should he avoid since it has the most violent acts per episode?

A) action-adventure programs
B) news shows
C) crime-detective programs
D) cartoons

Question 20

Tiffany is a fifth-grade girl who is not considered popular at her school. The most popular girls do not yet wear bras. According to Barrie Thorne, Tiffany would likely:

A) see wearing a bra as desirable
B) be proud to be the first to wear a bra
C) be embarrassed to be the first to wear a bra
D) not care, since fifth grade girls do not talk about their changing bodies

Question 21

Mary is a student, a daughter, and a paraplegic. When others interact with her, they focus only on her disability. For Mary, being paraplegic would be a(n):

A) social role
B) master status
C) generalized other
D) egocentric self

Question 22

When did the idea of the teenager come into existence?

A) with the invention of the printing press
B) soon after the American Revolution
C) when compulsory education and child-labor laws were enacted
D) with the recognition of child abuse and neglect as a social problem

Question 23

Trevor is assessing his past choices and accomplishments and making new choices that prepare him for the second half of his life. Which stage of the life course is he in?

A) adolescence
B) young adulthood
C) midlife
D) later life

Question 24

Referring to the studies conducted by Albert Bandura, which experimental condition was the most powerful with respect to influencing children to act aggressively?

A) observing an actual actor behaving aggressively
B) watching a videotaped actor behaving aggressively
C) watching a cartoon version of aggression
D) observing no aggression

Question 25

According to George Herbert Mead, children develop a sense of self by:

A) going through distinct stages of sensorimotor development
B) going to school and learning to read
C) imitating the actions of other people
D) doing what their parents tell them to do

Question 26

What is the difference between social identity and self-identity?

A) Social identity is a static concept, whereas self-identity is dynamic.
B) Social identity focuses on similarities among people, whereas self-identity focuses on individual differences.
C) Social identity describes work identities, whereas self-identity describes family identities.
D) Social identity is a sociological concept, whereas self-identity is a psychological concept.

Question 27

The belief that individuals adopt the social roles in which they are placed ignores the idea that:

A) men are more programmed than women to accept the norms of the dominant society
B) social roles rarely reflect societal consensus
C) humans exercise agency
D) there is little internalization of social roles in adults

Question 28

How is childhood today a different experience from childhood a few hundred years ago?

A) Children today are seen as miniature adults, whereas in the past children were portrayed as completely without adult characteristics.
B) Children today play fewer childhood games than children in the past.
C) Children today are seen as being in a unique stage, whereas in earlier times, childhood blended with other stages.
D) Children today are less coddled by their parents than in the past.

Question 29

The concept of childhood as a particular stage in the life cycle has its origins in:

A) ancient biblical readings
B) medieval times
C) relatively recent modern times
D) traditional patriarchal societies

Question 30

Which of the following statements about video games is true?

A) Few parents believe that playing video games helps families spend more time together.
B) Few teenage girls play video games on their phone, computer, or game console.
C) Rapid-action games with very violent imagery may desensitize players to violence.
D) Most fast-paced video games harm children's spatial abilities.

Question 31

Social roles can be defined as:

A) social parts people play when socialization has not been completed
B) social positions determined exclusively by position at birth
C) social status achieved by personal accomplishment, not by birth
D) socially defined expectations for a person in a given social position

Question 32

Sociologist Frank Furstenberg points out that young adulthood facilitates a stage in personal and sexual development in modern societies, with five tasks considered crucial to transitioning to adulthood-leaving home, finishing school, marriage, children, and financial independence. Which of the following statements concerning Furstenberg's observations is true?

A) A higher percentage of people achieve all five milestones before the age of 30 now than in 1960.
B) Furstenberg laments the fact that young people "refuse to grow up."
C) Furstenberg believes that adults today settle too soon on a career and spouse.
D) Young people today define adulthood in terms of abstract traits like self-reliance and happiness.

Question 33

Who documented the ways workers learn to feel and then display socially acceptable emotions at work?

A) Albert Bandura
B) Arlie Hochshchild
C) Barrie Thorne
D) Annette Lareau

Question 34

Certain stages in the life course have expanded, whereas others have contracted. Which of the following best characterizes this trend?

A) Childhood is expanding in time as we increasingly become more child centered.
B) Adolescence and young adulthood are expanding as young people extend their education and postpone their movement into mature adulthood.
C) Midlife adulthood is shrinking as the number of premature deaths cuts this stage short.
D) Later life is shrinking as more people remain active for a longer period.

Question 35

Compared to traditional societies, which of the following statements concerning self-identity today is true?

A) Identities are now fixed and inherited.
B) Identities are now simplified and stable.
C) We have unprecedented opportunities to create our own identities.
D) The social world offers very restrictive guidance with respect to what choices we can make.

Question 36

The highest status in traditional cultures was the age-grade of a(n):

A) child
B) teenager
C) young adult
D) elder

Question 37

The process of self-development through which we establish a unique sense of who we are as a person and our relationship to the rest of the world is known as:

A) social identity
B) social reproduction
C) self-identity
D) anticipatory socialization

Question 38

According to the text, functionalists argue that social roles:

A) involve negotiation and creativity
B) are unchanging social facts that are part of a society's culture
C) really serve no inherent function in supporting social structure
D) are in a constant state of change

Question 39

Most experts agree that roughly _____ reports of child abuse are made to law enforcement authorities each year.

A) 100,000
B) 300,000
C) 1 million
D) 3 million

Question 40

The French historian Philippe Ariès argues that childhood did not exist in medieval times. He supports this assertion by pointing out that:

A) children were considered economic liabilities
B) in paintings, children were portrayed participating in the same work and play activities as adults
C) children had rights and child labor was considered morally repugnant
D) literature from the time period speaks of children being consulted in family decisions

Question 41

At a social event, you chat with someone you meet about your family, telling them that your brother is older than you and your sister is older than your brother. They then ask you who is the youngest in the family. Jean Piaget would say that this person has not reached the:

A) sensorimotor stage
B) concrete operational stage
C) formal operational stage
D) preoperational stage

Question 42

Whose theoretical approach is most closely tied to Nancy Chodorow's theory of gender development?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) George Herbert Mead
C) Jean Piaget
D) Albert Bandura

Question 43

Nancy Chodorow's theory can be problematic when one is examining gender socialization in:

A) poor families
B) biracial families
C) single-parent families
D) middle-class families

Question 44

Carol Gilligan (1982) found that men see the emphasis women put on personal relationships and caring for others:

A) as essential for a successful marriage
B) as a challenge to their masculinity
C) as a weakness
D) as just as important as their emphasis on individual achievement

Question 45

Women are more sensitive and compassionate than men, according to Nancy Chodorow's theory of gender development, because they are:

A) instinctively more sympathetic
B) able to stay emotionally and physically closer to their mothers
C) more likely to reach the formal operational stage
D) less egocentric

Question 46

What is a criticism that can be made of Freud's view on gender identity development?

A) Freud does not focus enough on genital awareness.
B) Freud's theory depends on the notion that the vagina is superior to the penis.
C) Freud downplays the importance of the mother-child relationship.
D) Freud did not understand that the possession and absence of the penis are symbolic of masculinity and femininity.

Question 47

According to Jean Piaget, the ability to understand things from a different perspective does not take place until the:

A) preoperational stage
B) concrete operational stage
C) formal operational stage
D) sensorimotor stage

Question 48

According to Nancy Chodorow's theory of gender development, men develop their sense of masculinity by:

A) rejecting their closeness to their mothers and learning what is not feminine
B) developing a gendered self-consciousness
C) noticing they have a penis
D) successfully reaching the formal operational stage

Question 49

Brown, Tanner-Smith, and Lesane-Brown (2009) found that positive effects of race socialization were most evident among children who had ____ conversations with their parents about their racial background.

A) no
B) very infrequent
C) moderately frequent
D) very frequent

Question 50

According to Sigmund Freud, the learning of gender differences centers on the:

A) relationship with one's father
B) attachment to one's mother
C) development of morality
D) presence or absence of a penis

Question 51

George Herbert Mead referred to the general morals and values of the culture in which a child develops as the:

A) social self
B) social identity
C) generalized other
D) looking-glass self

Question 52

Race socialization as examined by Brown et al. (2006) was focused on black parents and their children, but an important conclusion of their work suggests that white parents and children must be socialized in order to:

A) learn to be proud of their white heritage
B) recognize and fight racism
C) recognize and fight reverse racism
D) become color blind

Question 53

According to Carol Gilligan's (1982) research, women and men differ in their view of moral judgments, with women tending to see contradictions between:

A) self-interest and altruism
B) sociological and psychological approaches
C) following strict moral guidelines and avoiding harm to others
D) feminist values and patriarchal values

Question 54

Jean Piaget's theory of child development focuses on the:

A) emergence of gender identity
B) distinct stages of cognitive development
C) importance of sensorimotor development
D) development of the generalized other

Question 55

In George Herbert Mead's theory of socialization, when individuals see themselves as others see them, they have accomplished:

A) self-consciousness
B) social identity
C) cognition
D) master status

Question 56

Behavior associated with Jean Piaget's sensorimotor stage is demonstrated when a:

A) child senses that his or her beliefs vary from what other people believe
B) child learns that when someone says "bye-bye," he or she should wave at that person
C) child's motor skills are independent of cognitive development
D) child learns about his or her world by handling different objects

Question 57

Young Hee is communicating specific verbal and nonverbal messages to her children regarding the meaning and significance of race, racial stratification, intergroup relations, and personal identity. She is engaging in:

A) resocialization
B) social reproduction
C) race socialization
D) the hidden curriculum

Question 58

One criticism of Cooley's theory of the looking-glass self is:

A) some people never reach the looking-glass-self stage
B) we do not passively accept what others think of us
C) this process does not exist in many cultures
D) it focuses too much on cognitive development

Question 59

According to Cooley's theory, the reactions we elicit in social situations create a mirror in which we see ourselves. This mirror is called the:

A) social self
B) social identity
C) generalized other
D) looking-glass self

Question 60

According to Brown et al. (2006), nonwhite families were up to 1.9 to 4.7 times more likely than white families to discuss:

A) their children's racial and ethnic heritage
B) their children's school performance
C) their children's athletic performance
D) current events

Question 61

How is childhood today different than in the past? What recent trends are emerging? Your answer should be two paragraphs in length.

Question 62

According to Charles Horton Cooley, how is our self-concept developed? What is a criticism that can be made about Cooley's theory? Answer in two to three sentences.

Question 63

How is young adulthood today different than in the past? Answer in two to three sentences.

Question 64

What is self-identity, and how has it changed historically? Your answer should be two paragraphs in length.

Question 65

Building on Zammuner's (1986) research, one can conclude that children are less likely to limit their toy preferences by gender if they grow up in:

A) societies with single-sex educational systems
B) societies with coeducational schools
C) societies with less traditional gender roles
D) societies with more traditional gender roles

Question 66

Priyanka is committed to raising her child in a nonsexist way. Will she have an easy time of it? Answer in two to three sentences.

Question 67

Which of the following statements concerning bullying is true?

A) In a 2015 study, few LGBT students surveyed reported feeling unsafe at school.
B) The most popular students tend to be the victims of abuse.
C) Students who are less popular or emotionally insecure tend to be the perpetrators of abuse.
D) When influential students are enlisted in anti-bullying campaigns, student conflicts decrease.

Question 68

Compare and contrast Sigmund Freud's and Nancy Chodorow's theories of gender identity. What criticisms can be made of each? Your answer should be four to five paragraphs in length.

Question 69

What exactly do black parents teach their children about race, race stratification, and race relations? What lessons did black adolescents and college students find to be the most useful? Your answer should be one paragraph in length.

Question 70

Lenore Weitzman and her colleagues examined preschool children's books in the 1970s. They found that these children's books portrayed:

A) gender equality at home
B) both boys and girls in traditional gender roles
C) boys in traditional male roles but girls in nontraditional female roles
D) girls in traditional female roles but boys in nontraditional male roles

Question 71

Elvira wants to play video games, but her parents will not allow it. What evidence can she point to that suggests that she should be allowed to play video games? What evidence could her parents point to that suggests that she should not? Your answer should be one paragraph in length.

Question 72

According to Jean Piaget, what are the stages of cognitive development? What does the child learn or master in each stage? Your answer should be one paragraph in length.

Question 73

According to G. H. Mead, how do we develop a self-consciousness? How do children come to understand the values and morals of a society? Your answer should be two paragraphs in length.

Question 74

According to Carol Gilligan (1982), do men and women understand morality the same way? Answer in two to three sentences.

Question 75

How is adolescence today different than in the past? Your answer should be one paragraph in length.

Question 76

In the experiment by Will et al. (1976), five mothers reacted to an infant differently depending on whether:

A) other infants were present
B) the infant was of the same race or ethnicity as themselves
C) the infant was crying or asleep
D) the infant was dressed as a boy or a girl

Question 77

Which of the following statements concerning adolescents engaging in bullying is true?

A) Adolescence is a time when children most strongly identify with their family.
B) Between the ages of 10 and 14, children show strong ability to resist peer influence.
C) Few students imitate the popular students.
D) Students may join in on the bullying out of fear that refusing to do so may render them susceptible to abuse and isolation.

Question 78

Miguel wants to reduce bullying at his school. What advice would you give him? What evidence do you have that suggests that your advice is reasonable? Your answer should be one paragraph in length.

Question 79

Research conducted by June Statham (1986) on a group of parents committed to nonsexist child rearing found that:

A) all parents found existing patterns of gender learning easy to combat
B) all parents were very successful at persuading their children to play with gender-neutral toys
C) practically all the children possessed, but did not play with, gender-typed toys given to them by relatives
D) gender socialization is very powerful and challenges to it can be upsetting

Question 80

Which of the following statements concerning gender socialization is true?

A) McCabe et al. (2011) found that children's literature features many more women and girls as lead characters than men and boys.
B) Hentges and Case (2013) found that on children's television networks, girl characters outnumbered boys 3 to 2.
C) Hentges and Case (2013) found that on children's television networks, boys were more likely to be aggressive "rescuers" and girls were more likely to show affection.
D) In 2015, Target, the nation's largest retailer, divided its bedding department into "boy" and "girl" sections.