3.1: Nature AND Nurture and your "Self"

HW:  Read the Introduction from Carolyn Dweck's book, Mindset.

This lesson's focus:

What is the dynamic between nature and nurture?

What is the importance of language?

What is the "self"?

This lesson is the beginning of our third unit - Social Structure.  For this unit, I want students to be able to answer the question: How has social structure shaped you? To begin this unit, this lesson will first examine evidence about how humans are programmed by their DNA and biology.  If we are programmed to grow/be/act a certain way then that is not social structure, that is biology.  Let's begin with an examination of biology v. society or nature v. nurture so that we can separate out what is social influence on people.

1.  Have you heard of the nature-nurture debate?  If so, what do you think about it?

2.  What are some ways the tree below has been shaped by its nature?  

3.  How is it shaped by nurture, the environment?

4.  What are the ways that humans may have affected the tree's growth?

The Nature and Nurture Dynamic

The tree begins with a seed that houses the tree's genetic material, an algorithm for how the tree should grow.  But the rules of the algorithm interact with the environment that the seed lands in.

The genetic material in the ash tree seeds creates an aptitude for the tree to grow like this:

Both of the ash trees start from ash tree seeds like the ones above. The seeds provides an aptitude for the tree to grow.  The aptitude is the tree's potential for traits like height, branching, lifespan, etc...  This is the tree's nature; its genes and biology.  

But this aptitude is dependent on the nurture that the tree gets from its environment; the tree is affected by its surroundings:

• the light it receives
• its surroundings like buildings and other trees
• the soil composition
• pollution
• animals and insects nesting/affecting in the tree

And the tree is also affected by human activity:

• pruning
• fertilizing 
• people driving by the tree with trucks hitting the branches  

All of the effects of the surroundings of the tree and the human activity is nurture; how interaction with surroundings and people affect growth.  So the tree's growth is based on a dynamic interaction between both its nature and its nurture.  People are like trees as well.  Humans are born with biological nature - genes that provide an aptitude and a road map for growth.  In other words, all living creatures from trees to humans are dependent on both nature and nurture.But humans are affected by their surroundings - their environment including both the physical environment and the social environment.   But people are also different than trees.  If that tree's seed falls to the ground and takes root, left to itself, it grows.  But if a human baby is born, left to itself, it is unlikely to survive.  In other words, humans are deeply interdependent on other humans to survive.  

Human Nature Is to Be Nurtured

Both trees and people (and all living creatures) have a nature - genetic programming that provides an aptitude and a potential for growth.  All living creatures are affected by their nurture - environment around them.   These are true for all living things.  However, human nature is unique in that humans are genetically programmed to be nurtured by other humans.  As a species, we are born helpless.  Unlike a tree that will grow from a seed independently, humans must be nurtured to survive.  Similar to trees, many animals are born with instincts and abilities to survive on their own.  Humans need to be cared for, and that is why we are born with a biology designed for social interaction:

• mirror neurons
• vagus nerve
• facial recognition
• language

Nicholas Christakis is a sociologist and medical doctor.  In his 2019 book, Blueprint, he explains that humans are born with a nature that makes us be nurtured.  This is what Christakis calls the "social suite:"

“At the core of all societies, I will show, is the social suite:

(1) The capacity to have and recognize individual identity
(2) Love for partners and offspring
(3) Friendship
(4) Social networks
(5) Cooperation
(6) Preference for one’s own group (that is, “in-group bias”)
(7) Mild hierarchy (that is, relative egalitarianism
(8) Social learning and teaching”

Watch Christakis briefly summarize his book on youtube here or on the embedded video below:

For more info., Christakis has a 30 min interview with the RSA here that explains how his work can inform us during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another researcher,  Bruce Perry,  has written extensively about the importance of nurturing humans as they grow, especially empathy.   

Sadly, there is evidence that humans who are not nurtured by other humans will not grow and develop. There are numerous examples of kids who are fed and protected so that they survive, but they are isolated from other people and not shown love and caring.  Humans need more than nutrition and shelter to grow and develop.  

Watch both of the videoes below about famous examples that are as revealing as they are sad:

• Danielle, found in 2004.

Watch this video from the Oprah show which summarizes her initial finding and then updates how she is ten years later.   Ten years after she was found, the Tampa Bay Time did an update on her here.    

• Genie, found in 1970.  

The video below is about a girl named Genie that was locked in a bedroom alone for 12 years of her life. Here is what Susan Curtiss wrote about her in her book, Genie; A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day Wild Child.

Here is a brief clip from a documentary about Genie's story. And below are notes from one of the researchers studying Genie:

Genie was pitiful. Hardly ever having worn clothing, she did not react to temperature, either heat or cold. Never having eaten solid food, Genie did not know how to chew and had great difficulty in swallowing.  Having been strapped down and left sitting on a potty chair she could not stand erect, could not straighten her arms or legs, could not run hop, jump or climb.  In fact she could only walk with difficulty shuffling her feet and swaying from side to side. Hardly ever having seen more than a space of ten feet in front of her she had become nearsighted to exactly that distance....Surprisingly, however, Genie was alert and curious. She maintained good eye contact and...She was intensely eager for human contact. 

5. What are the ways that Danielle and Genie both were not nurtured?

6.  What are some of the results of their lack of nurturing?

Feral Kids

Some people have been found to be living with wild (feral) animals.  These feral people provide more evidence that humans are influenced by their surroundings.  Check out this website for examples of feral children.

Here is video of one of the kids found in the wild with dogs.

7. What do sociologists mean by nature and nurture and what is the dynamic between them? 

8. How are the examples above of Genie, Danielle and Feral kids evidence for the dynamic between nature and nurture?

Language and shared meaning

Language itself is a cultural universal and part of human nature.  But the different meanings of language shared within each culture is an example of nurture.  People learn different meanings from their language.

Answer a few Questions about language without reading ahead:

1.  One of the shapes below is called a "Takete" and the other is called a "Malunga."  Take a guess which one is which:

            Shape A                    Shape B

2. Which one of the color circles below does not belong with the other two?

3. Which word does not belong or is the most different for each set below:

Set 1. Auto, turtle, basket, bird

Set 2. Laundry, beer, clothing

Set 3. A chair, a spear, a couch 

4. What are three words to describe this bridge:

What is the importance of language?

Language is important because it affects how we think. When we think about something, we are using language inside of our heads so if we use certain words or do not have certain words, it may affect how think about things especially how we categorize something.   We even think based on how words sound.  

For example, takete and malunga.  Takete sounds harsh and therefore angular.  Malunga sounds softer and rounded.  But these are just made up words.  

Shape A                    Shape B

What is the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis?

The importance of language was first highlighted by researchers, Saphir and Whorf.  Their hypothesis and conclusion was that language shapes how people think, especially when categorizing and naming.  For example, in the color samples above, Americans typically group the chips by blue and green, but Tarahumara people do not have a word for blue and green, instead they have words that mean the color of water and the color of night.  Because each group of people have different words with different meanings, it shapes how they think.

The NY Times ran a story about how the idea of language affecting our thoughts. See that article here. 

Another example of language's effects on our thinking is here (see page 43 of this doc), a lesson from Carol Mukhopadhyay on classifying in other cultures.  For each of the following sets, choose the item that does not belong:

Set 1. Auto, turtle, basket, bird

Students generally select auto or basket using the culturally familiar categorizing device of machines vs. non-machines or and movement vs. non-movement. At least some non-western cultural groups, however, would see birds as most different because their culture emphasizes shape and birds are relatively angular rather than rounded in shape. Our culture tends to emphasize use or functionality. Thus correctness would be culture-dependent.

Set 2. Laundry, beer, clothing

Students generally, with great assurance, select beer as most different. Functionality places clothing and washing machines together. Yet, at least one culture views clothing as different because laundry and beer are both “foamy”. Visual appearance is most salient. US slang for beer (“suds”) also recognizes the attribute of foaminess.

Set 3. A chair, a spear, a couch 

Students again select the “wrong” answer—at least from the perspective of traditional West African cultures. US Americans tend to emphasize use, thus placing couch and chair together as types of sitting devices (i.e. “furniture”). Ashanti apparently would see the “couch” as the most different because both a chair and a spear can symbolize authority.

Evidence of different languages with genderized nouns shaping how people think about those things:

Lera Boroditsky, professor of cognitive science and cultural psychology has published research that concludes language affects how we think.  Her evidence is in the genderization of nouns in different cultures.  Here she is explaining her research at Ted.  Here is an explanation from NPR about Boroditsky's research and how language shapes our description of bridges.  This Psychology Today article explains more about the importance of genderizing nouns in language.  This NPR story highlights how language affects our thinking, especially for bilingual speakers.  

More evidence for the effect of language on thinking:

• The ASA's Society Pages shares research by sociologist Matt Wray highlighted on NPR's Code Switch.  Why would using the term "white trash" support white supremacy?
• This New Yorker article explains the research of professor Adam Alter on the hidden power of words and naming.
• Also, here is a study explaining that without language, numbers do not make sense.
• This episode of On Being from NPR is about Rabbi Heschel who insightfully explained "words create worlds."  Here is a link to a medium article about Heschel and words.  And this link to a passage about the importance of words from Heschel to William Blake. 
• David Treuer is an Ojibway translator who explains the power and importance of language on this episode of On Being.
• The episode Lost in Translation from NPR's Hidden Brain is a social science podcast from NPR and this episode explores how language shapes our thoughts.
• Also, see this post about politics and how the use of English frames every debate especially the debate over gun violence.
• Here is a list of untranslatable ideas about love from around the world.
• Here is a book that highlights untranslatable words from around the world.

 

Language and the Self

Open the  Twenty Statements Test and fill in 20 responses to the question, "Who am I?" 

Try to fill in all 20 statements about yourself.   Work quickly and individually.

The "self"

The Twenty Statements Test is a survey that has been used in various studies for over 50 years. (Note: this lesson is based on Rusty Schnellinger's lesson) It is a qualitative measurement of how people think about themselves, or who they are as a person.   This conscious understanding of who we are as individuals is an example of what sociologists call a "self."  Similar to metacognition and how people think about thinking, a "self" is how individuals consciously think about who they are as an individual.  

Coding your responses.
When conducting qualitative data analysis, sometimes sociologists will code the responses to make sense of the data.  Code your responses to the Twenty Statements Test:

A mode responses: Physical characteristics.   

Ex. I am blonde, I am short, I am strong.

B mode responses: Socially defined statuses that associate you relative to a group.   

Ex. I am a student, I am Catholic, I am a quarterback, I am a daughter, I am a store clerk.

C mode responses:  Personal traits, styles of behavior or emotional states. 

Ex. I am a happy person, I am competitive, I am loud. I am tired.

D mode responses: General, more abstract or existential responses.   

Ex. I am me, I am part of the universe, I am human, I am alive.

After you code your responses, answer the following questions on your notes page:

1.  Individually:  Which did you have the most of?  Hypothesize what your totals reveal about your sense of self.  Which responses came to mind first/easier?   How do you think you will compare to the class as a whole?  

Culture And your Sense of Self

Without reading any further, hypothesize how these responses might have changed over time.  How might culture shape your responses to these? 

As Peter Kaufman explains in A Sociology Experiment (2019),

In summary, culture shapes how we think about what is important and what we value.  

Erving Goffman's Dramaturgy

2.  Choose one of your responses that is from B.  Which one did you choose? How do you express yourself to fit into this response?  In other words, how do you dress, talk and act in order to be like _______ (B)?

Discussion:  What were some examples for your answer to number two? For number two, this is exemplifying a sociological theory called Dramaturgy by Erving Goffman. Goffman wrote The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life which theorized that people present themselves to the world based on their ideas about their "self". They create an image of how they want to be perceived. It is like being in a play - when you go on stage you are dressed up to play your role. Goffman's theory in the form of an extended metaphor is known as dramaturgy. How do these fit into Goffman’s theory?

Presentation of Selfies in Everyday Life

Drawing on Goffman's theory, Jay Livingston of the Montclair Socioblog posted about selfies at this post, also cross-posted at SocImages.  Here's Livingston's take on selfies:

A girl takes a selfie, posts it to Instagram, and waits. She doesn’t have to wait long – a minute or two - before the likes and comments start rolling in. “Gorgeous,” “So pretty OMG,” “Stunning,” “Cutest.” ...the selfie-Instagram-comments syndrome is not about narcissism – seeing yourself as standing shiningly above everyone else. It’s about fitting in – reading the social map, finding where you stand, and maybe changing your location in that social space.... All these moves – the posting, the commenting and liking – have a meaning that girls know intuitively but that must be decoded for outsiders...It’s hard to find narcissism or vanity in any of this. The girls are not preening, not basking in their triumphs, not nursing an ego wounded from some social slight. They are reading a constantly changing sociogram or network model of their world.
If you look at the individual –a girl posting a selfie and reading the laudatory comments –you see a personality trait, narcissism. But the behavior that looks like narcissism is really an aspect of the social structure (girls’ friendships networks) and the institution those networks are embedded in (school).

Agents of socialization

3.  Regarding your answer to number 2 above, what are some of the places that you have learned to talk/dress/act/ like this?

Discussion: Examples of where?

These are examples of agents of socialization. Esp: Family, School, Peers/friends, Media.  Agents of Socialization are the most important groups that shape an individual's sense of self.

4. Charles Horton Cooley's Looking Glass Self

Can you think of a time when one of your responses to B was received positively by another person or group? Who was it? How did they react? What did they say?
Can you think of a time when one of your responses to B was received negatively by another person or group? Who was it? How did they react? What did they say?

These are examples of Charles Horton Cooley’s theory called the “Looking Glass”.  By “Looking Glass” he is referring to a mirror.  His theory is that we learn to act a certain way because of our interactions with others and how they react to us.

In Sum

People look at themselves in the mirror and see themself in a particular way.  However, what we don't see is all of the messages that have been told to us through the most significant groups in our lives.  These groups are called agents of socialization.  All of them exist within a culture as well. 

HW:  Read the Introduction from Carolyn Dweck's book, Mindset.