Sociological Theory: The Reflection Of The Looking Glass Self

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Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. This also includes the study of social problems. Sociology is a science that uses critical analysis and a variety of different processes of experimental investigation to develop a body of knowledge as it relates to social change, social disorder and social order. Sociologists seek to perform research that can be applied directly to social strategy and welfare, but others center their attention primarily on improving the theoretical understanding of social processes. Their topics vary from the micro level of the individual agencies and interactions to the macro level of the systems and the social structure. There were three Sociologists whose insights into …show more content…

It is the idea that a person's sense of self develops out of society's interpersonal interactions and perceptions of others. There are three elements covered by the looking glass self. The first element is that we imagine how we appear to those around us. For example, we may think that others perceive us as easy going and charming. The second element states that we interpret others' reactions. We do this by coming to a conclusion about how others assess us. Do people like that we are easy going? Do they dislike that we are charming? The final element states that we develop a self concept. This means that how we interpret others' reactions to us frames our feelings and ideas about ourselves. In other words, a positive reflection in this social mirror leads to a positive self assessment and a negative reflection leads to a negative self assessment. Cooley preferred an empirical, observational approach and was known for his dislike of the divisions in the social community over social methods. Cooley favored case studies and used his own children as subject matter and observed them in various situations. He also favored the use of statistics. He had a drive for the development of self that did not depend on precise evaluation. He felt that by misjudging others that became a part of our self …show more content…

He noticed that when young children took intelligence tests, they often give similar wrong answers. This made him think that children showed some consistent, but incorrect reasoning. Piaget set up a laboratory to study them by giving children of different ages problems to solve. After years of testing, he determined that children go through a process as they develop their reasoning skills in four stages. The first stage was the sensor motor stage which starts from birth to around age two. In this stage they are limited to basic things like listening, looking and touching. They are not able to "think". They also do not know that their actions cause something to happen. The second stage is the preoperational stage which starts from age two to age

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