The techniques/process of socialization is achieved by a number of ways. These include
Reward and Punishment: Reward commonly reinforces positive behavior pattern. But the effects of punishment is sometimes damaging. For ex: parents who use punishment often to discipline children may serve as aggressive models and children tend to imitate it. Another secondary effect is on the child’s emotions. Children may become frightened or anxious.
In a classroom situation, if punishment is often used. Children may become frightened or they may become passive and withdrawn or they may adapt to punishment itself i.e., it no longer bothers them. Hence, it is advisable to combine punishment with rewards to have desirable outcome in the behavior of the child.
Modeling and Imitation: Imitation occurs when the child matches his behavior to that of another person in a similar situation. The other person thus becomes a model for the child.
Research has shown that the introduction of model greatly facilities the acquisition of desirable behaviour patterns. But to be a effective model, one should have power, nurturance & similar qualities. Power is the ability to control others and nurturance is being caring & affectionate. Studies show that children tend to imitate the warm, rewarding, affectionate model. Similarity the sex of the model is another significant factor in the effectiveness of modeling. Boys tend to model other boys or men. Girls tend to model other girls or women.
Identification: Is the gradual process through which an individual adopt the attitudes, beliefs, values and characteristics of other person. In both identification and modeling, the child generally seeks to model who is more powerful, respected, loved and similar to his life.
Social cognition: It is the understanding the human relationships in the context of social living. It is a part of the socialization process and itdepends on the maturation of certain cognitive abilities. Preschoolers are ego centric and hence they fail to understand other’s point of view. The school age child is able to understand that others differ in their feelings and views.
Self discovery: All the above mentioned techniques do not account for all the values, beliefs, attitudes & behavior pattern one exhibits. In late adolescence, the individual tends to develop his own ‘theory’ of himself and others and matches his behavior to his thought.
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