User:Mu Qu Spring 2008

Each to each a looking glass reflects the other that doth pass. -Charles Horton Cooley

In hypothesizing the framework for the looking glass self, Cooley said, "the mind is mental" because "the human mind is social." Beginning as children, humans begin to define themselves within the context of their first social group, their family, and later with society at large. This is demonstrated in the manner a child learns that the symbol of his/her crying will elicit a response from his/her parents', not only when they are in need of necessities such as food, but also as a symbol to receive their attention. Schubert references in Cooley's On Self and Social Organization, "a growing solidarity between mother and child parallels the child's increasing competence in using significant symbols. This simultaneous development is itself a a necessary prerequisite for the child's ability to adopt the perspectives of other participants in social relationships and, thus, for the child's capacity to develop a social self." Such as crying in the example above, symbolic interaction is the basis of the looking glass self, because the use of symbols is dependent on humans ability to first agree upon the meaning of the symbol, and second the ability to interpret the symbol. "People pick up signals about how people the other person views them, and by internalizing this view, it becomes their self view." (Cook and Young)

George Herbert Mead described self as "taking the role of the other," the premise for which the self is actualized. Through interaction with others, we begin to develop an identity about who we are, as well as empathy for others. This is the notion of, 'Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.' In respect to this Cooley said, "The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's world." (Cooley 1964)


 * Cooley, Charles H., edited by Schubert Hans-Joachim. (1998)On Self and Social Organization. .   Chicago: University of Chicago. pp. 20-22.


 * Starks, Rodney. (2007). Sociology. 10th edition. Belmont, CA: Thomas Wadsworth. pp.73-75.

Family study of the looking glass self
The research article was included in the Journal of Family Psychology in 1998. The researcher's, Cook and Douglas, measured the validity of the looking glass self and symbolic interaction in the context of familial relationships. The study analyzed the accuracy of a college student and an adolescent's perceptions of how they are perceived by their parents. The 51 participants of this study included four family members (mother, father, college student and adolescent) who returned surveys which were analyzed to determine findings. The families were primarily white and middle class. The college student and adolescent were paid ten dollars each, if each family member completed the survey.

Three areas were investigated: assertiveness, firmness and cooperation. In reference to three areas respondents were asked the following: how they behave toward the target, how the target behaves toward them, and how they think they are viewed by the target. The study identified the looking glass self as a, "metaperceptions" because they involve "perceptions of perceptions." One of the hypotheses tested in the study was: If "metaperceptions" cause self-perceptions they will necessarily be coordinated. The hypothesis was tested at the individual and relationship levels of analysis.

Findings of the familial study
The study determined that the hypothesis is strongly supported at the individual level for cooperation for both college students and adolescents, but is only partially supported for assertiveness for college students. Also for college students, at the relationship level with their mother's the study supported assertiveness. There was an irregular finding regarding firmness in the mother-adolescent relationship that indicated that the more adolescents perceived being firm by their mothers, the less firm they rated themselves in the relationship. While there was not strong support of the hypothesis on the relationship level on the individual level the findings suggest, how college students and adolescents think about themselves is directly correlated to how they think they are perceived by their parents.


 * Cook, William L., Douglas, Emily M. "The Looking Glass Self in Family Context:  A Social Relations Analysis." Journal of Family Psychology 12.3 (1998):  299-309.

Looking glass self in contemporary society
Using computer technology, people can create an  Avatar (computing), a customized symbol which represents the computer-user. For example, in the virtual world Second life the computer user can create an avatar that reflects the user in regard to race, age, physical makeup, status and the like. By selecting certain physical characteristics or symbols, the avatar reflects how the creator seeks to be perceived in the virtual world and how the symbols used in the creation of the avatar influences others' actions toward the computer-user.

Class Work regarding wikipedia page
Think Big! Take Risks! Expect the Impossible! 1. I prefer the wikipedia project.

2. I will improve the current page for "Looking glass self".

3. The link is Looking glass self.

4. I am working by myself on this.

5. Concept from Starks book. Charles Horton Cooley introduced the term looking glass self to describe the process by which our sense of self develops. The concept of the self was further examined by G.H. Mead who in Starks book defines the self as, "our learned understanding of the responses of others to our conduct." Thus, the looking glass self is the method by which humans develop a perception of themselves in relation to how others perceive them.

A. "Whether we come to hold a good or poor opinion of ourselves depends on the reflection others communicate to us. That is, we can feel good about ourselves only if people give us reason to do so." (page 74)

B. I use this idea to examine how much influence the looking glass self has on one's perception of themselves. Cooley hypothesizes that one's sense of self is strongly correlated to the perception of others. Thus, in order for one to have a positive sense of themselves they must receive positive affirmation from other people; conversely, a negative sense of self derives from others' negative perception. The current wikipedia page includes one study of the looking glass self using children as the control group. I expand on this research by including other experiments involving studies of familial relationships.

6. Concept from further research The looking glass self and symbolic interaction. Additionally, I will include a synopsis of an experiment that was conducted regarding the perceptions of our first social group, the family.

A. Schubert references in Cooley's On Self and Social Organization, "a growing solidarity between mother and child parallels the child's increasing competence in using significant symbols. This simultaneous development is itself a a necessary prerequisite for the child's ability to adopt the perspectives of other participants in social relationships and, thus, for the child's capacity to develop a social self."

B. I use this idea to describe the correlation between the looking glass self and symbolic interaction as demonstrated by the manner a child learns that the symbol of his/her crying will elicit a response from his/her parents'.

C. Cooley, Charles H., edited by  Schubert Hans-Joachim. (1998). On Self and Social Organization. pp. 20-22.

PROPOSAL
Wikipedia Page-Looking Glass Self

I will also find scholarly research in academic journals, such as the Journal of Sociology, The American Journal of Sociology, and the like. A. I will locate experiments which relate to the Looking Glass Self, analyze, and provide a summation of the findings to be included on the page. B. I will research archival data in order to provide a historical reference of C.H. Cooley, who created the theory of the Looking Glass Self.
 * 1) Objective: I propose to improve the wikipedia page for the Looking Glass Self.  While current content is available, it is mainly focused on an experiment that was conducted with children--and how they were perceived when looking through a mirror.  I intend to expand this page with additional content related to The Looking Glass Self and include other studies.
 * 2) Interest: This is interesting because the Looking Glass Self plays a large role in how we perceive ourselves and consequently, how others perceive us. Subconsciously, we are all striving to gain importance and approval from the society in which we interact. It is sociologically relevant because this theory has two distinct polar opposites.  On one hand, one may view themselves as confident, intelligent and responsible and therefore, become a contributor to society.  On the other hand, having an inaccurate portrayal on yourself can lead to criminal and deviant activities, whether one is aware of it or not.  The end goal of this page will be to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Looking Glass Self for wikipedia users.
 * 3) Background reading: I will read wikipedia, my text book and other basic sociology texts on the Looking Glass Self:
 * 1) General Plan: I plan to research and collect data in order to determine the type and amount of data available on this topic. All of the data will be cataloged in a notebook for easy file referral and organization.  During the beginning of week nine, I intend to begin my selecting the relevant information that I will add to the Looking Glass Self wikipedia page.
 * 2) Collaborators: I will be working alone.