ABSTRACT
Psychologists are also interested in how society impinges on the growing child and how it shapes and canalizes his or her behaviour in some directions rather than others. Psychologists of education have a particular interest in the role of schools, especially teachers and a child’s fellow-pupils, in this process. The extract below illustrates the ‘social learning’ perspective briefly referred to in the introduction to this section of the source book. Central to this perspective are the process of identification and the part played by imitation and modelling. It is argued that although parents have the most decisive influence on a child’s identification, other individuals (such as teachers) and groups (such as the peer group, pp. 385-8) can, and do, serve as models. Two particular areas are examined in some detail: sex-typing, and the development of conscience. The reader may wish to compare the views offered on gender with those expressed in the extract by Davies (pp. 269-74).
