1) Nature vs Nurture: think about what you have chosen to wear today, what your future professions or plans are, what type of sports/activities you enjoy; how much of this is determined by "Nature" and how much "Nurture", and if/how do they balance each other?

I wear what I usually wear, shorts and a sweatshirt. My future goals for my profession is to ultimately become some sort of general surgeon, which doesn't seem to fit the shorts and a sweatshirt outfit. Although I buy some of my clothes from more "skater" stores, I have never skateboarded for more than 30 minutes nor do I intend to. I feel like my activities are definitely determined by nurture rather than nature because my mother never even let a skateboard near our house as I was growing up. I like most children, did not listen, and chose to try skateboarding at friends houses. My attire, however and my choice of profession I believe are a mixture of Nature and Nurture because of the way I was raised and my life experiences might have pushed me towards my goal of being a surgeon.

2) Why is adolescent social status power so important and consuming to most adolescents?

 Because as adolescents, our social power is the only power we have. We don't have the rights most adults have, we don't really have much economic power because we are limited to our parents, and we are not very self supporting because we still live at home. Because of this, we choose to turn to our only source of power, which is social status power.

3) How is the socialization process for children different today than in most previous generations? What concerns are raised by this change? How valid do you think these concerns are?

These days, children are becoming much more social online. Because the internet has evolved so much, many have become dependent on online interactions rather than person to person. This has fully changed the socialization process for everyone because it changes how we learn to interact with other people. Rather than working on public speaking skills, we are taught how to type in grade school. This has limited some children to have very limited social skills with other people, causing social interactions to be much more difficult which some people suggest might be slowing down the socialization process for children. These concerns are pretty valid considering the evidence is clear that more and more people are learning to depend on online communication.

4) Identify some examples of gender differences in socialization. What impact do you think these have had in your life or in the lives of others you know?
In class we talked about toys and their marketing strategies and the effects they have on children and gender differences. We spoke about how and why society has come to determine whether some toys are meant for girls or boys. This has become so deeply rooted in society that it is constantly being reinforced by the media, and our peers. For the most part, it has impacted everyone's life, because they are made to believe that certain characteristics are meant for certain genders, and therefore will continue to exhibit these characteristics that they believe are the correct ones for themselves, which will continue the cycle of gender differences.