The Looking-Glass Self: Cooley's Theory

• The looking-glass self, coined by Charles Cooley, describes how one's social identity depends on how one appears to others, based on childhood social development observations.
• Reactions to others provide direct feedback about ourselves.
• Cooley and other "symbolic interactionists" like George Herbert Mead believed children need others to reflect back on themselves to develop a sense of self.
• Mead stated interactions shape self-identity in three steps:
  • Imagining how others perceive us.
  • Imagining their judgment on our appearance and presentation.
  • Imagining how others feel based on these judgments.
• Cooley stressed the individual's power to choose which judgments to consider for identity and to control responses to others.
• Charles Cooley introduced the term looking-glass self.
• People develop ideas and feelings about themselves or their self-concept by internalizing how others perceive and evaluate them.
• Socialization allows individuals to define themselves.
• Self-views form through interactions and potentially without an essential self.
• Cooley compared self-creation to a looking-glass, seeing ourselves as we think others view our appearance, manner, aims, etc.
• The human mind is social and mental; mental processes directly result from social interaction.
• Empirically, the evidence comes from childhood observations.
• Children are motivated to use the looking-glass self to gain care from primary groups.
• One becomes truly human through social experience.
• People play an active role in shaping thoughts of how others perceive them.
• Individuals interpret perceived judgments actively, but perceptions can be inaccurate.
• Self-image is shaped by others through one's own mind's mediation of this.
• One must use imagination to infer how others react or observe responses to understand another's inner mind.
• Individuals selectively apply the looking-glass self and there are certain circumstances where an individual cares more about the perception of others.
• People control and evaluate responses using the looking-glass self, shaping impressions, and emotions like pride and shame also arise from self-monitoring.

Goffman's Presentation of Self

• Erving Goffman's "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" provides another key sociological idea on self.
• Goffman's concepts are similar to Cooley, focusing on embarrassment as a social emotion.
• Likening social interaction to theatre, Goffman's dramaturgical model casts individuals as actors performing roles.
• "Front stage" involves acting with the audience in mind, influencing behavior based on expectations.
• The setting dictates the audience for the actors behavior, while "backstage" allows individuals to drop the role.
• People acting "front stage" constantly manage impressions.
• People give meaning to themselves and their situation through performances.
• Portraying social statuses and individual manner play a role whether or not it contradicts appearance.

Mead's Conceptualization

• George Herbert Mead elaborated on Cooley's work.
• Mead argued the self has two phases: the “Me” and the “I”.
• The "Me" is how one sees others seeing themself.
• The "I" is one's reaction to a situation; the social self forms through interaction between these.
• Like Cooley, Mead thought the I and Me are best developed through childhood socialization, especially during play.
• Taking on roles in play helps children understand others' perspectives to build a sense of self.

Symbolic Interactionism

• The looking-glass self relates to symbolic interactionism.
• Symbolic interactionism focuses on meanings attached to human interactions and symbols.
• In symbolic interactionism, humans define themselves through social interactions from birth.
• Children learn actions elicit responses, such as crying drawing a reaction from caregivers.
• Growing solidarity between mother and child parallels increasing capacity to use significant symbols.
• Simultaneous development is a prerequisite for adopting other participants' perspectives and the child's capacity to develop a social self.
• According to Cooley, primary groups such as the family, teach individuals to use the looking-glass.
• Primary groups are "characterized by intimate face-to-face association and cooperation.
• Primary groups are essential for forming the social nature and ideals of individuals.
• Intimate association fosters a fusion of individualities, making one's self part of the group's common life.
• Primary groups socialize individuals, teaching them to read others' thoughts and adjust behavior.
• There are two main ongoing debates exist in how sociologists address self-image via the looking-glass self:
  • The extent to which self-image is shaped by society versus inner qualities.
  • Frameworks for understanding how the environment shapes the self