L9 Nugget List Dian Harper
FAML 430-05
Nugget List: The ecology of peers (Berns, Roberta M., Child, Family, School, Community
Socialization and Support, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning 2009). © 2009 by
Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. Pp 293-295)
1. “Belonging to a peer group enables one to have social interactions with others and have
experiences independent of parents or other adults. By interacting socially with others, we derive
an opinion of ourselves.” This is known as looking-glass self by Colley and the generalized other
by Mead. “We think of ourselves as having pretty hair, cute freckles, or a large nose because
others tell us so. We think of ourselves as clever, as fast runners, or as good at drawing by
comparing our skills to those of others.” (Berns, Roberta M., Child, Family, School, Community
Socialization and Support, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning 2009). © 2009 by
Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. P 282)
2. “The peer group, in addition to clarifying and supporting one’s identity, also provides role
models for one to incorporate into one’s self image. Peers show what is worth doing and how to
do it. It was probably your friends who taught you how to dance and to like popular music, as
well as influencing what style of clothes you wore.” (Berns, Roberta M., Child, Family, School,
Community Socialization and Support, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning 2009). ©
2009 by Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. P 285)
3. Peer groups socializing mechanisms are reinforcement, modeling, punishment, and
apprenticeship.
a. Reinforcement may be unintentional and it is a type of attention and it is effective. Using
