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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT







Optional Paper Assignment
SOCI 3318-Spring 2012
Kelsey Jackson
May 2, 2012

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

1. Symbolic Interaction
1) Symbolic Interactionism emphasizes patterns of face to face interaction and the
influence of the interaction and the influence of that interaction on each individual's
sense of reality. Human constructs whose meanings are defined by the orientation and
action of people toward them. Meanings are not inherent to the objects
Major Propositions of Symbolic Interaction:
1. Humans act towards objects and respond to the acts of others on the basis of the
meanings they attach to those objects or acts.
2. Meanings are not inherent to the objects themselves, but are a product of social
interaction
3. Meanings are formulated, altered, and reformulated on the basis of an interpretive
process carried on by individuals.
2) Phoebe assigns meanings to the appearance of how her hand looks when she plays a
certain chord on her guitar. She attempts to use these symbols to teach Joey how to
play guitar.
Video Clip: http://youtu.be/D_orL8BFFqo

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

3) Joey's New Year's Resolution is to learn how to play the guitar. He approaches his friend
Phoebe to teach him how. Phoebe's method is not that of the traditional kind. She has
assigned names to the appearance of what her hand looks like when she is playing the
chord on her guitar. These names consist of "bear claw" "turkey leg" and "old lady" to
just name a few. Whereas an audience would see this as a strange way of teaching
guitar, Phoebe sees no abnormality in her method. When Joey tries to learn guitar the
correct way, actual learning the names of the chords, Phoebe becomes highly upset
when her method is questioned and put down. In the end, Joey realizes that playing the
guitar is not something he should pursue once he drops the guitar after trying to strum
one chord.
4) I would consider this to be a prime and obvious example of how people act based the
meanings they assign to certain symbols. By this example going against the grain of
what is expected, we can see how Symbolic Interaction is intertwined in our everyday
lives. Symbolic Interaction is the idea that people act based on symbolic meanings they
find within any given situation and thus interact with the symbols, forming relationships
around them. The goals of interactions with one another are to create shared meaning.
In this example, Phoebe has assigned names to the appearance of her hand when a
specific chord is played. She acts on these assigned meanings when she plays her guitar
and, in this case, when she teaches guitar to Joey. These symbols and meanings are as
real to phoebe as the socially accepted names of chords are to everyone else, this is her
realty and when playing guitar, she is interacting with these symbols. All three of the

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

major propositions of symbolic interaction are addressed in this example. Phoebe acts
towards the objects and responds to the meanings she has attached to those symbols.
The meanings are not inherent to the objects themselves, but are a product of her social
interaction of teaching herself the guitar. The names of the chords are formulated based
on her interpretation.

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

2. Moral Reasoning
1) Moral reasoning can be defined as being the process in which an individual tries to
determine the difference between what is right and what is wrong in a personal situation
by using logic. This is an important and often daily process that people use in an attempt
to do the right thing. Every day for instance, people are faced with the dilemma of
whether or not to lie in a given situation. People make this decision by reasoning the
morality of the action and weighing that against its consequences. Although all moral
choice can be seen as personal choice, some choices can be seen as an economic choice,
or an ethical choice described by some ethical code or regulated by ethical relationships
with others. With this example, I looked at the Conventional Level of Kohlberg's study.
The conventional stage emphasizes conformity and maintaining personal and group ties.
More specifically I looked at the interpersonal concordance stage. This stage is based on
the idea that right is what pleases or helps others; the good boy- nice girl orientation.
There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices
influence relationships.
2) In Season 7 Episode 9 of "FRIENDS", Monica decides to make candy for the neighbors in
the building. The neighbors love the candy and Monica becomes very popular in the
building. Tons of people are hanging out around the apartment waiting for more of
Monica's candy one day, so Chandler stands up for Monica and tell everyone to go away
and leave her alone.

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

http://youtu.be/Ou76DXq57MI
3) In this episode of FRIENDS, It's close to Christmas, so Monica decides to be a friendly
neighbor and make candy for the building. In doing so she acquires the title of "Candy
Lady". She continues to make the candy because that is what is expected of her.
Determined to maintain her good relations with her neighbors, she pushes herself to the
brim of exhaustion in order to please the community and maintain her good relationship
with them. Towards the end of the episode, it gets to the point where mobs of people
are waiting outside of her door wanting the candy and demanding it. Chandler sees this
and stands up for Monica and tells everyone to leave.
4) This is a good example of Stage 3 of Kohlberg's stages of moral development because it
shows how Monica wanted to keep doing the right thing in order to please her neighbors
and maintain a positive relationship with them. The conventional stage emphasizes
conformity and maintaining personal and group ties. More specifically I looked at the
interpersonal concordance stage, stage 3. This stage is based on the idea that right is
what pleases or helps others; the good boy- nice girl orientation. Monica feels that she
must continue making the candy because she perceives it to be pleasant and helps make
others happy. This stage emphasizes conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

choices influence relationships. Monica begins to conform to this image that the
community has placed on her and if she chooses not to, she will be perceived as mean
and her choice to stop making candy would negatively influence the relationship she has
built with her neighbors.

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

3. Role Taking
1) Role taking is the ability to view the world, especially oneself, from the perspective of
others. Role taking is learned through play. There are 3 stages of play the Preparatory
stage, Play stage, and the Game stage. The generalized other, the values and norms of
the group and society of which one is a part marks the culmination of primary
socialization. "When the generalized other has been crystallized in consciousness ... What
is 'real' outside corresponds to what is 'real' within" (Berger and Luckman). Role-taking
refers to social interaction in which people adopt and act out a particular social role. If
society is a stage, then people may be thought of as social actors performing roles, each
the other's fellow player. Role-taking is a process of anticipating and viewing behavior as
motivated by an imputed social role. From the child playing at being "a mother" to the
adult playing at being "a police officer," role-taking is a universal feature of social life.
2) In Season 3 Episode 4 of Friends, Ross is caught off guard when his son chooses a Barbie
doll over a normal "boy" toy. We later find out that Ross used to dress up in women's
clothes and have an alter ego of "Bea" when he was younger.
1 http://youtu.be/TK-gWW8V2bU; 2
http://youtu.be/imf24ZaJq4Q; 3 http://youtu.be/qb0q6gxyY98

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

3) In this episode of "FRIENDS", Ross' son Ben chooses a Barbie doll over a traditional "boy"
toy like G.I. Joe. Because Ben is not following the role that society has set for young boys,
this rustles Ross' feathers, so he is determined to get Ben to choose a G.I. Joe instead. At
the end of the Episode, we find out that Ross actually experienced this same exact kind
of defiance towards traditional role taking when he would dress up as a lady, sing songs,
and drink tea.
4) This is a good example of Role Taking because it shows how society expects genders to
play certain roles when growing up so they can then learn the "generalized other" and
"act correctly" in social settings in regards to gender roles. Ben, not knowing the
difference, chooses a "girl" toy over a "boy" toy and because this is abnormal to how
Ross views gender roles, he is opposed to the idea of his son playing with a Barbie. Ross
then attempts to correct Ben by bribing him with a G.I. Joe toy instead. In the end, it is
revealed that Ross used to practice Role Taking by acting like a lady who drank tea. As a
child, we go through stages of play in order to learn Role taking. There are 3 stages of
play the Preparatory stage, Play stage, and the Game stage. Through these stages, we
also learn the generalized other, the values and norms of the group and society of which
one is a part marks the culmination of primary socialization. This is how we go about
learning roles we are to play in society. Like any sociological concept, Role Taking is most
visible when someone is acting against the grain, or what is expected of them. In this
episode, both Ben and Ross go against the roles that the greater society expects of them
by taking on the roles that are expected of young girls, not boys.

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KELSEY JACKSON SOCI 3317 OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

4. The Looking-Glass Self
1) The Looking-Glass Self is defined as 1. How we appear to the other 2. How the other
judges that appearance and 3. Self-feelings based on the presumed judgments of the
other. People shape themselves based on what other people perceive and confirm other
people's opinion on themselves.
2) In Season 4 Episode 12 of "How I Met Your Mother", Marshal has a hard time using the
restroom at work because of how he perceives his co-workers to be judging him as he
walks to the bathroom to "read a magazine".

3) In this episode, starts off by telling Robin how you don't "read a magazine at work". He
explains how when you walk out of your office holding a magazine, that magazine is
saying one thing "that you are about to read a big old magazine" yells the magazine.
Marshal then expresses that the stretch of hallway from his office to the restroom is a
"gauntlet of judging eyes". This judgment then makes Marshall feel self-conscious and his
reasoning on why he wants to "read a magazine" at Ted and Robin's apartment before
heading off to work. Once Marshall realizes that this is stupid, he finally decides to let go

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