Mead Took Cooley Concept of the Looking Glass

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Mead Took Cooley Concept of the Looking Glass

The ideology behind ‘Mead Took Cooley’ concept of the looking glass states that people have a unique method of presenting themselves based on what other individuals perceive. The theory is based on three principles; the imagination of oneself appearance, personal judgment towards self-appearance, and personal feeling such as self-esteem (Gerardi et al., 2020). Unlike other scholars in psychology, Cooley based his research on his children and how they learned the word ‘I.’ People tend to learn various ideas from a distinct individual within the same society. After learning, individuals later comprehend other parties’ perception toward them, which is eventually utilized to generate a personal feeling.

An individual develops self-awareness after interacting with society members and eventually develops a meaning towards personal appearance. The perception developed within oneself is usually inseparable from society (Long & Wheeler, 2020). After a proper comprehension of oneself, an individual creates feedback to society, which eventually changes their perception.

Cooley states that the human mind is mental since it is social. The more people interact within a community, the greater the chances of an individual changing their perception. Every human usually involves themselves in specific activities within the same community because they expect precise feedback (Gerardi et al., 2020). The feedback is usually rooted back to the people surrounding an individual.

The way children progress in their development is a representation of Cooleys’ concept of the Looking Glass. Children tend to define themselves after socializing with other society members, such as their siblings and parents. Whenever children cry, they usually know that it will lead to a precise response from their parents.

References

Gerardi, S. (2019). Social Behaviorist Movement: Non-“Spooky Action at a Distance and Eastern Philosophy.” Sociology Mind, 10(01), 15.

Long, E. U., Wheeler, N. E., & Cunningham, W. A. (2020). Through the looking glass: Distinguishing neural correlates of relational and non-relational self-reference and person representation. Cortex.