George Herbert Mead

The process of forming a sense of self according to him occurs in three distinct stages. They are:

a. Imitation stage: In this stage children copy the behaviour of adults without understanding what they are doing.

b. Playing stage:

• Social interaction begins in early childhood. This period Mead referred to as the play stage. In this stage children begin to play actual role.
• Generally, they build a sense of self. Each time they see themselves from someone else’s view point, they get an idea of, which they are and practice responding to that impression.
• In this stage, the thinking of “I” is developed in the individual and the individual is able to take the role of other as role model (Mead called the term significant others).
• However, in this stage the individual may unable to take the role of several persons at one time.

c. Game stage:

• According to him “self” is fully developed in this stage. Regarding the concept of game stage Mead develop a theory of “generalized others”.
• At this stage, the child has generalized from the behaviour and expectations of particular individuals to those of anyone playing various roles that relate to whatever role the child is playing at the time. For example, the football game.
• Through social interaction, the child learns to play different roles attached to positions that he or she occupies at various time, and to respond appropriately to the behaviour of others playing various roles.