Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Older parents and their adult sons (fifteen father-mother-son triads) participated in this study which investigated whether imitative behavior is prominent in these families and whether interpersonal perceptions are related to the degree of imitation. Both perceptual and moral imitation tasks were used and personality descriptions were obtained on dimensions of activity, potency, and evaluation. Adult sons were found to imitate their parents on both tasks and particularly their fathers on moral issues. Older parents also were found to imitate their sons in a possible “reversal” of the direction of identification. Differential patterns of interpersonal perceptions were related to imitation for the three groups. Potential theoretical explanations are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Neugarten

B. L.

, (ed.), Middle Age and Aging, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968.

Flanders

J. P.

, A Review of Research on Imitative Behavior, Psychological Bulletin, 69, pp. 316–337, 1968.

Freud

, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), Bantam Books, New York, 1960.

Freud

, Some Psychological Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction Between the Sexes (1925), in Collected Papers, 5, Basic Books, New York, 1959.

Freud

, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (1936), International Universities Press, New York, 1966.

Whiting

J. W. M.

, Sorcery, Sin, and the Superego: A Cross-Cultural Study of Some Mechanisms of Social Control, in Jones

M. R.

, (ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (1959), University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1959.

Bandura

Ross

and Ross

S. A.

, A Comparative Test of the Status Envy, Social Power, and Secondary Reinforcement Theories of Identificatory Learning, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, pp. 527–534, 1963.

Bandura

and Walters

R. H.

, Social Learning and Personality Development, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1963.

Mussen

P. H.

and Distler

, Masculinity, Identification, and Father-Son Relationships, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, pp. 350–356, 1959.

10.

Mowrer

O. H.

, Identification: A Link Between Learning Theory and Psychotherapy, in Learning Theory and Personality Dynamics, Ronald Press, New York, 1950.

11.

Biller

H. B.

, Father, Child, and Sex Role, Heath Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass., 1971.

12.

Freud

, Totem and Taboo (1913), Norton, New York, 1950.

13.

Freud

, On Narcissism (1914), in Collected Papers, 1, Basic Books, New York, 1959.

14.

Thomae

, Theory of Aging and Cognitive Theory of Personality, Human Development, 13, pp. 1–16, 1970.

15.

Osgood

Suci

G. J.

and Tannenbaum

P. H.

, The Measurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill., 1957.

16.

Anderson

N. H.

, Integration Theory and Attitude Change, Psychological Review, 78, pp. 171–206, 1971.

17.

Willis

R. H.

, Two Dimensions of Conformity-Nonconformity, Sociometry, 26, pp. 499–513, 1963.

18.

Kohlberg

, Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization, in Goslin

D. A.

, (ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Rand McNally, New York, 1969.

19.

Rokeach

, The Measurement of Values and Value Systems, in Abcarian

and Soule

J. W.

, (eds.), Social Psychology and Political Behavior: Problems and Prospects, Chas. E. Merrill, Columbus, Ohio, 1971.

20.

White

R. W.

, Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence, Psychological Review, 66, pp. 297–333, 1959.

21.

Parsons

, Social Structure and the Development of Personality: Freud's Contribution to the Integration of Psychology and Sociology, Psychiatry, 21, pp. 321–340, 1958.

22.

Erikson

, Childhood and Society, Norton, New York, 1950.

23.

Klein

R. L.

and Birren

J. E.

, Age and Susceptibility to Social Influence, Proceedings of the 79th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, pp. 601–602, 1971.

Imitation in the Family: A Study of Older Parents and their Adult Sons

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References