The I and Me, George Herbert Mead, 1934. Basic human skills need to be taught and learned, similar to advanced social skills. George Herbert Mead claimed that how people behave is conditioned by the social context in which behavior occurs. Mead also argued that self-awareness or the ability to see ourselves as others see us and react accordingly, is learned.
Mead argues that the self or awareness of who we are has two related aspects. First, the I aspect. It is our opinion of ourselves as a whole. We respond the behavior of others as an I alias the unsocialized self and second, the me aspect. It is the awareness of how others expect us to behave in a given situation.
The me aspect is also called the social self because it develops through socialization. For example, if you accidentally put your hand in a fire, then the eye expresses how you react to the pain, but the me expresses how you choose to express that pain, and your reaction will be conditioned by, first, who you are. male or female, adult or child, etc. Second, where you are, alone at home or public place.
Third, who you are with, with family, friends, or strangers. For detailed example, please refer to your textbook page 34. In conclusion, Mead showed us that in relations to other members of society, the socialized self or ME is constructed highly by the influence of the shared values of the society where we undergo the socialization process.