Socialization refers to the process through which an individual learns and acquires skills and character traits that enable them to function effectively within a community. Some key agents of socialization include parents, siblings, friends, peers, teachers, and characters on television or in books.

Socialization can be classified as either intentional (anticipatory socialization) or unintentional. Intentional socialization occurs when the agents of socialization deliberately convey the values and desired behavior to children, followed by either approval or disapproval if there is adherence and no adherence, respectively. For instance, a parent taking their child through toilet training begins with the potty, then progresses to an actual toilet. Another example is table etiquette, such as when parents teach their children how to use cutlery and how to conduct themselves during meal times.

Unintentional socialization, on the other hand, takes place through observation or observation of interactions. For example, if a child witnesses her classmate being reprimanded by a teacher for talking back to them, they learn that it is rude and wrong for children to talk back to adults. Therefore, they will desist from such behavior themselves. Also, if I visited a foreign country and observed that only people of the same sex greet each other by the hand and the reverse does not happen, I will automatically adopt the same approach.

Socialization is the process of preparing children to become adult members of society. Some of this is done intentionally but a significant amount of socialization occurs unintentionally as children discover which behaviors are appropriate or inappropriate by observation and experimentation.

Parents socialize children both intentionally and unintentionally. When a parent insists that a child say "please" or "thank you" or teaches a child table manners, that is intentional socialization. The parent's own behavior, however, socializes the child unintentionally. For example, if parents put away electronic devices, dine together, and converse and pay attention to each other during dinner, that teaches the children one sort of behavior, whereas if parents spend dinnertime on the phone or watching TV, and seem more concerned with electronic devices than with their families, that teaches children a very different sort of behavior.

Schools also contain examples of intentional and intentional socialization. Schools explicitly teach both various subjects and also proper behavior such as standing in line, not yelling, and taking turns. Peer group interactions, however, are a form of unintentional socialization in which students learn the rules of their particular cohort. Children may learn gender norms, for example, from observing what is admired among their peers or from popular media in a form of unintentional socialization.

Socialization is the process by which we are taught the values of our society and its assumptions about how we are supposed to behave.  We can be taught these things intentionally, or we can be taught them simply by what is implied.

An example of intentional socialization comes when parents explicitly tell their children what is expected of them.  They might say "boys don't hit girls."  Or they might say...