George Herbert Mead: The self is separate from others, This happens through our interactions with others and being able to understand that their behaviours and viewpoints are different from our own.
We learn what is expected of us in terms of social roles through observing others.
Our behaviour is not shaped by fixed, pre-programmed instincts, we respond to the world by giving meanings to the things that are significant to us.
We have an interpretive phase that comes between the stimulus and our response to it, meaning, before we know how to respond to the stimulus, we must interpret its meaning. Once we have done this, we can choose an appropriate response.
We interpret other peoples meanings by taking the roles of others, as children this is usually a significant other, such as a parent. Later we see ourselves from the point of view of the wider community, which is the generalised other.