Chapter 2 Flashcards
Evolution
The concept that different species are descended from common ancestors but have evolved over time, acquiring different genetic characteristics as a function of different environmental demands
Natural selection
The process by which certain attributes are more successful in a particular environment and therefore become more represented in future generations.
Adaptions
Attributes that improve an individuals prospect for survival and reproduction
Naturalistic fallacy
A bias toward believing that biological adaptions are inherently good or desirable
Domain-specific adaptations
Attributes that evolved to meet a particular challenge but that are not particularly useful when dealing with other types of challenges
Domain-general adaptions
Attributes that are useful for dealing with various challenges across different areas of life
Socialization
Learning from parents and others what is desirable and undesirable conduct in a particular culture.
Automatic processes
Human thoughts or actions that occur quickly, often without the aid of conscious awareness
Controlled processes
Human thoughts or actions that occur more slowly and deliberatievely, and are motivated by some goals that is often consciously recognized.
Motivation
The process of generating and expending energy toward achieving or avoiding some outcomes.
Needs
Internal states that drive action that is necessary to survive or thrive
Goals
Cognition that represent outcomes that we strive for in order to meet our needs and desires
Hedonism
The human preference for pleasure over pain
Hierarchy of goals
The idea that goals are organized hierarchically from very abstract goals to very concrete goals, with the latter serving the former
Cognitive appraisal theory
The idea that our subjective experience of emotions is determined by a two step process involving a primary appraisal of benefit or harm, and a secondary appraisal providing a more differentiated emotional experience
Culture
A set of beliefs, attitudes, values, norms, morals, customs, roles, statuses, symbols, and rituals shared by a self-identified group, a group whose members think of themselves as a group
Culture evolution
The process whereby cultures develop and propagate according to systems of belief or behavior that contributes to the success of a society
Cultural diffusion
The transfer of inventions, knowledge, and ideas from one culture to another.
Cultural transmission
The process whereby members of a culture learn explitcity or implicity to imitate the beliefs and behaviors of others in that culture.
Collectivistic culture
A culture in which the emphasis is on interdependence, cooperation, and the welfare of the group over that of the individual.
Indvidualistic culture
A culture in which the emphasis is on the individual initiative, achievement, and creativity over maintenance of social cohesion
Interdependent self-construal
Viewing self primarily in terms of how one relates to others and contributes to the greater whole
Independent self-construal
Viewing self as a unique active agent serving ones own goals
Terror management thoery
To minimize fear of mortality, humans strive to sustain faith that they are enduringly valued contributors to a meaningful world and therefor transcend their physical death
Cultural worldview
Human-construed shared symbolic conceptions of reality that imbue life with meaning , order, and permanence
Self-esteem
A persons evaluation of his or her value or self-worth
Just world beliefs
The idea that good things will happen to the worthy and bad things will happen to the unworhty
Literal immortality
A culturally shared belief that there is some form of life after death for those who are worthy
Symbolic immortality
A culturally shared belief that, by being part of something greater and more enduring than our individual selves, some part of us will live on after we die.
Mortality salience
The state of being reminded of one’s morality
Worldview defense
The tendency to derogate those who violate important cultural ideals and to venerate those who uphold them
Cultural tramas
Tragic historical examples of cultural disruptions, some of which have led to complete cultural disintegration
Acculturation
The process whereby individuals adapt their behavior in response to exposure to a new culture
Assimilation
The process whereby people gradually shift almost entirely from their former culture to the beliefs and ways of the new culture
Integration
The process whereby people retain aspects of their former culture while internalizing aspects of a new host culture.
Melting pot
An ideological view holding that diverse peoples within a society should converge toward the mainstream culture
Multiculturalism (cultural pluralism )
An ideological view holding that cultural diversity is valued and that diverse peoples within a society should retain aspects of their traditional culture while adapting to the host culture
