Chapter 2 Vocabulary

Question 1

accentuation

Answer 1

Occurs when an event, transition or new circumstance strengthens an existing personal attribute or behavior pattern

Question 2

age effect

Answer 2

When behaviors, human experiences, or social changes are shaped by the age of people involved – that is, by the length of time since their birth

Question 3

agency

Answer 3

The capacity to act

Question 4

birth cohort

Answer 4

A group of people born in a particular year or period of years

Question 5

cohort effect

Answer 5

Occurs when membership in a particular cohort – that is, a group of people with synchronous shared experience – shapes a behavior, experience, or social condition

Question 5

critical periods

Answer 5

Used to describe a special class of sensitive stage during which the effects of exposure to certain conditions are particularly strong, but would otherwise be negligent at other periods

Question 6

cumulative continuity

Answer 6

A process by which the consequences of a person’s circumstances and/or actions accumulate over time

Question 7

early programming

Answer 7

Implies that experiences of early life – even in utero and infancy – may permanently “program” a person’s ensuing health and social development

Question 8

generation

Answer 8

A relationship between two specific people or groups, one of whom gave birth to (that is, generated) the other

Question 9

interactional continuity

Answer 9

Sometimes called reciprocal continuity, occurs when social interactions fortify a person’s behaviors or behavioral styles

Question 10

life course

Answer 10

How events, transitions, and trajectories of a person’s life unfold with particular sequences and dynamics across their stages of life

Question 11

life course epidemiology

Answer 11

The study of long-term effects on later health or disease risk

Question 12

life course perspective

Answer 12

An approach to understanding individual lives and age cohorts

Question 13

life-span psychology

Answer 13

Tends to understand biographies from a human developmental perspective that emphasizes biophysiological conditions more so than socio-historical forces

Question 14

life stage

Answer 14

Phases of age-related statuses and roles

Question 15

period effect

Answer 15

Occurs when historical conditions uniformly shape behaviors, experiences, or social change across all observed age groups and cohorts

Question 16

sensitive stages

Answer 16

Times when humans more easily acquire cognitive skills, coping strategies, social competencies, attitudes, habits, and values than at other ages or life stages

Question 17

situational imperatives

Answer 17

Demands created by a certain circumstance

Question 18

social pathway

Answer 18

A common, established route or sequence of steps on the way to acquiring a particular status or role

Question 19

social roles

Answer 19

The societal expectations that accompany each of our statuses

Question 20

social statuses

Answer 20

The position one holds in society

Question 21

social timing

Answer 21

The incidence, duration, and sequence of roles, especially as related to societal expectations and beliefs about age and life stage

Question 22

Sociological imagination

Answer 22

A habit of mind that understands connections between individual experiences and their sociocultural environments

Question 23

theory of cohort replacement

Answer 23

(Abramson and Inglehart) Suggests that social change occurs as birth cohorts enter, progress, and then “exit” society, taking with them the values, beliefs, and behaviors that had at one time been influential, and leaving the values, beliefs, and behaviors of younger cohorts to dominate.

Question 24

trajectory

Answer 24

A dynamic (changing) course that follows a particular pattern of behavior or achievement over the lifetime

Question 25

transitions

Answer 25

Age-associated shifts in social status and social roles

Question 26

turning point

Answer 26

A marked change in direction, circumstance, or experience