Chapter 8 Flashcards
Ethnomethodology
A method used for understanding ‘hidden’ social norms by analyzing people’s accounts and description of their day-to-day activities.
Breaching Experiment
A technique used in ethnomethodology that seeks to examine people’s reactions to violations of common social norms.
Frames of Reference
The range of possible positions/attitudes/behaviors that people could adopt in a given situation. People use these frames of reference to guide their own thoughts and actions.
Diffuse Status Characteristics
Attributes not directly relevant to the group task but positively valued in society.
Specific Status Characteristics
Attributes directly to the group task.
System Justification Theory
Theory that people’s dependence on social systems for wealth and security motivates them to justify these social systems and see them as fair.
Marginal Group Members
‘Deviants’ - People who deviate too far from prototypical group members of group norms.
Black Sheep Effect
Derogation of deviant or marginal ingroup members.
Intergroup Sensitivity Effect
The tendency to prefer criticism to come form within the group than from an outsider.
Schism
A group divides into subgroups that differ usually in terms of their attitudes or values.
Cross-Cutting Categories
Subgroups that represent categories that have members outside the immediate larger group.
Terror-Management Theory
Theory proposing that human awareness of death creates a constant source of ‘existential anguish’ that must be dealt with.
Social Identity Theory
The theory of group membership and intergroup relations arguing that personal identities and group memberships complete people’s send of self.
Prototype
‘Fuzzy’ sets of characteristics that define a group and distinguish it from other groups.
Subjective Uncertainty
Uncertainty about who we are and what we are supposed to do, which is alleviated by identification with groups.
