Exam 2 SOciology

Question 1

What are the three main ways cultures change

Answer 1

-INVENTION: creating new cultural elements
-DISCOVERY: recognizing and or better understanding something already existing
-DIFFUSION: the spread of cultural traits

Question 2

Socialization

Answer 2

the lifelong social experience by which people develop their human potential and learn culture

Question 3

Personality

Answer 3

a person’s fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking, and feeling

Question 4

Rhesus monkeys

Answer 4

-raised in isolation
-artificial monkey mom (wire and cloth)
-show maladjustments when placed with normal monkeys (passive, anxious, fearful…)
-comparable to cases of child neglect

Question 5

Freud’s 3 levels of personality

Answer 5

-the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories
-the super-ego operates as a moral conscience
-the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego

Question 6

Jean Piaget’s levels of cognitive development

Answer 6

-Sensorimotor (infancy/toddler) – exploring
the world, egocentric
-Preoperational (preschool to 6) – learning
concepts, still irrational and egocentric
-Concrete operational (7 to 11) – beginning to
think logically
-Formal operational (11+) – abstract thinking

Question 7

The generalized other

Answer 7

widespread cultural norms and values we use as references in evaluating ourselves

Question 8

Cohort

Answer 8

a category of people who share something in common, usually their age

Question 9

Mead’s levels of self development

Answer 9

-imitation: no ability to take the role of another
-play: one other in one situation
-games: many others in one situation
-generalized other: many others is many situations

Question 10

Genie’s case

Answer 10

-girl in California, tied to potty chair in dark garage from time she was 2. In 1970, she was rescued at the age of 13: had the development of a 1 year old. regained stable health eventually, bet her language abilities remained that of a young child. Today, she lives in home for mentally disabled adults and barely makes a sound.

Question 11

social interaction

Answer 11

the process by which people act and react to others

Question 12

status

Answer 12

social position that a person holds
status SET: all the statuses a person hold at a given time
ASCRIBED status:one that a person takes on at birth or involuntarily later in life
ACHIEVED status: one that a person takes on voluntarily that reflect personal effort and achievement
MASTER status:a status that has a special importance for social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life

Question 13

role

Answer 13

behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status
=> a person HOLDS a status and PERFORMS a role
role SET: a number of roles attached to a single status
role CONFLICT: a conflict among the roles connect to two or more statuses
role STRAIN: tension among the roles connected to one status

Question 14

the social construction of reality

Answer 14

the process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction

Question 15

Thomas Theorem

Answer 15

situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences

Question 16

Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis

Answer 16

the study of social interactions in terms of theatrical performance
Erving Goffman described each individual’s performance as the “presentation of self”: a person’s efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others

Question 17

What are some issues with human perception

Answer 17

It is based on personal experiences, so everyone’s perception is different

Question 18

What is conformity/why do we care about it

Answer 18

the process whereby people change their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to match those held by a group to which they belong or want to belong, or whose approval they desire

Question 19

Who studied conformity and what did he find

Answer 19

Robert Merton found that conformity lies in the pursuit of cultural goals through approval. Therefore the US “success story”is not attainable for everyone who wants it (opportunities

Question 20

What is obedience, how does it relate to authority figures

Answer 20

obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure

Question 21

Who studied obedience

Answer 21

Stanley Milgram - found that with an authority figure in the room the participant was more likely to shock the patient to full voltage.

Question 22

The Bystander Effect

Answer 22

when the presence of others around discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, against a bully or assault or other crime