Exam Definitions Flashcards
Acculturation
Contact, exposure, and exchange of ideas between different cultures that results in changes to both groups.
Cognitive Consistency
The tendency of individuals to seek out stimuli that are consistent with their beliefs and attitudes and to limit exposure to those that are inconsistent (close minded).
Cognitive Dissonance
The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs and attitudes.
Collectivist Society
A society of dependent individuals and personal needs are secondary to group needs.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that ones own culture, nation or ethnic group is superior to all others.
Individualist Society
A society that values autonomy (self-governed), freedom, and competition, as well as personal rights and freedoms.
Macrosociology
A analyzes social systems on a large scale.
Microsociology
The study of small groups and individuals with in a society.
Norms
Expectations of appropriate conduct that serve as the basis of all social interactions.
Social Dynamics
The factors that determine social change.
Status Quo
The general state of affairs, or condition of a group, culture, or society.
Archetype
A universal symbol or pattern.
Cohort
A group that shares certain statistical characteristics, such as an age group.
Egocentrism
Heightened self-awareness and self-consciousness.
Millennial Generation
People born between the early 1980s and 2000 who grew up in the era of globalization, cultural diversity, and technological advances.
Prosocial Behaviour
Positive, constructive, and helpful behaviour.
Roles
The expected behaviour of an individual in a social position.
Socialization
The process by which an individual learns to function successfully in society, by internalizing the values, norms, and roles of that society.
Alienation
Estrangement or distance of people from each other, from what they find meaningful, or from their sense of self.
Census
An official count of a population and an important tool for examining demographic info.
Conformity
Act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours to what individuals perceive as normal to their society or social group.
Demography
The statistical study of a population.
Deviance
Behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.
Helicopter Parents
Overly involved and concerned parents .
Subculture
An alternative system of values and beliefs that does not conform to the mainstream cultural and social beliefs of a society.
Typology
A system of classification designed for understanding of types.
Bourgeoisie
Members of the property-owning class; people who own the means of production (upper class).
Capitalism
An economic system where the means of production is privately owned and profit is earned in competitive conditions.
Cultural Hegemony
Antonio Gramsci’s theory that society is dominated by one ruling class and the ruling class and the ruling class’s ideas and beliefs are considered the cultural norms.
Ego
The conscious part of the human psyche that controls a person’s most immediate behaviours and thoughts; it is the most in touch with reality and acts as the mediator between the id and superego.
Hedonistic
Behaviour that focuses on meeting a persons immediate need for happiness without focusing on future consequences.
Id
The unconcious part of the human psyche that meets the instructional, impulsive, and primitive needs of the mind.
Proletariat
The poorest class of people; the lower working class wage-earners who sell their skills for money.
Superego
The part of the psyche that seeks perfection and controls our sense of guilt and right and wrong; its demands are often opposite to the id.
Postpartum Depression
Depression suffered by a mother following childbirth, typically arising from hormonal changes, lifestyle changes, and fatigue.
Implicit Learning
learning complex info without awareness.
Invisible Culture
a cultures perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs.
Desensitization
the process of becoming familiar with a stimulus, which reduces a persons reaction to it.
