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American Government > Part 1: Thinking Like A Political Scientist > Flashcards

Part 1: Thinking Like A Political Scientist Flashcards

1
Q

Politics

A

the authoritative and legitimate struggle for limited resources or precious rights and privileges within the context of government, the economy, and society

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2
Q

Polity

A

a political organization that includes actors such as individuals, groups, corporations, unions, and politicians

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3
Q

Zero-sum situation

A

a benefit for a particular political actor equates to a loss for other political actors

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4
Q

Struggle

A

a chaotic and painful clash of entrenched interests

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5
Q

Government

A

the collection of institutions and people who occupy them that is recognized as the legitimate authority to make decisions regarding the whole public in a defined geographic territory

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6
Q

Institution

A

an established organization, custom, or practice formed for a specific public purpose

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7
Q

Political Imagination

A

the ability to envision new and creative ways to make the political system work for ordinary people

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8
Q

Power

A

the ability to prevail in struggles over resources, rights, or privileges

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9
Q

The First Dimension of Power

A

formal decision-making

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10
Q

The Second Dimension of Power

A

mobilization of bias

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11
Q

Mobilization of Bias

A

biases/preferential treatment of one side while ignoring the other

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12
Q

The Third Dimension of Power

A

preference shaping

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13
Q

Preference Shaping

A

controlling another’s perception and maintaining power through systemic manipulation of information

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14
Q

Pluralism

A

various interest groups compete for political influence/power

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15
Q

Hyper-pluralism

A

the government has been captured by the demands of interest groups and is being influenced to the detriment of effective growth or change

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16
Q

Interest-group Liberalism

A

used interchangeably with the hyper-pluralism label

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17
Q

Elite Theory

A

highlights the power of a small and wealthy class of individuals (the power elite), as they are the decision-makers or are able to influence them to get their way

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18
Q

Theoretical Perspectives

A

concepts, definitions, and a body of scholarly literature developed over time

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18
Q

Public Policy

A

the results of decision making

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19
Q

Scientific Method

A

the systematic, logically driven process to gather information and make conclusions about natural and social phenomena

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19
Q

Steps of the Scientific Method

A
  • ask a question
  • research what others have learned about the question
  • formulate a hypothesis
  • conduct an experiment
  • collect and analyze data
  • communicate results
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20
Q

Empiricism/Empirical

A

basing a conclusion on careful verifiable observation and experience

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21
Q

Null Hypothesis

A

there is no relationship between two variables

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21
Q

Correlative or Correlational Hypothesis

A

two variables vary together

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21
Directional Hypotheses
posit a direction to the relationship in question
22
Negative Relationship
the value of one variable decreases as the value of the other variable increases
22
Positive Relationship
the value of one variable increasing along with the value of another variable
23
Casual Hypothesis
positing that at least some of the variance in one variable is being caused by the variance in the other variable (variables need to be connected)
24
Controlled Experiment
an experiment in which variables are controlled so that they do not affect a specific variable
24
Natural Experiment
the scientist does not control the variables, but natural processes or social events provide an opportunity for them to see the effect of a variable in action
25
Falsifiability
scientific knowledge claims are subject to be proven wrong
25
Untestable Claim
a theory that cannot be refuted
25
Fallacy
an argument that is faulty, logically invalid, or deceptive
25
Ad Hominem
"against the man" happens when we attack who made the argument in an attempt to discredit what they said or wrote, instead of attacking the argument on its merits
26
Reductive Fallacy
trying to address complex issues with simple solutions
27
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
"after this, therefore because of this” asserting that one thing caused another thing simply because it came first
28
Non Sequitur
"it does not follow" refers to an argument whose evidence and conclusion doesn't match the original claim
29
Appeal to Majority
when many people believe a claim to be true, so it is evidence of its truth
30
Straw Man
distorting an opponent’s position by stating it in an oversimplified or extreme form, and then refuting the distorted position instead of the real one
31
Red Herring
someone brings up a non-related issue to make their case
32
Begging the Question
using evidence that is essentially the same as the claim (circular argument)
33
Black/White Thinking
false dichotomy/dilemma shrinking the world of possibilities down to two choices—one of which we favor—and insist that everyone must choose between them
34
Ecological Fallacy
refers to making conclusions about a person based on aggregate data that is relevant to that person
35
Aggregate Data
information compiled into summaries for public reporting and cannot be used to make definitive statements about an individual
36
Argument
a claim plus evidence leading to a conclusion
37
Quantitative Evidence
numbers as evidence
38
Warranted Inference
justified in accepting a conclusion or inference
39
Qualitative Evidence
words as evidence
40
Conditions of Warranted Inference
- the reasons/evidence must be true - the conclusion must follow from the reasons/evidence (truth-preserving reasoning = validity)
40
Assumptions
unstated premises that the person making the argument is taking for granted or is asking you to take for granted
41
Progressivism
holds that the truth in human affairs is real and that we are on a never-ending journey towards it
42
Dogmatism
a philosophy that says we have already arrived at the truth, so no new claims or evidence need to be entertained
43
Relativism
posits that there is no ultimate truth, so there is no basis to reject one argument in favor of another
44
Correlation Does Not, Necessarily, Equal Causation
making claims that suggest movement in one variable is causing movement in another or that one condition occurring with another condition means that one caused the other
45
Appealing to Authority
can be a fallacy if the authority in question lacks credibility
46
Argument by Analogy
linking or comparing two things to explain or clarify in an argument
47
Slippery Slope
occurs when a person suggests that if we take one action, it will lead to a chain of disastrous events
48
Overgeneralization
excessively vague or general statements (cognitive distortion)
49
Hasty Generalization
making a generalization from an atypical example
50
Central Tendency
the typical value among all those in a data sample
51
Mean
average of a group of numbers
52
Median
the middle value of a range of numbers
53
Content Analysis
a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding
54
Dichotomous Questions
has only two possible answers
55
Multiple-Choice Questions
offers three or more defined choices
56
Thermometer-Scale Questions
"feeling thermometers" numeric rating scale from 0 to 100
57
Likert-Response Scale
level of agreement
58
Ranking-List Questions
rating an item's importance from a list
59
Open-Ended Questions
provides freedom for the respondent to structure the answer for themselves
60
Push Poll
a survey with biased information designed to get the results the sponsoring organization or candidate is looking for
61
Typology
a visual device that allows you to systematically classify types that have common characteristics
62
Status Quo
"the situation as it is now"
63
Ethos
the author's credibility or trustworthiness
64
Intrinsic Ethos
the author's character and integrity
65
Kairos
taking advantage of or even creating a perfect moment to deliver a particular message
65
Extrinsic Ethos
the author's credentials, reputation, or history with a subject
66
Logos
logic, evidence, or factual data that is used to persuade the audience
67
Pathos
the author's appeal to the audience's sense of identity, their self-interest, and their emotions
68
The Four Contextual Features
- race relations - inequality - immigration - corporate personhood

American Government (2 decks)

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