Sociology exam 1

Question 1

acorn theory

Answer 1

what motivates someone is genetic

Question 2

rational choice theory

Answer 2

what motivates people is to rationally choose what they prefer

Question 3

individual theories (fit psychology)

Answer 3

• acorn theory
• rational choice theory

Question 4

cultural theories (sociology)

Answer 4

• toolkit theories
• embedded theories

Question 5

toolkit theory

Answer 5

we have pieces of cultural that we keep in our heads, they achieve goals and justify our behavior

Question 6

embedded theories (moral believing animals)

Answer 6

what motivates us is the aspects of culture that are embedded in us, acting on moral orders

Question 7

moral

Answer 7

pertains judgments to right an wrong, good or bad, beautiful or repugnant, we can’t help but assign judgments to something, not true or false

Question 8

moral order points

Answer 8

• moral orders are inherently social
• emotional are a sign that moral orders are at work
• we act out of moral orders (liturgy at a church)
• moral orders are tied to larger social structures (things that come before us that shape things)
• our embeddedness in moral orders is always imperfect

Question 9

believing

Answer 9

• assumptions about what is true or false
• we can’t live our life without making assumptions and moving forward
• this is how cognition works

Question 10

layer of belief

Answer 10

• surface level beliefs are easily changed
• mid-level beliefs require more challenge
• changes in deep beliefs cause significant disruption
• foundational beliefs cannot be changed

Question 11

challenging beliefs

Answer 11

• beliefs that are not universal
• beliefs can be challenged by arguments, experience, and revelation
• we can have contradictory beliefs and apply them occasionally

Question 12

plausibility structures

Answer 12

• routines, events, and symbols in our life that make our beliefs believable

Question 13

dark side of believing

Answer 13

we can get stuck in bad beliefs

Question 14

relativism

Answer 14

you believe what you believe and differences in beliefs don’t matter

Question 15

nihilism

Answer 15

there is no truth so not beliefs matter

Question 16

3 aspects of an animal

Answer 16

• embodied
• dual process cognition
• story telling

Question 17

embodied

Answer 17

we are not just spirits, fixed in time and space, physical abilities and limitations, reproduce sexually, require food and rest, have limited lifspans

Question 18

dual process cognition

Answer 18

two ways of thinking in our brain
system 1 - fast, emotional, habitual
system 2 - slow, rational, deliberative

Question 19

elephant and rider

Answer 19

rider is lazy and uses brain fuel rapidly, elephant is antsy cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable, rider is the story telling part of the brain, elephant is enacting the story

Question 20

3 reasons why the rider is telling a story

Answer 20

1. to guide decision making
2. to justify behavior
3. construct coherent identity

Question 21

how competing narratives win

Answer 21

1. power - get your story out faster and/or louder
2. metanarrative - including stories within stories
3. simplicity
4. resonance with human experience and preference
5. resonance with dominant narratives

Question 22

religion

Answer 22

relates to super emperical (beyond what we know or can explain), she include all human expressions of religion

Question 23

religion’s function

Answer 23

informs beliefs, morals, behavior, and collects, and shares stories

Question 24

sociobiological explanation for religion

Answer 24

formed by athiest because they thought religion was dying and they need an explanation for human behaviors and morality

Question 25

psychological explanations for religion

Answer 25

it is how we deal with life’s difficulties

Question 26

religious explanations for religion

Answer 26

they are encountering something real

Question 27

religion as a social institution

Answer 27

social institution are collections of beliefs, morals, symbols, rules, and plausibility structures that shape the common pathways of human life

Question 28

emergence

Answer 28

• when lower level compenents combine to form a new entity
• the properties of the new entity can not be explained by the simple combinations of the lower level components
• the entity takes on a new life of its own

Question 29

emergence in social institutions

Answer 29

they solve a probrem that society finds

Question 30

the power of religion

Answer 30

it moves people and transforms lives, but also there are people who do terrible things in the name of religion