Sociology quiz

Sociology definition

The study of human society and group behaviour

What sociology does?

• It helps us understand how people interact, form groups, and follow rules

• Sociologists look at how institutions (like family, school, media) shape our lives 

• It is also the study of social constructions

What each field focus on

Sociology - Group behaviour, social systems.

Psychology - Individual behaviour and mind

Anthropology - Human culture and origins

Key question sociologists ask

• Why do people follow norms and rules?

• How do trends and behaviors spread in                     society?

• What role do institutions play in shaping                              our choices?

• How do groups influence how we see ourselves?

everyday examples of sociology

1. Why do students raise their hands in class?

2. Why are certain clothes considered “cool”?

3. Why do people act differently at a concert vs. a library?

4. How do social media platforms influence behavior?

5. Why do people use a different language when texting compared to talking

WHAT DOES SOCIETY LOOK LIKE?

• Ultimately, society is made up of many different components, such as culture, race, family, education, social class, and people’s interactions.

• People who share a culture and territory

Norms

Unwritten rules for behavior

Values

Beliefs about what is good/important

Institutions

 Organized systems (school, family, religion)

Socialization

How we learn norms and values

Culture

Shared language, customs, and beliefs

KEY INSIGHTS of sociology

1. Humans cannot be understood apart from the social context they live in (society, culture and time + place)

2. Society is a social construction, that is an idea created by humans (i.e. doesn’t exist in the biological world, but only in the social world)

3. Society Influences You

MICROSOCIOLOGY

• Studies face-to-face and small group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society 

• Focuses on small-scale issues (ex. Studying family dynamics of elderly parents living with adult children)

MACROSOCIOLOGY

• Studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals

• Focuses on large-scale issues (ex. Effects of an aging population)

Which of the following is NOT an example of a social science?

a. biology

b. political science

c. psychology

d. economics

a

A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new social or cultural environment is called:

a. cultural mind.

c. cultural fear.

b. culture shakes.

d. culture shock.

d

Roles

Expected behaviors for someone who holds a particular status or position.

Status

A person's social position in a group or society.

Structural-Functional

From a macro-level perspective, functionalism views society as interconnected structures that maintain stability and shared values, with change seen as gradual and often disruptive.

Conflict theory

From a macro-level perspective, society is seen as a struggle for power and resources. Conflict between social classes drives change, and inequality is widespread. Conflict is universal, and social change is often beneficial and inevitable.

Symbolic Interactionism

This micro-level perspective focuses on face-to-face and small-group interactions. It argues that social reality is constructed through shared meanings, symbols, gestures, and language, which strongly shape how people understand and respond to issues.

August Comte

• coined the term “sociology”

• Believed society could be studied like any other science

• key concepts: positivism, sociology the “given” of science, social, engineering

Harriet Martineau

• Translated A.Comte’s work into English

• Focused on social changes and the conditions of women and children in early English factory.

• First Recognized female sociologist

• Studied early American society (1834)

Émile Durkheim

• Founder Sociology as an academic discipline

• Study Suicides

• Use Statistics in sociology

• Structural/functional theorist

• Microsociology

Karl Marx

• Founder of the political/economic theory of socialism

• Considered the founder of the conflict perspective

• Wrote the communist manifesto and co-wrote Das Kapital.

• proletariat, Bourgeoisie, Capitanists, etc.

• Macrosociology

Max Weber

• Argued sociologists can’t fully capture reality, so they should use ideal types to highlight key features of society

• Technology trapping people, and loss individuality

Herbert Spencer

• Structural/Functionalist

• Macrosociology

• coined the term “Survival of the fittest” inreference to human social arrangements (social Darwinism)

• Opposed to helping the poor, in interfered with natural selection in society

George Herbert Mead

• Symbolic interactionist theorist

• Microsociology

• Believed that the self was a social product acquired by observing and assimilating the identities of others.

Erving Goffman

• Symbolic interactionist theorist

• Microsociology

• _believed we play roles and present a “face” for public view

• Key concepts: dramaturgical approach, etc

Sigmund Freud

• Psychoanalyst

• Key concepts: unconscious, id, ego, superego, psychosexual stages, psychoanalysis, ego defense mechanisms, free association, dream interpretation, seduction theory, and libidinal energy.

Erik Erikson

• Psychologist

• Created the fight stages of man (psycho-social stages)

• Focused on ego conflict through the life spancend how they are resolved.

Lawrence Kohlberg

• Psychologist

• Expanded piaget’s theory of more development in children

• key concepts: stages of moral development, the “Heinz scenario”

Carol Gillgan

• social psychologist: for a student of Lawrence Kahlberg

• Too Kafeminist Perspective to moral reasoning, author of In a Different Voice, which proposes that men and women have different moral reasoning

Albert Bandura

• Social (lognitive) Psychologist, performed classic study of imitation and aggressive behaviors in children

B.F. Skinner

• Psychologist, learning theorist behaviorist. Taught at Harvard University, probably the most famous American Psychologist.

• Key Concepts: operant learning, positive and negative reinforcement, punishment, shaping, schedules of reinforcement, behavior modification, and the Skinner Box.

Social Structure definition

is a network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction.

Status definition and examples

is a socially defined position in a group or in a society. Ex: wealth, honours, religion, appearance, etc.

Roles definition and examples

is the behavior-rights and obligations- expected of someone occupying a particular status. Ex: Project manager, software developer, etc.

Ascribed Status definition and examples

is assigned according to standards beyond a person’s control. Ex: male, female, teen, adult, family heritage, race.

• Not based on you abilities, efforts or accomplishment.

• Inherited or assigned automatically with age

Achieved Status definition and example

that is acquired by an individual on the basis of some special skill, knowledge, or ability. Ex: spouse, parent, high schools or college graduate, etc.

• Based on your Abilities, skills, and knowledge.

• You have control over them and the list of them is endless.

Master status definiton and exmaples

is the one that plays the greatest role in a person’s life. Ex: athlete, parenthood, marital status, etc.

• can be achieved or ascribed

reciprocal roles defintion and examples

corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses. Ex: teacher-student, doctor patient, etc.

Role expectations defintion

are the socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role.

Role Performance definition

is the actual behaviors of a person and it may not match the behavior expected of society.

Role set definition and examples:

is the different roles associated with a particular status. Ex: manager, professor, nurses, doctor, teachers, etc.

Role Conflict definition and example

occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status

Ex: Being a good employee interferes with being a good parent

role strain definition and examples

occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status

• Ex: manager who has to keep her workers positive as they are asked to work long overtime hours

Role exit definition and examples

is the process people go through to detach from a role that was previously central to their social identity.

Ex: retirement, divorce, graduating from school, and quitting a job

Social institution definition and examples

is a system of statuses, roles, values, and norms that is organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society.

Ex: The family, the most universal social institution, takes responsibility for raising the young and teaching them accepted norms and values.

The economic institution organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Social Trend definition

Is a behaviour, style, idea, or product that becomes popular with a large group of people.

Operant conditioning definition

a learning process through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.

Classical conditioning definition

pairing an unconditional stimulus (eg. food) with a neutral stimulus (eg. sound of bell) to create a conditioned response (eg. salivating)

Social learning theory definition

learning through observation of models, which may lead to imitation of the behaviour.

The two types of models

1. Positional models- famous people, cartoon figures

2. Personal models- role models such as parents, siblings, peers, etc

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE).

The tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors and underestimate the role of situational factors when analyzing someone else's behavior.

Dispositional Factors

Internal characteristics that influence behavior.

Situational Factors

External influences that do not come from within the individual.

Self-serving bias definition

The tendency to take personal credit for our successes by attributing them to dispositional factors, and to dissociate from our failures by attributing them to situational factors.

Stereotypes

Categorizing a person based on their visible cues, such as gender, nationality, race, religion, etc.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Compliance Definition

In psychology, compliance refers to changing one's behavior due to the request or direction of another person.

COMPLIANCE TECHNIQUES: 1.

Reciprocity

• People comply out of feeling that they need to return a favour.  

• People feel they must repay what another person has provided. 

COMPLIANCE TECHNIQUES: 2.

Foot-in-the-door technique (FITD)

• Ask for something small, then eventually ask for something bigger

COMPLIANCE TECHNIQUES: 3.

Low-balling

• Offer something sweet, get a commitment then cut it back

COMPLIANCE TECHNIQUES: 4.

Hazing

• Initiation rites required to join a group perceived as exclusive, such as a college fraternity or sorority.

Conformity

the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours to groups norms, politics or being like-minded

Private conformity

the private acceptance of social norms

Public conformity

overt behaviour consistent with social norms that are not privately accepted

Risky shift

the tendency for group discussions to produce riskier decisions than those reached by group members working on their own

Group Polarization

the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the decisions members make on their own

Groupthink

is a thinking style in cohesive groups where the desire for unanimous agreement overrides proper decision-making.

Core mechanism of SLT vs. conditioning?

SLT suggests learning occurs through imitation and observation of models. This is an indirect form of learning, unlike the direct stimulus/response/reward system of conditioning.

Main conclusion of the Bobo doll experiment?

The study concluded that aggression is learned (not innate), as children exposed to the aggressive model showed significantly more aggression.

How did gender affect imitation?

Boys imitated physical aggression seen from men, while girls imitated verbal aggression seen from women.

How do different models explain the study contrasts?

In Bandura's study, children may have viewed researchers as personal models (trusted associates), increasing imitation. The St. Helena study's televised characters were positional models (personally unknown), resulting in low imitation.

How did Gergely et al. show individual reasoning?

Infants showed reasoning by choosing which behavior to copy. When the demonstrator used her forehead to turn on a box because her hands were busy, most infants used their hands instead, showing they understood the situational constraint.

What were the key criticisms?

Validity: Critics noted low ecological validity (lab setting) and the risk of demand characteristics (children acting to please researchers). Ethical: Concerns were raised over provoking young children and exposing them to violence for research purposes.

Which of the following is an example of normative social influence?

a. Studying a topic because you want accurate knowledge

b. Copying a friend’s clothing style to feel accepted

c. Researching information to solve a problem

d. Doing something because a teacher provided evidence

b.

Informational influence definition

is when people follow others because they believe those people know better.

Normative influence definition

is when people change their behavior to fit in and be accepted by others.

Why can conformity be both helpful and harmful? Provide one example of each?

Conformity can be helpful because it encourages people to follow rules that keep society safe, such as wearing seatbelts to reduce injuries. However, conformity can also be harmful when people follow a group even if it is wrong, such as bullying someone because others are doing it.

Institutions definition

are defined as stable, organized systems in society that function as components of social structures, with examples including the family, education, and religion.

Situational characteristics

are traits of a situation that influence a person’s behavior, like a stressful work environment causing someone to act impatient.

Dispositional characteristics

are traits of a person’s personality that influence behavior, like being naturally kind or aggressive regardless of the situation.

Basic needs

Physiological needs: food, water, warmth, rest

Safety needs: security, safety

Psychological needs

belongingness and love needs: friends, intimate relationships.

Esteem needs: Prestige and feeling of accomplishment

Self-fulfillment needs

Self-actualization: achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities.

Why is belonging universal, and what did exclusion mean historically?

The desire to belong is rooted in survival (protection). Historically, rejection from the group was tantamount to a death sentence.

What specific health effects result from social isolation?

Socially isolated people feel anxious/depressed, harm their immune system and cardio-vascular health, and may die sooner.

Contrast Western/Eastern approaches to belonging and strangers.

Westerners seek loose and broad belonging and find it rude not to address a stranger. Japanese seek secure and tight belonging and use caution and minimal contact with strangers.

What two actions are crucial for modern human survival, based on the need to belong?

Survival relies on the ability to prevent rejection or reclaim membership in the group once rejected.

How does macrosociology differ from microsociology in its level of analysis?

Macrosociology studies large-scale social structures, while microsociology studies face-to-face and small group interactions.

What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?

Prejudice is an unjustified, typically negative attitude, while discrimination is the behavior or action taken based on that prejudice.

What is the purpose of the Implicit Association Test (IAT)?

To gauge implicit attitudes, identities, beliefs, and biases that people are unwilling or unable to report consciously.

In Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, how does learning occur?

Children exposed to an aggressive adult model were significantly more likely to show aggression towards the Bobo doll.

What was the basic setup of the Asch conformity experiment?

A subject was asked to judge the length of lines after several confederates intentionally gave the wrong answer.

In the Asch experiment, what is 'informational conformity'?

Conforming because one is convinced the group is right.

In the Asch experiment, what is 'normative conformity'?

Conforming to avoid the discomfort of disagreeing with the group, even when you know they are wrong.

What is 'cognitive dissonance'?

The mental discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes.