Sociology Midterm 1

lecture 1

What is sociology 

 the way we approach problems, which is to search for social and structural explanations to the topics we study instead of relying on biological or individual explanations

cognitive dissonance

someone who holds two conflicting ideas

sociological imagination

ability to connect personal challenges to larger social issues

Two Principles of the Sociological Imagination

1. see the general in the particular

2. see the strange in the familiar

Decline bias 

when the past is seen as more favorable than the present 

Objective

basing conclusions on empirically verifiable facts collected with sound scientific principles rather than personal opinions, feelings, preferences, or experiences.

social location bias

often unconscious and affects our decisions and perceptions

based on gender, race, class, age

Anecdotal Evidence

evidence in form of stories that other people tell about what happened to them

confirmation bias

the tendency to look for and process information that supports existing beliefs 

fundamental attribution error

the tendency to blame others failures on personality instead of outside factors

self-serving bias

the tendency to blame external factors on your own failures

optimism bias 

the tendency to see the world positively when in a good mood 

pessimism bias

the tendency to see the world negatively when in a bad mood

cultural bias

perceiving your own culture as normal and therefore others as abnormal