AP Human Geography Unit 3 - Cultural Patterns and Processes Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the study terms for sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.8.

Cultural traits

Individual elements, practices, or characteristics of a culture, such as food preferences, architecture, language, or greetings.

Ethnocentrism

The practice of judging another culture solely by the values, norms, and standards of one's own culture, often accompanied by an assumption of superiority.

Cultural relativism

The practice of evaluating and understanding a culture by its own internal values and standards rather than judging it through the lens of another culture.

Artifact

A physical, tangible object or material item made, used, or modified by people within a culture (e.g., clothing, tools, housing).

Mentifact

The non-material, abstract ideas, beliefs, values, and worldviews held by a culture (e.g., religion, language, folklore).

Sociofact

The social structures, institutions, and organizational norms that dictate how people interact within a culture (e.g., family structures, governments, education systems).

Taboo

A strict social or religious prohibition, restriction, or custom forbidding a specific behavior, action, or dietary practice.

Folk culture

Cultural practices traditionally followed by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

Popular culture

Dynamic, widespread cultural traits found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Sense of place

The unique identity, emotional attachment, or meaning that people attribute to a specific geographic location.

Placelessness

The loss of uniqueness in a cultural landscape such that one place looks indistinguishable from another, often resulting from globalization and commercial standardization.

Cultural landscape / built environment

The visible imprint of human activity, values, and modification on the natural physical environment.

Sequent occupancy

The concept that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, with each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape over time.

Centripetal force

An attitude, cultural trait, or factor that unifies people, strengthens national identity, and stabilizes a society or state.

Centrifugal force

An attitude, cultural division, or factor that divides people, destabilizes a society, and pulls a state apart.

Gender

The socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities that a given society attributes to men and women.

Language

A structured system of communication through speech, symbols, signs, or writing understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

Religion

A cohesive system of beliefs, values, and rituals regarding the nature of the universe and the sacred or divine.

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people who share the distinct cultural traditions, heritage, ancestral lineage, or geographic homeland.

Race

A social categorization of people based on perceived biological or physiological traits, such as skin color and facial features.

Ethnic enclave

A geographically distinct neighborhood, district, or cluster with a high concentration of an ethnic or cultural minority group.

Indigenous

Originating naturally in a particular place; referring to the original or native inhabitants of a geographic region prior to colonization.

Cultural realm

A broad geographic region comprising multiple cultural regions that share common cultural traits, complexes, and historical traditions.

Hearth

The geographic origin or node from which a cultural trait, idea, or innovation originates.

Relocation diffusion

The spread of a cultural trait, feature, or idea through the physical migration and relocation of people from one place to another.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of a cultural trait or innovation outward from a hearth in an additive process, remaining strong at the origin while expanding.

Contagious diffusion

A form of expansion diffusion characterized by the rapid, widespread transmission of a trait or trend throughout a population via direct contact.

Hierarchical diffusion

A type of expansion diffusion where a trend or innovation spreads from positions of authority, key individuals, or urban nodes downward to other persons or places.

Reverse hierarchical diffusion

The spread of a cultural trait or trend from smaller, rural communities or isolated places upward to prominent urban centers and influential nodes.

Stimulus diffusion

The spread of an underlying concept or core idea even though the specific original trait fails to diffuse or is modified by the receiving group.

Cultural lag

The delay or period of maladjustment that occurs when non-material culture (beliefs, values, laws) struggles to adapt to rapid changes in material culture or technology.

Syncretism

The blending and merging of distinct cultural traits, traditions, or religious beliefs to create a completely new cultural element.

Multiculturalism

The coexistence, mutual respect, and policy-supported preservation of multiple distinct cultural and ethnic groups within a single society.

Assimilation

The process by which an individual or cultural group completely adopts the traits of the dominant culture, losing their distinct original identity in the process.

Acculturation

The process of adopting certain cultural traits or social patterns of a surrounding culture while still maintaining one's original cultural identity.