AP Human Geography Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts of AP Human Geography Unit 3, including cultural patterns, landscapes, diffusion types, and social integration processes.

Cultural traits

Individual elements, practices, or specific customs that make up the shared culture of a group of people.

Ethnocentrism

The practice of judging another culture solely by the values, standards, and beliefs of one's own culture, often assuming superiority.

Cultural relativism

The practice of evaluating and understanding a culture by its own standards and context rather than judging it through the lens of an external culture.

Artifact

A material, physical object produced and used by individuals in a culture, such as clothing, tools, or buildings.

Mentifact

A non-material cultural element representing the central ideas, values, beliefs, knowledge, and worldviews of a society, such as religion or language.

Sociofact

The structural, organizational, and institutional components of a culture that govern social behavior and interpersonal relationships, such as family systems and legal frameworks.

Taboo

A strong cultural, moral, or religious restriction or prohibition placed on a specific behavior, food, or social practice.

Folk culture

A traditional culture typically practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

Popular culture

Dynamic and widespread cultural traits shared across large, heterogeneous societies despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Sense of place

The unique, subjective emotional and cultural meaning or feeling imbued in a specific geographical setting by people.

Placelessness

The loss of distinct local cultural characteristics so that one landscape looks uniform and interchangeable with another, often due to standardized modern developments.

Cultural landscape/built environment

The visible tangible imprint and modification of human activity and cultural traits upon the physical, natural environment.

Sequent occupancy

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

Centripetal force

A shared cultural trait, belief, or institutional practice that tends to unify people and enhance cohesion within a state or group.

Centrifugal force

A cultural difference or conflict—such as ethnic tension or religious division—that divides people and pulls a state or group apart.

Gender

The socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities typically associated with women, men, or non-binary groups within a culture.

Language

A structured system of communication through speech, written symbols, or gestures mutually understood by a group of people.

Religion

A system of beliefs, values, and practices related to the sacred, supernatural, or spiritual that structures community life and worldview.

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people who share the cultural traditions, heritage, language, and ancestral origin of a particular 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 area within a larger community or city with a high concentration of a specific ethnic group retaining cultural identity and distinct businesses.

Indigenous

Originating or living natively in a particular geographic region; refers to original human populations inhabiting a place prior to external colonization or settlement.

Cultural realm

A broad geographic region of the world defined by widespread common cultural characteristics, traditions, and historical traits.

Hearth

The geographic node, origin point, or area where a culture, idea, innovation, or cultural trait originates and begins to spread.

Relocation diffusion

The geographic spread of an idea, innovation, or cultural trait through the physical bodily migration of people from one place to another.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of an innovation or cultural trait outward from a hearth such that the overall number of adopters grows continuously larger while remaining strong at the origin.

Contagious diffusion

The rapid, uniform, and widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population via direct person-to-person contact.

Hierarchical diffusion

The spread of an idea or trait downward through an established chain of authority or power, such as from political leaders or major urban centers to smaller communities.

Reverse hierarchical diffusion

The spread of a cultural trait or practice from small, isolated, or rural communities upward to larger cities and major population centers.

Stimulus diffusion

The spread of an underlying concept, innovation, or principle even though a specific trait or product itself is altered or rejected by the receiving culture.

Cultural lag

The period of maladjustment or gap when non-material culture (customs, laws, ethics) struggles to adapt to rapid changes in material culture or technology.

Syncretism

The blending, merging, or synthesis of elements from two or more distinct cultures to create a novel cultural phenomenon or trait.

Multiculturalism

The presence, recognition, and coexistence of multiple distinct cultural and ethnic groups within a society, valuing and preserving cultural diversity.

Assimilation

The process by which an individual or minority group completely takes on the cultural traits of the dominant society, largely abandoning their original culture.

Acculturation

The adoption of the cultural patterns, customs, or language of a dominant group by a minority group while still maintaining components of their distinct original culture.