JIS Global Perspectives (not IGCSE!)

Imperialism

a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force, and especially in acquisition of territory.

Attribution bias

a cognitive error people make when attempting to figure out the reasons for their own or other's behaviors - commonly when people overestimate or underestimate the role of dispositional and situational factors in an individual's behavior.

Berlin Conference of 1885

Meeting at which the major European powers negotiated and formalized claims to territory in Africa; also called the Berlin West Africa Conference.

Complementary good

A complementary good is a good whose use is related to the use of an associated or paired good. Two goods (A and B) are complementary if using more of good A requires the use of more of good B.

Genocide

the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

In-groups and out-groups

the groups which one perceives they either belong to and identify with (in-groups/"us") or don't belong to or identify with (out-groups/"them").

Law of Demand

states that as price increases the quantity demanded will decrease (other things being equal). Similarly, as prices decrease, the quantity demanded increases (other things being constant.)

Law of Supply

states that as price increases the quantity supplied will increase (other things being equal). Similarly, as prices decrease, the quantity supplied decreases (other things being constant).

Marginalization

treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral.

Normal goods

any goods for which demand increases when income increases and falls when income decreases but price remains constant.

Schema Theory

a cognitive framework or concept, derived from prior experience and knowledge, that helps us organize and interpret information.

Self-concept

a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates or perceives themself; essentially their beliefs about themselves.

Shortage

when the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market.

Social Identity Theory

a person's sense of who they are based on their group memberships. The theory states that a person doesn't have just one "personal self" but rather several "social selves" that correspond to their group memberships.

Social learning theory

learning by watching models and imitating their behavior. The theory suggests that behaviors are learned from the environment and reinforced through observational learning.

Stereotype

a thought that can be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things.

Surplus

when the supply of a product or service exceeds its demand in a market.

Utility

a term used by economists to describe the measurement of the total satisfaction or "usefulness" that a consumer receives from consuming a good or service.

Compliance / obedience

the result of direct pressure to respond to a request (i.e when people comply with a request or obey an order)

Conformity

a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.

Culture

Culture is the sum total of everything that human beings make: the objects, ideas, behaviors, and social institutions that are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness or in groups.

Discrimination

treatment of a person or thing based on the group to which that person or thing is perceived to belong to rather than on individual merit.

Equilibrium Price

the market price where the quantity of goods supplied is equal to the quantity of goods demanded. This is the point at which the demand and supply curves in the market intersect.

Ethnocentrism

the belief of superiority in one's personal ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences.

Free Market

an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses.

Inferior goods

a good that decreases in demand when consumer income rises (or rises in demand when consumer income decreases).

Ingroup bias

a pattern of favoring members of one's in-group over out-group members.

Positive distinctiveness

the motivation to show that your ingroup is preferable to an outgroup.

Substitute goods

are two goods that could be used for the same purpose. If the price of one good increases, then demand for the substitute is likely to rise.

Sustainability

to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.