Microsociology Test 1

Cognition

Our understanding of an object is transformed and “constructed” according to the specifications we bring as perceivers to meet the world of stimuli that bombard our senses.

Classification

To classify things is to arrange them in groups . . . separated by clearly determined lines of demarcation

Social Order

Our entire social order is a product of the ways in which we separate kin from nonkin, moral from immoral, serious from merely playful, and what is ours from what is not

The Natural Attitude

The way we interpret and categorize the world is normally taken for granted and, as such, usually manage to escape our attention

Chunks of Space

We partition the world spatially, such as a home into separate rooms, Spatial partitions clearly divide more than just physical space, invisible lines that separate purely mental entities

Blocks of Time

The way we divide time is evocative of the manner in which we partition space. We isolate in our mind supposedly discrete blocks of time such as centuries, decades, years, months, weeks, and days

Chunks of Identity

The manner in which we isolate supposedly discrete “figures” from their surrounding “ground” is also manifested in the way we come to experience ourselves, entails a fundamental distinction between us and the rest of the worlds

Mental Fields

These fields of separation are not embedded in the sensible world itself’ they exist as “mental constructs.” depict purely mental relations among entities. In fact, we experience reality as a “space” made up of discrete mental fields delineated by mental “fences” that define and separate them from one another

Schema

a well-organized structure of cognition about a specific social entity, such as a person, group, role, or event

Categorization

our tendency to perceive stimuli as members of groups or classes rather than isolated, unique entities

Prototype

an abstraction that represents the “typical” or quintessential instance of a class or group

Frame

this comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups, and societies, organize, perceive, and communicate about reality

Personal Schemas

Describe the personalities of others, such as specific individuals, or types of individuals. They makes it possible to develop expectations about people’s behaviors

Self Schemas

Mental structures that organize our conception of our own characteristics

Group Schemas

Schemas about members of particular social groups – stereotypes about races, religious groups, etc.

Role Schemas

Expectancies about people’s social roles, such as schemas about what a “mother” ought to be, or people’s professional roles – nurses, professors, etc.

Stereotypes

over generalizations, we develop these about clusters and their members