DEFINITIONS

• Cult - a religious organization that tends to worship its leader and remain outside the cultural traditions of society

• Social - living together in organized communities

• Social Class - groups of people who are ranked according to certain economic, social, or cultural characteristics

• Subjectively Interpret - explain meaning based on personal experience or views 

• Informant - a confidential source of information 

• Stereotypes - perceptions based on preconceived standardized ideas

• Socialization - the process by which people learn the accepted ways of behaving in a particular society

• Agent of Socialization - the types of social contacts or influences people experience

• Values - principles or standards considered worthwhile or desirable

• Internalize - incorporate into one's own set of values, attitudes, and beliefs

• Psychoanalysis - a process by which patients discuss their background, feelings, and experiences with a trained psychologist

• Defense Mechanism - unconscious mental processes used to protect the ego against anxiety, shame, or other unacceptable feelings or thoughts

• Needs - physiological or psychological requirements for one’s well-being; conditions for being motivated to act

• Hierarchy - a ranking of people, items, or ideas in order of dominance of priority

• Syndrome - a group of symptoms that consistently occur together

• Adrenaline - a hormone affecting circulation; muscular action, causing excitement; stimulation

• Bipolar - demonstrating two extreme and apposite forms of behaviour

• Repressed - excluded from the conscious mind

• Apathetic - having or showing no interest or emotion

• Delusions - false beliefs, often of one’s importance or of being persecuted

• Withdraw - the process of discontinuing an addictive substance, often accomplished by uncomfortable, painful, and sometimes life-threatening physical and physiological reactions

• Paranoia - a mental illness characterized by unwarranted feelings of persecution and jealousy

• Behavior Therapy - the treatment of inappropriate or distressing behaviour patterns through the use of basic learning principles