Sociology Mid-Term Exam- Review

1.The ability to see the connection between the larger world and your personal life is what sociologist C. Wright Mills called

2.People who focus on the forces in society that promote competition and change employ the

3.The phrase “survival of the fittest,” or the belief that the best aspects of society would survive over time, was coined by

4.The social science that deals with the behavior and thinking of organisms is

5.An interactionist perspective

6.Herbert Spencer was strongly influenced by the views of ____, an evolutionist from the 1800s.

7.Social sciences are

8.Auguste Comte suggested that certain processes, which he called ____, hold society together.

9.Social psychology is

10.Sociologists refer to observable facts or events that involve human society as

11.Functionalists view certain elements in society as ____, representing the negative consequences that elements have for the stability of the social system.

12.A theory is

13.A symbol is

14.By adopting a ____, you can look beyond commonly held beliefs to the hidden meanings behind human actions.

15.People who view society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system are said to employ the

16.The physical objects that people create and use form a group’s

17.The tendency to view one’s own culture and group as superior is called

18.Sociologists distinguish between these two types of norms:

19.Some groups in society share values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared by the entire population. The unique cultural characteristics of these groups form a

20.A group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of unity is a

21.____ help(s) sociologists and anthropologists understand practices that seem strange or different from those of their own culture.

22.A commitment to the full development of one’s personality, talents, and potential is

23.A negative sanction is

24.Someone is said to have a vested interest if

25.A system of beliefs or ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, or economic interests held by a group or by society is

26.Social control is

27.Internalization is

28.____ one of the reasons that people resist cultural change.

29.Some people are motivated by ____, rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms.

30.A typically nonprofit organization which is formed to pursue some common interest is a

31.The main form of food production in ____ is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals.

32.Conflict is

33.When people interact in an effort to receive a reward or a return for their actions, a(n) ____ has taken place.

34.What are examples of achieved statuses?

35.One status tends to take rank above all others. This status that plays the greatest role in shaping a person’s life and determining his or her social identity is called a(n)

36.Sociologists call the different roles attached to a single status a(n)

37.When people gather in the same place at the same time but lack organization or lasting patterns of interaction, they form a(n)

38.A ____ is simply a means of classifying people according to a shared trait or a common status.

39.People who influence the attitudes and opinions of others are said to be

40.____ is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual.

41.Personality traits determine

42.Personality and social behavior can be determined by

43.John Pavlov helped this viewpoint gain acceptance:

44.Most social scientists assume

45.Certain characteristics that are present at birth are:

46.Heredity may be influenced by:

47.Culture affects personality traits through:

48.Feral children point strongly to the conclusion that our personality comes from our

49.Feral children

50.Socialization encompasses the following processes:

51.The Tabula Rasa was developed by

52.Role-taking was developed by

53.The theory that refers to the interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to others is known as

54.____ involves a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms.

55.What are the characteristics of adolescents?

56. The period between normal onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood is called

57. ____ concluded through research that casual dating was a form of entertainment that had little to do with mate selection

58. Dating serves several important functions that include: