Download Sociology Mid -Term Exam

Sociology Mid -Term Exam- Review Answer Sheet
1. The ability to see the connection between the larger world and your personal life is what sociologist C.
Wright Mills called
Sociological imagination
2. People who focus on the forces in society that promote competition and change employ the
Conflict perspective
3. The phrase “survival of the fittest,” or the belief that the best aspects of society would survive over time,
was coined by
Herbert Spencer
4. The social science that deals with the behavior and thinking of organisms is
psychology
5. An interactionist perspective
Focus on how people interact with one another
6. Herbert Spencer was strongly influenced by the views of ____, an evolutionist from the 1800s.
Darwin
7. Social sciences are
Study human social behavior or institutions, functions of human society
8. Auguste Comte suggested that certain processes, which he called ____, hold society together.
Social statics
9. Social psychology is
Study of social environment affects behavior/personality
10. Sociologists refer to observable facts or events that involve human society as
Social phenomena
11. Functionalists view certain elements in society as ____, representing the negative consequences that
elements have for the stability of the social system.
dysfunctional
12. A theory is
Explanation of relationships among particular phenomena
13. A symbol is
Anything that represents something else
14. By adopting a ____, you can look beyond commonly held beliefs to the hidden meanings behind human
actions.
Social perspective
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
Functionalist perspective
16. The physical objects that people create and use form a group’s
Material culture
17. The tendency to view one’s own culture and group as superior is called
ethnocentrism
18. Sociologists distinguish between these two types of norms:
Folkways and mores
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
subculture
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
society
21. ____ help(s) sociologists and anthropologists understand practices that seem strange or different from
those of their own culture.
Cultural relativism
22. A commitment to the full development of one’s personality, talents, and potential is
Self-fulfillment
23. A negative sanction is
Punishment or threat of punishment used to enforce conformity
24. Someone is said to have a vested interest if
They resist any change that threatens their security or standard of living
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
ideology
26. Social control is
Enforcing of norms through either internal or external means
27. Internalization is
Process by which norms become part of the personality
28. ____ one of the reasons that people resist cultural change.
Ethnocentrism, cultural lag, vested interests
29. Some people are motivated by ____, rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms.
Sanctions
30. A typically nonprofit organization which is formed to pursue some common interest is a
Voluntary association
31. The main form of food production in ____ is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild
animals.
Hunting/gathering
32. Conflict is
Deliberate attempt to control by force oppose or harm someone
33. When people interact in an effort to receive a reward or a return for their actions, a(n) ____ has taken
place.
exchange
34. What are examples of achieved statuses?
Musician, athlete, teacher
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)
Master status
36. Sociologists call the different roles attached to a single status a(n)
Role set
37. When people gather in the same place at the same time but lack organization or lasting patterns of
interaction, they form a(n)
aggregate
38. A ____ is simply a means of classifying people according to a shared trait or a common status.
Social category
39. People who influence the attitudes and opinions of others are said to be
leaders
40. ____ is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual.
personality
41. Personality traits determine
How we interact with one others, how we adjust to our environment
42. Personality and social behavior can be determined by
Heredity instinct
43. Ivan Pavlov helped this viewpoint gain acceptance:
nurture
44. Most social scientists assume
45. Certain characteristics that are present at birth are:
heredity
46. Heredity may be influenced by:
Birth order characteristics of parents
47. Culture affects personality traits through:
Competiveness, individualism, assertiveness
48. Feral children point strongly to the conclusion that our personality comes from our
Cultural environment
49. Feral children
Wild or untamed children
50. Socialization encompasses the following processes:
Learning basic social skills, learning behavior patterns of society and learning values and beliefs
51. The Tabula Rasa was developed by
John Locke
52. Role-taking was developed by
George Mead
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
Looking Glass Theory
54. ____ involves a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms.
Resocialization
55. What are the characteristics of adolescents?
Biological growth and development, undefined status, and increased decision making
56. The period between normal onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood is called
Adolescence
57. ____ concluded through research that casual dating was a form of entertainment that had little to do with
mate selection
Willard Waller
58. Dating serves several important functions that include:
Form of entertainment, meeting basic psychological needs and mechanism for socialization