SOCIAL SCIENCE - DEFINITIONS

Sociology - study of human groups, their customs and institutions, and their development at
all times and places
Social Science Theories
Macro-level theories- approaches to sociology that focus primarily on society and/or other
large social units
Structural-Functionalists- usually more optimistic and view society as a system of
differentiated, interrelated elements that tend to move towards stability.
Conflict Theorists- more pessimistic and view society as full of confliting elements that can
play a role in social change and even upheaval.
Micro-level theories- deal with individual interactions within smaller social units.
Acculturation/ Enculturation - is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the
beliefs and behaviors of another group.
CULTURE - is the sum total of ideas, beliefs, values, material cultural equipments and nonmaterial aspects which man makes a member of society. It can be conceived as a
continuous, cumulative reservoir containing both material and non-material elements that
are socially transmitted from generation to generation.
COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
Material Culture- consists of all the physical objects people have borrowed, discovered, or
invented and to which they have attached meaning. (natural resources, trees, plants)
Non-material culture- consists of intangible creations or things that we cannot identify
directly through the senses.
Beliefs- first component of nonmaterial culture is beliefs, conceptions that people accept as
true, concerning how the world operates and where the individual fits in relationship with
others. Can be rooted in blind faith, experience, tradition or the scientific method.
Values- represent societys stipulations about what is acceptable in life.
Norms- standards of behaviour governing social situations that are established by a
societys values.
- patterns of beliefs that serve to guide, control, and regulate conduct
TYPES OF NORMS
Folkways - customary patterns of everyday life that specify what is socially correct and
proper in everyday life.
Mores - norms that are tied to a societys core values and to which people must adhere.
Unlike folkways, they are seen as forms of truth that all people should understand and
follow.
Taboos - is a norm that society holds so strongly that violating it results in extreme disgust.
Often times the violator of the taboo is considered unfit to live in that society. INCEST- sex
between close relatives
Laws - norms that are enforced formally by a special organization. SANCTION - a threatened
penalty for disobeying a law or rule.
Language - system of symbols that have specific and arbitrary meaning in a given society.

SUB-CULTURE - refers to attitude of certain group from the habitual practices of the majority.
(e.g. new styles of dressing, language and other practices of a group of people which are
different from other majority)
STEREOTYPE - is any commonly known public belief about a certain social group or a type of
individual. regarded as the most cognitive component, prejudice as the affective and
discrimination as the behavioral; gender stereotypes, sexual orientation stereotypes; Many
people interact initially with the stereotype rather than with the true person.
SOCIAL CHANGE - is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon. There are both endogenous
(internal to the society concerned) and exogenous (external to the society).
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION - is the socioeconomic layering of society's members according to
property, power, and prestige.
SOCIALIZATION - is the lifelong process of learning how to become functioning, contributing
members of society. It is through this mechanism that the heritage and culture of a society
can be passed on from generation to generation. This allows society to survive and even
proliferate beyond the lifespan of individual members.
OPEN CLASS SYSTEM - is an economic system that has upward and downward mobility. It is
achievement-based, and allows social relations between the classes. Industrialized nations
tend to have open class systems
CLOSED CLASS SYSTEM - have been confined to their ancestral occupations, and their social
status has mostly been prescribed by birth. Most closed class systems are found in less
industrialized countries. An example of a closed class system with limited social mobility is
French society before the French Revolution. Under the Ancien Rgime, French society was
divided between the 1st estate (clergy), 2nd (nobility), and 3rd (commoners).
Members of each estate were likely to socialize only with others in the same group
ASCRIBED STATUS - the social status of a person that is given from birth or assumed
involuntarily later in life.
It is the social position one is born into and personal characteristics beyond one's control,
such as race and gender.
A social status of a person that is acquired, such as being an Olympic athlete, being a
criminal, or being a college professor. It is one's social standing that depends on personal
accomplishments.
ACHIEVED STATUS - in an open class system, people are ranked by achieved status, whereas
in a closed class system, people are ranked by ascribed status.
STRUCTURAL MOBILITY - opportunity for movement in social class that is attributable to
changes in the social
structure of a society, rather than to changes in an individual.
RELIGION primary function to society is to establish an orderly relationship between man
and his surroundings.
CASTE SYSTEM - is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary
transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy,
and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and
pollution. More rigid than class system
CONFORMITY - is an individuals adopting of attitude and behaviours of others because of
pressure (real or imagined) to do so. Example, a cheerleader who wants to do an original

routine but goes along with the majority of the squad in voting to do a stolen routine exhibits
conformity. Conformity can be positive or negative.
ROLE STRAIN - happens when contradicting roles for the same status are both tried to be
attained. A teacher very friendly with her students but must grade them objectively can
succumb to role strain; although it is possible to maintain both role prescriptions, it can also
lead to psychological stress
TYPES OF INTERGROUP INTERACTION
1. Assimilation 2. Pluralism 3. Segregation 4. Domination 5. Population Transfer / Expulsion 6.
Annihilation

Marxists Model Of Society - is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of

socioeconomic inquiry based upon a materialist interpretation of historical development, a
dialectical view of social change, and an analysis of class-relations within society and their
application in the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. The most valid
criticism of Marxists model of society is the overemphasis on the importance of economic
class to explain historical trends.
Bureaucracy- a bureaucracy is a system of organization noted for its size and complexity.
Everything within a bureaucracy responsibilities, jobs, and assignments exists to
achieve some goal. (Max Weber)
6 characteristics of bureaucracy: hierarchy, rules, function, focus, impersonal, qualification
3 dimensions of webers notion of social class: economic resources; political power, social
prestige
Fascism - is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism. Fascists seek to unify their nation
through a totalitarian state that seeks the mass mobilization of the national
community, relying on a vanguard party to initiate a revolution to organize the nation on
fascist principles. It promotes regulated private enterprise and private property contingent
whenever beneficial to the nation and state enterprise and state property where private
enterprise and private property is unable to meet the nation's needs.
Communism - an equal society, without social classes or class conflict, in which the means
of production are the common property of all.
Capitalists - the social class of owners of the means of production in industrial societies,
whose primary purpose is to make profits.
Socialism - is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of
production and co-operative management of the economy. "Social ownership" may refer to
cooperative enterprises,
common ownership, state ownership, or citizen ownership of equity.
Legal authority - The authority fostering belief in the competence of the individuals
discharging statutory obligation
Innovation - any human action which is considered sufficiently out of the ordinary so as to be
regarded as unique or unprecedented
Discovery - Initial awareness of existing but unobserved elements of nature

Extrasensory perception (ESP) / sixth sense - includes reception of information

not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind
Clairvoyance - alleged ability to gain information about an object, person, location or
physical event through extrasensory perception.
Psychokinesis - The process of moving or causing some physical change (e.g., motion,
distortion) in an object using only the "power of the mind"
Precognition - a form of clairvoyance or telepathy in which a person can foresee events
before they happen (pre-cognitive clairvoyance) or predict another person's future thoughts
(pre-cognitive telepathy)
Telepathy - (tele meaning distant, -patheia meaning feeling, perception, passion, affliction,
experience) purported transmission of information from one person to another without using
any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.

Acting Out: performing an extreme behavior in order to express thoughts or feelings the
person feels incapable of otherwise expressing
Compartmentalization: lesser form of dissociation, wherein parts of oneself are separated
from awareness of other parts and behaving as if one had separate sets of values.
Conversion: the expression of an intrapsychic conflict as a physical symptom; some
examples include blindness, deafness, paralysis, or numbness.
Denial: Refusal to accept external reality
Dissociation: when a person loses track of time and/or person, and instead finds another
representation of their self in order to continue in the moment.
Displacement: Defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses to a more
acceptable or less threatening target; redirecting emotion to a safer outlet
Hypochondriasis: An excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness.
Isolation: Separation of feelings from ideas and events, for example, describing a murder
with graphic details with no emotional response
Identification: The unconscious modelling of one's self upon another person's character and
behaviour.
Introjection: Identifying with some idea or object so deeply that it becomes a part of that
person.
Intellectualization: the overemphasis on thinking when confronted with an unacceptable
impulse, situation or behavior without employing any emotions whatsoever to help mediate
and place the thoughts into an emotional, human context.
Rationalization: putting something into a different light or offering a different explanation for
ones perceptions or behaviors in the face of a changing reality.
Rxn formation: Converting unconscious wishes/impulses that are perceived to be dangerous
into their opposites
Repression: process of attempting to repel desires towards pleasurable instincts, caused by
a threat of suffering if the desire is satisfied; the desire is moved to the unconscious in the
attempt to prevent it from entering consciousness

Undoing: tries to 'undo' an unhealthy, destructive or otherwise threatening thought by

acting out the reverse of unacceptable.

Withdrawal: Withdrawal is a more severe form of defence. It entails removing oneself from
events, stimuli, interactions, etc. under the fear of being reminded of painful thoughts and
feelings.
Thought suppression: The conscious process of pushing thoughts into the preconscious; the
conscious decision to delay paying attention to an emotion or need in order to cope with the
present reality
Somatization: The transformation of negative feelings towards others into negative feelings
toward self, pain, illness, and anxiety.
Sublimation: Transformation of negative emotions or instincts into positive actions,
behaviour, or emotion.
Compensation: process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived weaknesses by emphasizing
strength in other arenas.

Assertiveness: the emphasis of a persons needs or thoughts in a manner that is respectful,

direct and firm.
Regression: Temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than
handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way. When Rita fights with her older
brother, she starts off rationally but ends up in tears, stamping her foot, or throwing objects
in all directions.
Projection: the misattribution of a persons undesired thoughts, feelings or impulses onto
another person who does not have those thoughts, feelings or impulses. Romy justifies his
cheating on exams by claiming that everyone else does it.
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BASED ON PIAGETS THEORY
1.Sensorimotor Stage (< 2 years) - an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her
sensory perceptions and motor activities.
2. Pre-Operational Stage (2 - 7 yo) - language development is one of the hallmarks of this
period. Piaget noted that children in this stage do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot
mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people,
which he termed egocentrism.
3. Concrete Operations (7 11 yo) - children gain a better understanding of mental
operations and begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty
understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
4. Formal Operations (11 to 16 years old) -develops logical reasoning skills and decreases
egocentricity
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY - introduced by Freud, tends to be the most pessimistic about
human nature. Freud believed two basic drives guide and shape human behavior:
(1) eros reflects the sexual drive and (2) thanatos reflects the aggressive survival instinct.
Pleasure Principle people are driven towards seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
Trait theory and behavioural theory - tend to be neutral about human nature.
Humanistic theory & cognitive social learning theory - tend to be more optimistic about
nature of people
PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY (PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY)
According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), personality is mostly established by the age of
five.

Stages of Development Based on the Psychoanalytic Theory

1. Oral Stage
Birth to 1 Year
Erogenous Zone: Mouth
2. Anal Stage 1 to 3 years
Erogenous Zone: Bowel and Bladder Control
3. Phallic Stage
3 to 6 Years
Erogenous Zone: Genitals
4. Latency Stage
6 to Puberty (12)
Erogenous Zone: Sexual Feelings Are Inactive
5. Genital Stage
Puberty to Death (12<)
Erogenous Zone: Maturing Sexual
Interests

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGYS PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

-the process whereby people categorize and organize stimulus information into meaningful
units to make sense of the stimuli.
The underlying idea is that stimuli are perceived as an organized whole, not as unrelated or
disjointed piecesthe whole is greater than the sum of the parts.-For instance, people
recognize a familiar tune but do not ordinarily hear each distinct note or even every musical
instrument playing the song. They identify a persons face but do not usually pay attention
to each eye, eyebrow, nostrils, etc.
Principles of Grouping
Grouping is a process whereby individuals are inclined to perceive stimuli as groups or
chunks of information rather than as discrete bits of data.

SIMILARITY - things that are physically similar are perceived as belonging together or as
forming a whole figure (gestalt). Therefore, XXOO is seen as two groups, with the XX as
one group and the OO as another group.
PROXIMITY/ CONTIGUITY - group like with like,suggests that things that are in close
proximity to one another are perceived as belonging together or as forming a gestalt. In your
clothing drawers you probably put things together that logically go together; undergarments
in one drawer, shirts or blouses in another, and so on. You would not expect to find canned
peas in someones medicine cabinet but rather in the kitchen pantry.
CONTINUITY (LAW OF GOOD CONTINUATION) - holds that people categorize stimuli into
smooth, uninterrupted, continuous forms, rather than into discontinuous patterns.
SIMPLICITY- (PRAGNNZ) - suggests that individuals opt for relatively simple perceptions
even when more complex perceptions can be derived. That is, every stimulus pattern is seen
in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.
CLOSURE (MENTAL COMPLETION) PRINCIPLE - states that people tend to perceive incomplete
patterns as being complete. We tend to fill in the blanks based on prior experiences. A
triangle with a small part of its edge missing will still be seen as a triangle. Consider the
annoyance that arises from having a missing element or two from a collection, such as
stamps, magazines, or CDs by a particular musical group. And, soap operas keep viewers
hanging on with cliffhanger endings.
DEPTH PERCEPTION - The images we see appear on our retinas in 2-D form, but we tend to
perceive a 3-D world. We see depth by using monocular and binocular cues.
Monocular cues - depth cues based on each eye working independently. E.g. linear

perspective, texture gradient, relative size, and interposition.

Binocular cues - rely on both eyes working together. E.g. convergence, wherein the eyes turn
inward as an object comes closer
TYPES OF PARENTING
INDULGENT PARENTING - is a style of parenting wherein parents are involved with their
child; however, the parents place few demands and restrictions on the child, resulting in the
social incompetence and lack of self-control of the child. In short, children raised via
indulgent parenting tend to become spoiled.
AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING - is a restrictive, controlling, and demanding style; the child is
given little opportunity to disagree and is expected to follow without question.
NEGLECTFUL PARENTING - is a style wherein the parents are uninvolved in the childs life;
as a result, the child tends to show poor self-control and does not handle independence
well.
AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING - encourages a child to be independent without neglecting to
place limits and controls on behavior; parents tend to be nurturant, and good
communication is encouraged. Authoritative parents tend to raise more socially-competent,
self-reliant, and responsible children.fixation
Psychoanalysis from behavior therapy - The view that psychopathology is the result of
inadequate resolution of certain development stages rather than learned ways of behaving
separates
Psychoanalysis - a type of psychotherapy that focuses on changing undesirable behaviors;
commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
Behavior therapy - involves identifying objectionable, maladaptive behaviors and replacing
them with healthier types of behavior.
Cognitive therapy - a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind.
When you are trying to make a decision, a number of related events or situations might
immediately spring to the forefront of your thoughts.
Heuristic availability - To determine whether someone is trustworthy, I try to recall instances
of such behavior.
Roger's Self Theory - all individuals have an innate tendency to move in the direction of
positive change
PROBLEMS IN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY
Demand characteristics
The Hawthorne Effect - is a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a persons character
can be influenced by one's overall impression of him or her.
The Halo Effect or halo error - is a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely
to take action or feel a sense of responsibility in the presence of a large group of people.
Essentially, in a large group of people, people may feel that individual responsibility to
intervene is lessened because it is shared by all of the onlookers.
DIFFFUSION RESPONSIBILITY
Example: imagine that you are in a large city on a bustling street. You notice a young man
fall to the ground and start convulsing as if having a seizure. Many people turn and look at
the man, but no one moves to help or call for medical assistance. Why? Because there are
so many people present, no one individual feels pressured to respond. Each person might

think, "Oh, someone else has probably already called for help" or "No one else is doing
anything, so it must not be that serious."
Wilhelm Wundt
Operant conditioning
Habituation/ Sensory adaptation
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
SENSITIZATION
Stimulus generalization - credited by most historians as establishing the first scientific
laboratory dedicated to studying behavior. This laboratory was opened in Leipzig in the year
1879.
is a form of learning in which the consequences of behavior produce changes in the
behaviors occurrence. An illustration of how these two forms of learning differ is teaching a
dog some tricks.
is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations. As a procedure,
habituation is the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus that results in the decline of
the elicited behavior (the process of habituation).
an increase of the elicited behavior from repeated presentation of a stimulus.
-when habituation occurs in response to other stimuli that are similar to the original
stimulus.
Classical Conditioning emphasizes stimulus and behavior
Operant Conditioning emphasizes behavior and consequence.
In classical conditioning, the point of interest is the resulting behavior upon application of a
stimulus. It is best at explaining how neutral stimuli can become linked to unlearned
involuntary responses.
A type of attention which involves focusing on a specific aspect of a scene while ignoring
other aspects. Selective attention can be conscious (as when one chooses to attend to an
interesting object, like a tv, instead of a less interesting one, like a coffee table) or
unconscious (as in a scene of a green field with a single red tulip - the tulip will receive
attention initially).
-Focusing on one voice during a party in which many people are speaking
-Focusing on watching television while speaking with someone
For instance, the chill one feels when jumping into a cool pool slowly disappears as one stays
in the pool for a long time. Other example, a medical student finding the shock of treating a
cut to decrease after multiple presentations
The opposing process,
stimulus discrimination
, is when habituation does not occur to other stimuli that are dissimilar to the original
stimulus.
was founded by Sigmund Freud (1916-1917). Freud believed that people could be cured by
making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining insight.
The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e.
make the unconscious conscious.
Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
PSYCHOANALYSIS
is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on
changing undesirable behaviors.
Behavior therapy involves identifying objectionable, maladaptive behaviors and replacing
them with healthier types of behavior.
This type of therapy is also referred to a behavior modification therapy.
BEHAVIOR THERAPY
focuses primarily on the

thoughts and emotions

that lead to certain behaviors, while behavioral therapy deals with changing and eliminating
those unwanted behaviors. However, some therapists practice a type of psychotherapy that
focuses on both thoughts and behavior. This type of treatment is called cognitive-behavioral
therapy.
COGNITIVE THERAPY
is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind. When you are
trying to make a decision, a number of related events or situations might immediately spring
to the forefront of your thoughts.
HEURISTIC AVAILABILITY
The term was first coined in 1973 by psychologists
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.
They suggested that the availability heuristic occurs unconsciously and operates under the
principle that
"if you can think of it, it must be important."
Example: After seeing several news reports about car thefts, you might make a judgment
that vehicle theft is much more common than it really is in your area. This type of availability
heuristic can be helpful and important in decision-making. When faced with a choice, we
often lack the time or resources to investigate in greater depth. Faced with the need to an
immediate decision, the availability heuristic allows people to quickly arrive at a conclusion
A term referring to the tendency of some people to work harder and perform better when
they are participants in an experiment. Individuals may change their behavior due to the
attention they are receiving from researchers rather than because of any manipulation of
independent variables
HAWTHORNE EFFECT
Researchers conducted these experiments at the HAWTHORNE WORKS PLANT OF WESTERN
ELECTRIC.
is a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a persons character can be influenced by
one's overall impression of him or her.
HALO EFFECT OR HALO ERROR
is a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to take action or feel a sense
of responsibility in the presence of a large group of people. Essentially, in a large group of
people, people may feel that individual responsibility to intervene is lessened because it is
shared by all of the onlookers.
DIFFFUSION RESPONSIBILITY
Example: imagine that you are in a large city on a bustling street. You notice a young man
fall to the ground and start convulsing as if having a seizure. Many people turn and look at
the man, but no one moves to help or call for medical assistance. Why? Because there are
so many people present, no one individual feels pressured to respond. Each person might
think, "Oh, someone else has probably already called for help" or "No one else is doing
anything, so it must not be that serious."
Carl Rogers theory of the concept of self relates to the individuals perception or image of
themselves which is based on life experience.
ROGER'S SELF THEORY
The self-concept usually comes into act due to secondary needs, positive regard from others
and positive self regard. An example of positive regard from others: a parent is not paying
much attention to their child telling them about their day, but as soon as the child mentions
they gain high marks in a maths exam they look up and ask questions. Positive self-regard is
an internalised version of the previous example.
The American psychologist Joel Greenspoon conducted studies that indicate that verbal
awareness of the learning situation or of the new responses is not a necessity for behavior to
be altered.
GREENSPOON EFFECT
In the experimental condition showing the Greenspoon effect, participants were asked to say

all the words they could think of in 50 minutes. The experimenter sat behind the individuals
and uttered mmm-hmm (an assenting murmur) every time a plural noun was spoken. With
other participants, the experimenter murmured huh-uh (dissenting) when plural nouns
were spoken. Most of the individuals were unable to see any connection between the
behavior of the experimenter and the words they were saying. Nevertheless, mmm-hmm
increased the number of plural nouns that were said, and huh-uh decreased the number of
plural nouns.
ZEIGARNIK EFFECT
The psychological tendency to remember an uncompleted task rather than a completed one.
is an optical illusion consisting of a stylized arrow. When viewers are asked to place a mark
on the figure at the midpoint, they invariably place it more towards the "tail" end. It was
devised by Franz Carl Mller-Lyer (1857 1916), a German sociologist, in 1889.
Mller-Lyer illusion
We remember things that stand out.
VON RESTORFF EFFECT
Example: Try to remember this list (take a few seconds and then look away):
Jump
Cut
Run
Fly

Duck-billed platypus
Read
Build
Lay
TYPES OF MEMORY

Sensory memory
holds information in its original sensory form for a brief instant. It is rich and detailed, but
the information is quickly lost unless moved to working or long-term memory, even most of
what is thought to be ignored. Sensory memory does not retain information for long unless
processed.
Working memory (aka short term memory)
is memory that holds information for up to 30 seconds or a bit longer. Despite its relatively
longer duration compared to sensory memory, working memory is limited in capacity. An
example of working memory at work is when one reads a poem and then tries to recite it
verbatim immediately after.

Long-term memory
can hold large amounts of information over a long period of time; this is relatively
permanent. One can remember names of relatives unseen for years. One can easily
remember how to subtract. One can instantly identify the seven continents. All these are
due to long-term memory.
is an important aspect in the understanding of psychology as a science. Context is defined
as the historical, economic, social, and cultural factors that influence mental processes and
behavior. Everything that people think, say, and do is affected and influenced by these
factors. Hence, context must be taken into account in psychology.
CONTEXT
-also known as just noticeable difference (jnd), is the smallest difference in stimulation
required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50% of the time.
For instance, a painter may easily see the difference between two similar shades of color; a
wine-taster may have no problem discriminating between similar types of wine.
DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD
is the inability to solve a problem because the things involved are viewed only in terms of
usual functions.


A girl who does not think of using a glass as a paperweight because she views the glass to
be solely for drinking water has not overcome functional fixedness; that is, she is fixed on
the idea that the function of the glass is only for drinking, and hence she cannot solve her
dilemma of finding a paperweight.
FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS
happens when the participants expectations, not the actual experimental treatment,
produce a desired outcome in a study.
PLACEBO EFFECT
For instance, in an experiment on anti-depressants, an experimental group is given the drug
and they are told that it is anti-depressant; a control group is not given anything. After some
time, the members of the experimental group report less depression than those in the
control group; one is inclined to conclude the drug works. However, there is the possibility
that those in the experimental group felt less depressed not because of the drug but
because (having been told of the purpose of the drug) they expected to fell less depressed.
oTo reduce such placebo effects, the control group could have been given a placebo-for
instance, harmless vitamins with no effect on depression. The control group do not know it is
a placebo; they think they are getting a drug. This can hopefully lessen the placebo effect.
Of course, this is not entirely foolproof; thinking they are on anti-depressants, the control
group may also exhibit less depression because they expect it.
is a group of severe brain disorders in which people interpret reality abnormally.
-may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and
behavior.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Treatment:
Antipsychotic medications : Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), Haloperidol (Haldol), Perphenazine
(Etrafon, Trilafon), Fluphenazine (Prolixin)

PRIMARY SECTOR
obtains resources from nature (ex. farming, mining, fishing).

SECONDARY SECTOR
transformations said resources via manufacture (ex. food canning industries, phone
manufactures).

TERTIARY SECTOR
provides services that society needs (ex. lawyers, doctors, teachers, ISPs)
TYPES OF SECTOR
a statistical technique used to examine the characteristics of people in the same area, points
out three factors that influence a persons choice of residence. These factors are family
status, social standing, and race/ethnicity.
SOCIAL AREA ANALYSIS
GEMEINSCHAFT COMMUNITIES
are composed of people who have common interest, know each other well, and who have
strong ties, such communities are characteristic of rural areas.
GESSELSCHAFT COMMUNITIES,
on the other hand, are composed of diverse people with weak ties and more inclined
towards self-interest, and whose traditions do not bind them much; urban communities such
as cities (Metro Manila, New York, Paris, Tokyo)
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES
as classified by Ferdinand Toennies
is used to describe the number of children the average woman can possibly bear during her
childbearing years.
Fertility, although related to fecundity, is different; fertility refers to the actual number of

children born within a society. Fertility is always less than fecundity. Natality refers to birth
rate, while mortality is death rate.
FECUNDITY
INDULGENT PARENTING
is a style of parenting wherein parents are involved with their child; however, the parents
place few demands and restrictions on the child, resulting in the social incompetence and
lack of self-control of the child. In short, children raised via indulgent parenting tend to
become spoiled.
AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING
is a restrictive, controlling, and demanding style; the child is given little opportunity to
disagree and is expected to follow without question.
NEGLECTFUL PARENTING
is a style wherein the parents are uninvolved in the childs life; as a result, the child tends to
show poor self-control and does not handle independence well.
AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING
encourages a child to be independent without neglecting to place limits and controls on
behavior; parents tend to be nurturant, and good communication is encouraged.
Authoritative parents tend to raise more socially-competent, self-reliant, and responsible
children.fixation
identification
repression
regression
illusion
hallucination
auditory imagery
eidetic imagery
minima
subliminal
percept
threshold - minimum intensity that a stimulus must achieve before it can be perceived
subliminal threshold
sensory adaptation
selective attention
just-noticeable difference
affective disorder
generalized anxiety
panic reaction
schizophrenia
SYNAPTIC TRANSMITTERS
Dopamine
Epinephrine
Enkephalin - synaptic transmitter responsible for inhibiting the sensation of pain
Thorazine
negative transfer
spontaneous recovery
operant conditioning
stimulus generalization

desensitization
modeling
classical conditioning
operant conditioning
Piaget's stages of cognitive growth
operational level
sensorimotor level
preoperational level
formal operational level
von Restorff effect
Zeigarnik effect
Greenspoon effect
Muller-Lyer illusion
Gestalt principle of perceptual organization
Proximity
Continuation
Differentiation
Closure
PROBLEMS IN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY
Demand characteristics
The Hawthorne effect
The halo effect
Heuristic availability - To determine whether someone is trustworthy, I try to recall instances
of such behavior.
Roger's Self Theory - all individuals have an innate tendency to move in the direction of
positive change
Psychoanalysis from behavior therapy - The view that psychopathology is the result of
inadequate resolution of certain development stages rather than learned ways of behaving
separates
gestalt therapy from reality therapy
client-centered therapy from psychoanalysis
rational-emotive therapy from behavior therapy