ima

the transfer from one generation the next of customs, language, or other aspects of the CULTURAL HERITAGE of a group. See ENCULTURATION; HERITAGE; SOCIAL HERITAGE.
a SOCIAL DILEMMA in which individuals can maximize their resources by seeking personal goals rather than collective goals, but if too many individuals act selfishly, all members of the collective will experience substantial long-term losses. Many social traps involve a dilemma over a public good. The TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS is an example: A grazing area will be destroyed if too many of the farmers who share it increase the size of their herds. More broadly, a social trap is a situation in which human behavior is shaped by reinforcements that conflict with the consequences of that behavior (see REINFORCEMENT ANALYSIS). Immediate positive reinforcements can lead to behaviors that in the long run are bad for the individual (e.g., addiction) or for society (e.g., the tragedy of the commons). Immediate negative reinforcements can prevent behaviors that in the long run would be good for the individual (e.g., studying) or for society (e.g., using mass transportation). See also MIXED-MOTIVE GAME.
in social psychology, the DISTANCE zone adopted between people engaged in relationships of a relatively formal nature, for example, that of attorney and client. The social zone is defined as the area of 1.25-3.5m (4-11½ ft). See PROXEMICS. Compare INTIMATE ZONE; PERSONAL DISTANCE ZONE; PUBLIC DISTANCE ZONE.
an enduring social group living in a particular place whose members are mutually interdependent and share political and other institutions, laws and mores, and a common culture.
the companionship of other people.
popularly and loosely, an elite social level, typically comprising those of high SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS who possess money, power, and prestige and are considered in some way fashionable. -societal adj.
a nonprofit organization of basic scientists and physicians who study the brain and nervous system. Formed in 1970, it publishes The Journal of Neuroscience.
a scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of social psychology. It publishes the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
in SOCIOMETRY, the individual at the psychological center of the group, that is, the most popular member or most prominent STAR.
the tendency to put the needs, concerns, and perspective of the social unit or group before one's individual, egocentric concerns. See also ALLOCENTRIC.
the practice of perceiving and interpreting situations from the point of view of the social group rather than from one's own personal perspective.
the tendency to judge one's own group as superior to other groups across a variety of domains. Whereas ETHNOCENTRISIM refers to the selective favoring of one's ethnic, religious, racial, or national groups, sociocentrism usually means the favoring of smaller groups characterized by face-to-face interaction among members. Compare EGOCENTRISM. -sociocentric adj.
environmental conditions that lay a part in healthy and adaptive behavior and wellbeing r in maladaptive behavior and the etiology of mental disorder and social pathology. Examples of sociocultural actors of a positive nature are a strong sense of family and community support and mentorship, good education and health care, availability of recreational facilities, and exposure to the arts. Examples of a negative nature are slum conditions, poverty, extreme or restrictive occupational pressures, lack of good medical care, and inadequate educational opportunities.
any viewpoint or approach to health, mental health, history, politics, economics, or any other area of human experience that emphasizes the environmental factors of society, culture, and social interaction.
describing environmental conditions, such as rows of seats facing the same way (e.g., church pews) or ambient noise that interferes with communication, that discourage or prevent interaction among group members. A physical environment having these Characteristics is termed a sociofugal space. Compare SOCIOPETAL.
the study of the origin and development of societies. sociogenetic adj.
characterizing an idea, attitude, or other mental process that is based on sociocultural influences.
the idea that social conditions, such as living in impoverished circumstances, are major contributors to and causal agents of mental or behavioral disorders (e.g., schizophrenia or criminality).
a graphic representation of the relations among members of a social unit or group. In most cases each member of the group is depicted by a symbol, such as a lettered circle or square, and the types of relations among members (e.g., communication links, friendship pairings) are depicted by arrows. SOCIOMETRY, as originally developed by Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974), uses objective data collected by observers or the self-reports provided by members of the group to generate sociograms. Moreno himself used four types of sociograms to represent any given situation: (a) an intuitive sociogram, based on relationships noted by the therapist in the first session; (b) an observer's sociogram, consisting of the cotherapist's impressions; (c) an objective socioglam, based on a SOCIOMETRIC TEST; and (d) a perceptual sociogram, in which each member indicates which other members appear to accept or reject him or her. In practice, sociograms are used mainly to emphasize the patterns of liking and disliking (ATTRACTION RELATIONS) in a group.
the study of the relationship between language and society and of the social circumstances of language usage, especially as related to such characteristics as gender, social class, and ethnicity. Using techniques and findings from linguistics- and the social sciences, sociolinguistics is concerned with the individual's language use in the context of his or her social community or culture. One aspect of this field is the study of linguistic codes, that is, the culturally determined: d rules and conventions that govern language usage. Social factors are also important in analyzing how languages change over time.
social conditions that affect human behavior. Examples of such factors are socioeconomic and educational level, environmental factors (e.g., crowding), and the customs and mores of an individual's social group.
a formal measure of aspects of society that may affect the development or maintenance of normal behaviors or mental health problems. Sociological measures may assess the interrelationships between people or the structural components of a society, for example, and include both quantitative and qualitative methods. See also SOCIOMETRY.
the scientific study of the origin, development, organization, forms, and functioning of human society, including the analysis of the relationships between individuals and groups, institutions, and society itself. ―sociological adj. ―sociologist n.
the gradual development of stronger and more positive interpersonal ties between some members of a group, accompanied by decreases in the quality of relations between other members of the group. See also ATTRACTION RELATIONS; SOCIOMETRY.
the degree of closeness or acceptance between individuals or groups as measured on a social distance scale. See also BOGARDUS SOCIAL DISTANCE SCALE; PROXEMICS; SOCIAL DISTANCE.
a self-report measure of intermember relations in a group, as used in SOCIOMETRY to analyze and develop ; graphic representation of the group's structure (see SOCIOGRAM).
a field of research in which various techniques are used to analyze the patterns of intermember relations within groups and to summarize these findings in mathematical and graphic form. In most cases researchers ask the group members one or more questions about their fellow members, such as "Whom do you most like in this group?", "Whom in the group would you like to work with the most?", or "Whom do you like the least?". These choices can then be summarized in a SOCIOGRAM, in which each member is represented by a numbered or lettered symbol and the various choices are identified by lines between them with arrows indicating the direction of relationships. In most cases the diagram is organized into a meaningful pattern by placing those individuals who are most frequently chosen (STARS) in the center of the diagram and the ISOLATES about the periphery. The method also yields various indices of group structure and group cohesion, including choice status (the number of times a person is chosen by the other group members), rejection status (the number of times a person is rejected by others), the relative number of mutual pairs in a group, and so on. [ developed by Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher Jacob L. Moreno (1389-1974) ] ―sociometric adj.
the study of nonsocial influences on social groups, that is, the ways in which the physical environment modifies society. This includes the effects of different terrains and climatic conditions on economic and social organization.
describing environmental conditions, such as circular seating arrangements and a comfortable ambient room temperature, that promote interaction among group members. A physical environment having these characteristics is termed a sociopetal space. Compare SOCIOFUGAL.
the extent to which the source of a persuasive message is seen as physically attractive. Source attractiveness is a SOURRCE FACTOR
misattribution of the origins of a memory. This may distort eyewitness accounts of the events surrounding a crime. For example, an eyewitness hearing from a police officer that the perpetrator carried a gun may later believe that he or she saw the gun at the crime scene. See also UNCONSCIOUS TRANSFER
the extent to which the source of a persuasive message is seen as likely to provide accurate information, which is determined by SOURCE EXPERTISE and SOURCE TRUSTWORTHINESS. Source credibility is a SOURCE FACTOR.
the extent to which the source of a persuasive message is seen as knowledgeable about the topic of the message. Source expertise is a SOURCE FACTOR. See also SOURCE CREDIBILITY.
characteristics of the source of a persuasive message that are likely to influence the effectiveness of the message. SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS, SOURCE CREDIBILITY, SOURCE EXPERTISE, SOURCE MAJORITY OR MINORITY STATUS, and SOURCE TRUSTWORTHINESS are all source factors.