Psychology & Sociology

• Biopsychosocial Approach


  Illuminates the importance of psychological and sociological study in medicine.
• Biomedical Approach


  Focuses narrowly on the physical aspects of illness.
• Social Constructionism


  Human actors construct or create "reality" rather than discovering a reality that has inherent validity.
• Symbolic Interactionism


  Explains social behavior in terms of how people interact with each other via symbols.
• Symbols


  Terms, concepts, or items that represent specific meanings by accepted convention.
• Functionalism


  Factions of society work together to maintain stability. Claims that society, like an organism, is a system that consists of different components working together.
• Conflict Theory


  Views society in terms of competing groups that act according to their own self-interests, rather than according to the need for societal equilibrium.
• Culture


  All the beliefs, assumptions, objects, behaviors, and processes that make up a shared way of life.
• Material Culture


  The objects involved in a certain way of life (products manufactured, tools used, art made, etc.).
• Non-material culture


  Encompasses the elements of culture that are not physical (ideas, knowledge, etc.).
• Social Norms


  Expectations that govern what behavior is acceptable within a group.
• Social Group


  A subset of a population that maintains social interactions.
• Symbolic Culture


  A type of non-material culture that consists of the elements of culture that have meaning only in the mind.
• Rituals


  Formal, ceremonial behaviors with a specific purpose and significance.
• Society


  Two or more individuals living together in a community and/or sharing elements of culture.
• Social Institutions


  Hierarchical systems that bring order to interpersonal interactions, structuring society.
• Government and Economy


  A type of social institution. _____ provides order to society through the services it provides and making/enforcing law. The _____ distributes goods and services to meet the needs of society.
• Education


  A type of social institution. Provides a formal structure during childhood/transition into adulthood and an opportunity to instruct youth on the social norms, knowledge, skills, expectations needed.
• Religion


  A type of social institution. A system of beliefs that affects how people make sense of their experiences and provides a framework for questions about life, death, existence.
• Family


  A type of social institution. Consist of bonds of kin and marriage and make up a major organizing institution of society.
• Health and Medicine


  A type of social institution. Fulfills the need for healthcare in an organized manner.
• Demographics


  Statistics used to examine the nature of a specific population.
• Demographic Parameters (examples)


  Age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigration status.
• Demographic Transition


  A demographic change that takes place over time.
• Fertility


  The production of offspring within a population.
• Mortality


  The death rate within a population.
• Migration


  The relocation of people from one place to another.
• Social Movement


  A group of people who share an ideology and work together toward a specified set of goals.
• Urbanization


  The increase in the proportion of people living in specified urban areas.
• Globalization


  The increasing amount of interaction and integration on the international scale through exchange of products, services, ideas, and information.
• Spatial Inequity


  The unequal access to resources and variable quality of life within a population/geographical distribution.
• Global Inequalities


  Disparities between regions and nations in aspects such as GNP, natural resources, access to healthcare, types of work available.
• Environmental Justice


  The equal treatment of all people regardless of social grouping with regard to prevention and relief from environmental and health hazards.
• Social Class


  A system of stratification that groups members of society according to similarities in social standing. Tied to status and power in the community.
• Privilige


  Having advantages of power and opportunity over others.
• Prestige


  The relative value assigned to something within a particular society.
• Upward Mobility


  Moving up the class system.
• Downward Mobility


  Moving lower withing the class system.
• Intragenerational Mobility


  A change in social position that occurs in a person's lifetime. "Rags to riches".
• Intergenerational Mobility


  Changes in social status between different generations within the same family.