Social thinking refers to the ways we view others and our environment, as well as how we interpret others’ behaviors. A variety of factors — personality, environment, and culture — factor into the beliefs and attitudes we develop.
Our beliefs and attitudes about others and the environment also shape the way we interact with each other. To interact with others, we need to interpret different aspects of a situation, including our perception of ourselves, the behavior of others, and the environment.
The content in this category covers our attitudes about others and how those attitudes develop, including how perceptions of culture and environment affect attributions of behavior. It also covers how our attitudes about different groups — prejudice, stereotypes, stigma, and ethnocentrism — may influence our interactions with group members.
| Topic |
Our Social World |
Introduction to Sociology |
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life |
Exploring Psychology |
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Attributing Behavior to Persons or Situations (PSY)
- Attributional processes (e.g., fundamental attribution error, role of culture in attributions)
- How self-perceptions shape our perceptions of others
- How perceptions of the environment shape our perceptions of others
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NA |
NA |
NA |
- Ch. 6, pp. 195-198
- Ch. 11, pp. 398-399
- Ch. 12, pp. 416-421
- Ch. 13, pp. 470, 487-491
- Ch. 14, pp. 519-522
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Prejudice and Bias (PSY, SOC)
- Processes that contribute to prejudice
- Power, prestige, and class (SOC)
- The role of emotion in prejudice (PSY)
- The role of cognition in prejudice (PSY)
- Stereotypes
- Stigma (SOC)
- Ethnocentrism (SOC)
- Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism
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- Ch. 3: Society and Culture
- Ch. 4: Socialization
- Ch. 6: Deviance and Social Control
- Ch. 8: Race and Ethnic Group Stratification
- Ch. 12: Religion
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Race and Ethnicity |
- Ch. 4, Building Order: Culture and History, pp 96-99 (“Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism”)
- Ch. 6, Supporting Identity: The Presentation of Self, pp 166-168 (“Stigma”)
- Ch. 10, The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality
- Ch. 11, The Architecture of Inequality: Race and Ethnicity
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- Ch. 9, pp. 301, 339-345
- Ch. 12, pp. 435-441
- Ch. 13, p. 476
- Ch. 14, pp.496-499
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Processes Related to Stereotypes (PSY)
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
- Stereotype threat
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- Ch. 6: Deviance and Social Control
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NA |
- Ch. 3, Building Reality: The Social Construction of Knowledge, pp. 55-56 (“Self-fulfilling prophecies”)
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- Ch. 9, pp. 343-345, 361-362
- Ch. 12, pp. 456-457
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