Deck 6: Social Interaction in Everyday Life

Question 1

Akbar is an honours student. In sociological terms, being an honours student is an example of which of the following?

A) role conflict
B) master status
C) ascribed status
D) achieved status

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which concept is used to designate the process by which people creatively shape reality as they interact?

A) status interaction
B) social construction of reality
C) interactive reality
D) role reality

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is the term for the process by which people disengage from important social roles?

A) role rejection
B) role reversal
C) role loss
D) role exit

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which concept refers to a social position that is assumed voluntarily and that reflects a significant measure of personal ability and effort?

A) active role
B) master status
C) ascribed status
D) achieved status

Question 5

The process by which people act and react in relation to others is called

A) social connectedness.
B) social construction.
C) social dynamics.
D) social interaction.

Question 6

Shawna is an excellent artist but, as a mother, finds she cannot devote enough time to her family. She is experiencing

A) role conflict.
B) role strain.
C) role ambiguity.
D) role exit.

Question 7

Rebuilding relationships with people who knew you in an earlier period of life is a common experience for those who are undergoing which of the following?

A) role conflict
B) role strain
C) role ambiguity
D) role exit

Question 8

Which concept refers to the tension among roles connected to a single status?

A) role conflict
B) role strain
C) role ambiguity
D) role exit

Question 9

Which item in the following list might serve as a master status?

A) handedness
B) hair colour
C) hometown
D) physical or mental disability

Question 10

Sociologists use what concept to refer to behaviour people expect of someone who holds a particular status?

A) role
B) master status
C) status set
D) role set

Question 11

Which concept refers to a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life?

A) social status
B) master status
C) ascribed status
D) achieved status

Question 12

Julie is a police officer who finds that, wherever she goes in her small town, people seem to think of her as a cop. Julie is experiencing the effects of which of the following?

A) role exit
B) master status
C) ascribed status
D) status conflict

Question 13

Which of the following is involved when a plant supervisor wishes to be a good friend and confidant to the workers but must remain distant to rate the workers' performances?

A) role conflict
B) role strain
C) role ambiguity
D) role exit

Question 14

A role set refers to

A) all the roles found in a society.
B) a number of roles attached to a single status.
C) all the roles that are similar in function.
D) a number of roles within any particular organization.

Question 15

What is the concept that refers to the conflict among roles corresponding to two or more statuses?

A) role conflict
B) role strain
C) role set
D) role exit

Question 16

Dianne and Matt are lost while driving to some friends' house. Matt will not stop to ask for directions as Dianne wants him to. This chapter-opening story illustrates the pattern that

A) social interaction is actually mostly random.
B) men and women may have disagreements about who should drive.
C) men avoid asking for directions because it makes them dependent on someone else.
D) men are more interested in connectedness than women are.

Question 17

What concept refers to a social position that is received at birth or involuntarily assumed later in life?

A) passive role
B) master status
C) ascribed status
D) achieved status

Question 18

Which of the following is involved when a surgeon chooses not to operate on her own son because the personal involvement of motherhood could impair her professional objectivity as a physician?

A) role conflict
B) role strain
C) role ambiguity
D) role exit

Question 19

At a given time you occupy a number of statuses. These statuses make up your

A) master status.
B) role set.
C) achieved statuses.
D) status set.

Question 20

Which of the following concepts defines a social position that a person holds?

A) role
B) status
C) role set
D) culture

Question 21

The way we act and carry ourselves is referred to as

A) demeanour.
B) non-verbal communication.
C) impressions.
D) idealization.

Question 22

Which of the following phrases was used by Erving Goffman to refer to being embarrassed in a social situation?

A) "breaking" a role
B) "idealizing" a performance
C) "exiting" a role
D) "losing face"

Question 23

"Presentation of self" is also known as

A) non-verbal communication.
B) impression management.
C) performance.
D) body language.

Question 24

Garfinkel's research, called ethnomethodology, involves

A) studying the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings.
B) tracking people's roles over the life course.
C) the study of interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
D) studying unfamiliar cultural systems.

Question 25

The study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance is referred to as

A) ethnomethodology.
B) dramaturgical analysis.
C) the Thomas theorem.
D) the social construction of reality.

Question 26

What does the term "presentation of self" mean?

A) efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others
B) being very self-conscious
C) interaction that is highly formal
D) trying to take attention away from others

Question 27

According to Erving Goffman, people usually make efforts to _____ their intentions.

A) idealize
B) reveal
C) hide
D) contradict

Question 28

The power relationship between physician and patient is immediately evident when the patient enters the doctor's office because

A) it is up to patients to decide when they will see the doctor.
B) the physician is there to greet the patient.
C) patients must wait until a "gatekeeper" admits them to see the doctor in the office's "back region."
D) the doctor keeps her degree framed on the wall in public view.

Question 29

In Canada, people stand farther away from one another when speaking than do people in a Middle Eastern nation. This pattern reveals differences in meaning attached to

A) personal hygiene.
B) personal space.
C) facial gestures.
D) the rights of women compared to men.

Question 30

The Thomas theorem states that

A) a role is as a role does.
B) people rise to their level of incompetence.
C) situations defined as real are real in their consequences.
D) people know the world only through their language.

Question 31

Non-verbal communication refers to

A) body movements, gestures, and facial expressions.
B) instant messaging and other e-communication.
C) written language.
D) beliefs assumed to be true by everyone.

Question 32

Which of the following is an important element of non-verbal communication?

A) tone of voice
B) willingness to listen
C) body language
D) interest in the conversation

Question 33

Which sociologist developed the approach called dramaturgical analysis?

A) George Herbert Mead
B) Harold Garfinkel
C) Erving Goffman
D) W. I. Thomas

Question 34

Flirting is a way of seeing if someone is interested in you without risking rejection. From this point of view, flirting illustrates

A) the Thomas theorem.
B) the process of role exit.
C) the social construction of reality.
D) gender status.

Question 35

According to Erving Goffman, we engage in a _____ when we use costumes, props, tone of voice, and gestures to convey information to others.

A) role
B) performance
C) status
D) self

Question 36

Which of the following is an example of a personal decision having an effect on the reality we construct through social interaction?

A) choosing to skip the first day of classes
B) choosing to exercise and eat right
C) choosing to live common-law rather than getting married
D) choosing to pay bills on time

Question 37

Which of the following might be part of the classroom performance of a professor?

A) notes and PowerPoint projections
B) hairstyle and clothing
C) camaraderie with students
D) make and model of vehicle

Question 38

The careful observer can notice clues indicating that someone is telling a lie. People give off these clues because

A) our culture defines specific gestures to convey dishonesty.
B) non-verbal communication is hard for most people to control.
C) few people ever intend to lie.
D) research shows most criminals really want to be caught.

Question 39

"Personal space" refers to

A) owned property, such as a house or land.
B) unowned space in a public place.
C) the surrounding area over which an individual makes some claim to privacy.
D) a feeling of needing isolation from others.

Question 40

Smiling and making polite remarks to people we do not like is an example of

A) making another feel embarrassment.
B) exercising power over another.
C) idealizing a personal performance.
D) losing face.

Question 41

Looking at humour from a structural-functional viewpoint, jokes

A) are often used to safely express potentially disruptive sentiments.
B) operate best when they offend someone.
C) form a universal bond, regardless of culture.
D) are mostly nonsense and don't really help sociologists understand social interaction.

Question 42

Arlie Hochschild explains that companies

A) try to regulate the emotions of workers.
B) focus on behaviour rather than emotions.
C) encourage the free expression of emotions.
D) are only interested in a worker's productivity.

Question 43

In general, an important foundation of humour is

A) incongruity-differences in meaning.
B) differences in social standing.
C) gender differences.
D) differences in culture.

Question 44

What can we potentially learn from a person's Facebook page?

A) educational level of the person
B) how much they know about the people visiting their page
C) how many close friends a person has
D) whether or not a person is honest

Question 45

The idea of "getting" a joke, according to the text, depends on

A) knowing the joke teller well.
B) having a different social background than the joke teller.
C) understanding the two realities involved and appreciating their difference.
D) understanding exactly why someone is telling a joke.

Question 46

Women often take the family name of men upon marriage. In sociological terms, this is an example of how language can be used to convey

A) power over others.
B) personal knowledge of others.
C) the importance of others.
D) marital norms in society.

Question 47

Which of the following best describes a "well-told" joke?

A) The unconventional and conventional definitions of reality are given so quickly that people will not understand the difference.
B) There is a very sharp contrast between the conventional and unconventional definitions of reality.
C) The conventional and unconventional definitions of reality are virtually the same.
D) The unconventional definition of reality told in the joke is not well-understood, except by the highly educated.

Question 48

People generate reality in their social interaction.

Question 49

Based on research around the world, Paul Ekman concludes that people everywhere have how many basic emotions?

A) six
B) three
C) one
D) nine

Question 50

Cultures differ in terms of

A) the number of emotions that are socially recognized.
B) the authenticity of their emotions.
C) how emotional we expect people to be.
D) when emotions develop biologically.

Question 51

In which province is there a law requiring women to keep their birth names upon marriage?

A) B.C.
B) Alberta
C) New Brunswick
D) Quebec

Question 52

Which of the following is FALSE regarding the functions of humour?

A) Humour works as a safety valve for potentially disruptive sentiments.
B) Humour expresses common identity.
C) Humour relieves tension in uncomfortable situations.
D) Humour acts as a mechanism to bond people from many different cultures all at once.

Question 53

Tact is a common response in potentially embarrassing situations because

A) we like most people with whom we interact.
B) our cultural norms demand looking out for others.
C) everyone feels discomfort when a constructed reality breaks down.
D) most people are unsure how to act in most situations.

Question 54

From a social-conflict point of view, jokes

A) tend to bring people together.
B) can be a way of making one category of people feel good at the expense of another.
C) are a good way of reducing conflict in society.
D) shouldn't be taken too seriously to avoid conflict.

Question 55

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) Canadian Aboriginal humour has never become popular with non-Aboriginal Canadians.
B) The Québécois believe they exist on an island of French in an English-speaking ocean.
C) Canada, has, per capita, less comedians than any other country in the Western hemisphere.
D) Humour creates a "prison of reality" for disadvantaged people.

Question 56

When interacting with people of an unfamiliar cultural background,

A) telling jokes is a good way to "break the ice."
B) we find people everywhere enjoy many of the same jokes.
C) we find that some cultures do not have humour.
D) it is important to understand that what is funny to people in one society may not be funny to those from another society.

Question 57

Ekman claims that a major function of emotions is to

A) let us be "ourselves."
B) support group life by forging connections with others.
C) limit the power of society over us.
D) give people a feeling of independence from others.

Question 58

In terms of dramaturgical analysis, another term for helping a person to "save face," or avoid embarrassment, is

A) role exit.
B) tact.
C) idealization.
D) creating personal space.

Question 59

The English language often treats as ______ whatever has greater value, power, or importance.

A) gender-free
B) feminine
C) masculine
D) humorous

Question 60

Humour is created when people

A) set up double meanings that are conventional and unconventional.
B) say things that have no meaning at all.
C) speak with great clarity.
D) say things that offend others.

Question 61

Typically, each status is linked to several roles.

Question 62

Sociologists use the concept "status" to mean someone's importance.

Question 63

The concept "master status" refers to being the best in one's occupational field.

Question 64

"Role strain" refers to differences between the same roles when performed by two different people.

Question 65

Being an Olympic athlete is mostly an achieved status.

Question 66

A father who wants to be both a friend and a role model to his son might experience role strain.

Question 67

The idea that reality is socially constructed means that nothing is real to most people at all.

Question 68

Social structure, including status and role, provides a guide for everyday living.

Question 69

Only those who retire from their occupation experience role exit.

Question 70

The Thomas theorem states that situations that are defined as real become real in their consequences.

Question 71

Having a terminal illness may operate as a master status insofar as people react to the disease as much as to the person.

Question 72

Only a few statuses we hold figure into our social identity.

Question 73

The process by which people disengage from important social roles is termed "role exit."

Question 74

A "role set" refers to all the roles a person has over the course of a lifetime.

Question 75

A status set refers to the roles people have over the course of their lifetimes.

Question 76

Ethnomethodology is the study of how people present themselves to others.

Question 77

"Role conflict" refers to the conflict or incompatibility among the roles linked to two or more statuses.

Question 78

A person's racial or ethnic identity is an ascribed status.

Question 79

Global Map 6-1, housework in a Global Perspective, shows that, in general, the lower a nation's average income, the greater the share of housework that is done by women.

Question 80

People usually have more statuses than they have roles.