Society & Culture

The belief that human beings are the most important entity in the universe, and therefore assumes an interpretation or regarding of the world in terms of human values and experiences.

The tendency to characterize animals, objects, and abstract concepts as possessing human-like traits, emotions, and intentions.

A phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends \*decreases\* the more that they have already been adopted by others (contrary to the Bandwagon Effect).

Withdrawal or alienation from society or human interaction, often as a result of disappointment or disillusionment with people or society.

The phenomenon where the group performance exceeds the combined contributions of individual group members. There is evidence for both task-specific assembly bonus effects, and a general effect of collective intelligence, analogous to that of general intelligence.

A self-reinforcing cycle that explains the development of certain kinds of collective beliefs, which trades on social acceptance and the appearance of sophistication over critical reasoning. The cascade cycle beginning with a novel idea that seems to explain a complex process in a simple manner, which then becomes popular owing to its simplicity and insightfulness, which then triggers a chain reaction within the social network where individuals adopt the new insight because other people within the network have adopted it.

A phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases the more that they have already been adopted by others.

A proposed psychological phenomenon where a person who has already performed a favor for another is more likely to do another favor for the other than if they had received a favor from that person.

The cognitive bias of recognizing the impact of biases on the judgment of others, while failing to see the impact of biases on one's own judgment.

The subconscious tendency of people to prefer the numbers in the date of their birthday over other numbers.

The theory that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking, and toll-jumping helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes from happening.

A social psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

A movement first described in Melanesia which encompasses a range of practices and occurs in the wake of contact with more technologically advanced societies, where there was a belief that various ritualistic acts such as the building of an airplane runway will result in the appearance of material wealth, particularly highly desirable Western goods (i.e., cargo), via Western airplanes.

The impact that coercion, or threat of coercion, can have in stifling specific behavior, such as general free speech, contributing unpopular opinions, or calling out injustice.

A sociological concept where a community or society may at times come together and simultaneously communicate the same thought and participate in the same action, which in turn excites individuals and serves to unify the group.

Generally, a political and social philosophy that promotes tradition, hierarchy, and social continuity — though it receives criticism as upholding social and economic inequality, and as making unhelpful societal appeals to nostalgia and a romantic history that has likely been more manufactured than experienced.

Social phenomenon where people in a group try to bring down or sabotage those who try to improve or succeed, out of envy, resentment, or a sense of competition.

The tendency to more easily recognize faces of the race that one is most familiar with (which is most often one's own race).

The process of obtaining feedback, services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people — often associated with Internet communities — where when a large group's aggregated answers to questions has been found to be as good as, and often better than, the answer given by any of the individuals within a group.

The idea that cultures and societies change over time (beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, attitudes, languages, etc.), where sociocultural development traces processes that tend to increase the complexity of a society or culture, sociocultural evolution also considers process that can lead to decreases in complexity or that can produce variation or proliferation without any seemingly significant changes in complexity.

A social psychological term from the attributional approach referring to a set of beliefs used as a shield against the fear that one will be the victim or cause of a serious mishap.

The result of having many contributors to a design, but no unifying vision.

The suggested cognitive limit to the number of friends one can maintain, in terms of stable, social relationships, which is usually said to be around 150.

Metaphorical environment in which beliefs are amplified and reinforced inside of a closed system.

Inferences about the nature of specific individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which those individuals belong.

The tendency to rely too heavily on one's own perspective and/or have a higher opinion of oneself than reality.

An obvious problem or risk that no one wants to discuss but which everyone is silently considering.

Cognitive bias in which people underestimate the influences of visceral drives on their own attitudes, preferences, and behaviors.

An attributional bias where people attribute relatively more to "extrinsic incentives" (such as monetary reward) than to "intrinsic incentives" (such as learning a new skill) when weighing the motives of others rather than themselves.

An attributional type of cognitive bias whereby people tend to overestimate the extent to which their opinions, beliefs, preferences, values, and habits are normal and typical of those of others (i.e., that others also think the same way that they do).

How people tend to view their qualities, traits and personal attributes as unique, when in reality they are not.

Swedish term that connotes a coffee break.

A trope where a caregiver develops romantic feelings, sexual feelings, or both for their patient, even if very little communication or contact takes place outside of basic care.

Phenomenon where knowledge or experiences are lost between generations due to incomplete or selective transmission, leading to a distorted or incomplete understanding of historical events or cultural practices.

Translated from Dutch as "coziness" — it connotes a relaxed and warm situation and can be applied to places, people, activities, or events.

The work draws on the Wiradjuri concept of giran which describes the winds, change, as well as feelings of fear and apprehension. — [

The tendency to believe either that the characteristics of an individual group member are reflective of the group as a whole, or that a group's decision outcome must reflect the preferences of individual group members.

A term used to denote a past period that is being remembered for being happy and/or successful.

A cognitive bias that manifests itself as a tendency to overestimate the probability of one's success at a task perceived as hard, and to underestimate the likelihood of one's success at a task perceived as easy. The hard-easy effect takes place, for example, when individuals exhibit a degree of underconfidence in answering relatively easy questions and a degree of overconfidence in answering relatively difficult questions.

The tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

Originating from a religious perspective (opposite of "Orthodox"), means not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

Group intelligence that emerges from the collective efforts of individuals and reflects a collective intelligence. Commonly seen in sociology, political science, biology, and technology.

Hawaiian practice of forgiveness.

The tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the expression "birds of a feather flock together".

The tendency to interpret others' behaviors as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign.

18th century Scottish term for lounging in bed long after it's time to get up.

Danish concept that refers to a feeling of coziness, warmth, and contentment, often achieved through simple pleasures and social interactions, and emphasizing a sense of comfort, security, and togetherness.

A cognitive bias whereby people perceive their knowledge of others to surpass other people's knowledge of them.

The notion that most people feel they understand the world with far greater detail, coherence, and depth than they really do.

The Japanese concept of taking power naps at work, on the subway, and in other public places, where the practice is seen not as a sign of laziness, but of diligence — that one is working themselves to exhaustion.

Pattern of favoring members of one's own group (ingroup) over others (outgroup).

The moment when something that was once popular no longer warrants the attention it previously received, particularly when attempts at publicity only serve to highlight its irrelevance.

A classical Japanese dance-drama known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate makeup worn by some of its performers.

A Finnish expression for "getting drunk in one's underpants at home, usually alone."

Person who tells the story and/or connects the generations.

From the Hopi language for, "unbalanced life", a term that has become popularly intertwined by the US film of the same name which shows a slow-motion and time-lapse vision of society and its relationship to technology.

Swedish philosophy of moderation.

Scandinavian social code that emphasizes humility, conformity, and egalitarianism, and discourages individualism and self-promotion.

The quality of ambiguity that occurs in the middle of a rite of passage, where one no longer hold their pre-ritual status, but have not yet transitioned to the final state — a standing on the threshold.

The phenomenon where when one engages in something they're excited about, they will naturally pull others into their orbit.

A term used in anthropology and psychology, denoting the causal relationships between actions and events. In anthropology, it denotes the attribution of causality between entities grouped with one another (coincidence) or similar to one another (ritual, prayer, sacrifice, taboos). In psychology, it denotes the belief that one's thoughts by themselves can bring about effects in the world or that thinking something corresponds with doing it.

The phenomenon where individuals systematically overestimate the prevalence of their current state (neighborhood, local environment) over the global knowledge of the states of others, which may accelerate the spread of choices, risky behaviors, social contagions.

Maslow used the terms ‘physiological', ‘safety', ‘belongingness' and ‘love', ‘esteem', ‘self-actualization', and ‘self-transcendence' to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through, in a ranked and building fashion.

A bias against acknowledging the achievements of those women scientists whose work is attributed to their male colleagues.

Malagasy expression, literally “it exists but it’s empty,” which is colloquially ‘out of stock,’ but also serves as a more philosophical notion of having the capacity and expectation to have something, but to not currently be in possession of that thing.

Confidence in one's self-image tends to make one less worried about the consequences of subsequent immoral behavior, thus making one more likely to make immoral choices.

When people naïvely expect more egocentric bias in others than actually is the case.

The human tendency to believe that we see the world around us objectively, and that people who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased.

A personality type characterized by a strong affinity for novelty.

Dutch term for "to do nothing", but is more specifically "doing something without purpose" such as staring out a window or socializing.

A term for the "sphere of thought encircling the earth that has emerged through evolution as a consequence of this growth in complexity / consciousness" — emerging as an evolution of the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life).

Japanese concept of hospitality that brings ones whole self to the satisfaction of the guests.

Japanese term used to describe a style of hospitality that emphasizes anticipating and fulfilling the needs of guests with a warm and attentive attitude.

The tendency for the perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members, e.g. "they are alike; we are diverse."

A person's subjective confidence in their judgements are greater than the objective accuracy of those judgements.

Term used to describe the desire to apply the principles and methods of physics to other fields, often resulting in oversimplification and ignoring important complexities of those fields.

The phenomenon of elements culture being transformed or more fully embraced elsewhere, and then _re_-imported to the original culture with a nuance of the foreign culture's interpretation.

An appeal towards a framework of thinking in terms of populations and variation among individuals as opposed to individuals as central representative types.

A feast made famous as an anthropological example of gift-giving that demonstrates elaborate ritual, kinship relations, and reciprocity.

An affective feeling towards a person or group member based solely on that person's group membership.

The phenomenon whereby higher expectations lead to an increase in performance.

Danish term for a cultural concept of cultivating a healthy mindset towards stress by injecting a pause, reflection, and reset of one's current mental state and attitude.

Recording devices fashioned from strings and knots, historically used by a number of cultures particularly in the region of Andean South America.

A behavior whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism's fitness, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar manner at a later time.

The tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control impulsive behavior. An inflated self-control belief may lead to greater exposure to temptation, and increased impulsiveness.

The tendency for individual members of a group to become increasingly less productive as the size of their group increases.

In Western Kenya, it means "to spread", and refers to marketing slogans for mobile connectivity, as well as to refer to the way money slips away, drip by drip, as friends and family ask for favors.

A cognitive bias whereby a person overestimates their own qualities and abilities, in relation to the same qualities and abilities of other persons.

A cognitive strategy by which people avoid effort in the hopes of keeping potential failure from hurting self-esteem.

A narrative or perceptual framework that is distorted by the need to maintain (or enhances) one's self-esteem — the belief that individuals ascribe success to their own abilities and efforts, and failure to external factors.

The tendency for group members to spend more time and energy discussing information that all members are already familiar with (i.e., shared information), and less time and energy discussing information that only some members are aware of (i.e., unshared information).

The hypothesis that the awarding of an educational degree would yield a higher income than the same amount of studying without possession of a certificate.

Any custom or tradition, particularly a speech pattern, that distinguishes one group of people (an ingroup) from others (outgroups).

A Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness.

Having feelings of dislike and competitiveness with someone that is seen physically, or mentally better than oneself.

A psychological phenomenon where people copy the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior in a given situation.

A spatial region or conceptual division where a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity, accommodating to the interests of powers outside the borders of the state that controls it.

The phenomenon in which people tend to believe they are being noticed or are the center of attention more than they really are.

A folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys (and whereby the inedible stone can be removed when the neighboring ingredients are sufficient to make an actual soup), and exists as a moral regarding the value of sharing.

The social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics, or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values.

A cognitive bias by which a person will consider a statement or another piece of information to be correct if it has any personal meaning or significance to them.

A theory within social psychology where people have underlying needs, which vary from individual to individual, that can be satisfied by the defense and justification of the status quo, even when the system may be disadvantageous to certain people.

A metaphor for an issue that is controversial to the point of being "untouchable" that to broach the subject will cause damage. The metaphor comes from the high-voltage third rail in some electric railway systems.

German compound word translated as "gate-close-panic", describing a fear that time is running out to do major life things.

The tendency for people to view themselves as relatively variable in terms of personality, behavior and mood while viewing others as much more predictable in their personal traits across different situations.

Japanese folklore term that refers to household objects that have acquired a spirit or life force after being used for a long time, often portrayed as mischievous or vengeful.

The tendency to 'lock' individuals into narrowly defined, safe, predictable roles based on their past performance rather than their potential in new and/or different roles.

Putting the community above the individual.

A group-level attribution error where one explains an outgroups' negative behavior as flaws in their personality, and positive behavior as a result of chance or circumstance, where conversely they explain an \*ingroups'\* negative behavior as a result of chance or circumstance, and positive behavior as strengths in their personality.

A public debate within a country on a problematic period of its recent history. Most often associated with World War II and the Holocaust.

The phenomenon found in psychological and sociological research which suggests that people associate more positive attributes with women compared to men.

The tendency to underestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others.

The concept of an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.