SOC101Y
Introduction to Sociology
Professor Robert Brym
Lecture #3
Social Interaction
29 Sep 10
A status is a
recognized position in
a social interaction.
How We Get Emotional
external
stimulus
For example,
a grizzly bear
attacks.
physiological
response and
initial emotion
Your pulse rate
increases etc.;
you experience
fear.
cultural
script
You have learned that
lying still and playing
dead increases the
chance the grizzly bear
will lose interest in you.
modified
emotional
response
Still fearful,
you act according
to the cultural
script, which
gives you hope.
Emotion management
involves people obeying
“feeling rules” and responding
appropriately to the situations
in which they find themselves.
Emotion labour is emotion
management that one does as
part of one’s job and for
which one is paid.
The crude death rate
is the annual
number of deaths per
1,000 people
in a population.
A rate is the frequency
with which an event
occurs in a given time
span per population unit.
Calculating a Rate
Population A
Population B
N=4,782
M=12
N=613
M=3
3 / 613 = .0048939
.0048939 * 1,000 = 4.8
12 / 4,782 = .0025094
.0025094 * 1,000 = 2.5
N = number of people in a population at a given time. M =
number of marriages in the population over a given period. The
marriage rate = (M/N) * 1,000. That is, you divide the frequency
of an event (how often it occurs in a given time span, such as a
year) by the size of the population and multiply by 1,000 to find
the rate of the event per 1,000 people. Multiply by 100 to find
the rate per 100 people.
Higher Education, Top 12 Countries
ABSOLUTE SCORE*
* Absolute score = number of universities in a country ranked
in the top 200 universities in the world by the Times Higher
Education Supplement (2010-11)
RELATIVE SCORE*
* Relative score = (a/b)*100, where a = number of universities
in a country ranked in the top 200 universities in the world by
the Times Higher Education Supplement (2010-11) and b =
country’s population in 2010
How would you calculate the rate of top universities in each country?
A Competitive Conversation
Draws attention to
himself
John: “I’m feeling really starved.”
Begins to compete by
refocusing attention on herself
Mary: “Oh, I just ate.”
Engages in the competition by trying to
draw attention back to himself
John: “Well, I’m feeling really starved.”
Mary: “When was the last time
you ate?”
Concedes the competition by
allowing the conversation to
focus on John
Norms are standards
of behavior or
generally accepted ways
of doing things.
Values are shared
ideas about what
is right and wrong.
Why We Interact
 we gain valued resources
from interaction and we
compete to maximize our gains
 we learn norms and values
(some of them altruistic) that
require interaction
Where Do Norms and
Values Come From?
 from culture
 from creative negotiation:
 we manipulate the impressions
we make on others
 we communicate verbally and
nonverbally
Impression management
is the manipulation of how
we present ourselves to
others so as to appear in the
best possible light.
Important Types of
Nonverbal Communication
 facial expressions, gestures and
body language
 status cues (visual indicators of
other people’s social positions)
 stereotypes (rigid views of how
members of various groups act,
regardless of whether individual
group members really behave
that way)
(Lower case indicates sample; upper case indicates population.)
Probability of Being Stopped by the Police,
Toronto, by Race, Sex, and Age (n=1,257)
Probability
Which category has
the highest
probability of being
stopped? For white
and Asian males and
females, what is the
relationship between
age/education and
the probability of
being stopped? For
black males and
females, what is the
relationship between
age/education and
the probability of
being stopped?
Correlation
 A variable is a concept that can have more
than one value.
 A correlation is the relationship or
association between two variables.
 The correlation coefficient (r) measures
the strength of the association between two
variables. Its value ranges from -1 to +1, with
-1 indicating a perfect negative linear
association, +1 indicating a perfect positive
linear association, and 0 indicating no
association.
Correlation
Variable y
60
Variable y
Variable y
60
60
r = .85
40
40
20
20
r=0
r = -.92
40
20
0
0
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
0
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
1. Positive Correlation 2. Negative Correlation 3. No Correlation