Term
| Ethnocentrism (sociocentrism) |
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Definition
| The tendency to view one's own race or culture as central, based on the deep-seated belief that one's own group is superior to all others. |
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| A trait of a critical thinker involving respect for others, willingness to hear and understand different viewpoints on an issue, and an openness to change when new information or insight warrants change. |
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| The individual version of ethnocentrism, the tendency to view everything else in relationship to oneself; one's desires, values, beliefs, and actions seem to be self-evidently correct or superior to those of others. |
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| Techniques aimed at self-protection through the avoidance of unpleasant realities. |
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| A defense mechanism that underlies many others; it involves justifying or making sense of things that don't make sense and explaining things away that should be brought under examination. |
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| A state of mental discomfort that occurs whenever two ideas (or cognitions) are out of sync or when behavior is inconsistent with beliefs. |
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| A state of mind that blocks critical thinking by the repression of or refusal to recognize negative or threatening information. |
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| The tendency to follow others uncritically, usually to gain acceptance or avoid conflict; the practice of using the beliefs and actions of others rather than our own best judgment as the primary guide to personal thoughts and actions. |
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| The tendency for group members to rigidly conform to and reinforce a collective opinion or judgment about an issue. |
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| The process of using one's feelings as definitive proof of an accurate analysis of a situation. |
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| Coming to a general conclusion on the basis of a single incident or a few incident. |
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| Assuming that what would be true for you in any given circumstance is true for the other person; making assumptions about the thoughts, feelings, or motives of another and taking the assumptions as true without further proof or discussion. |
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| The process of distorting reality by focusing on all the negative details of a situation and filtering out all the positive. |
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| A form of emotional reasoning in which one imagines and anticipates disastrous outcomes or future problems. |
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| A form of emotional reasoning based on a desire and belief that one should be without flaws; good qualities, good work, or the good parts of a situation are minimized and focus is placed on how others or oneself have not measured up. |
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| A form of emotional reasoning in which a person relates everything that happens to him- or herself, assuming that general statements or actions are personally directed. Involves the belief that one's characteristics or actions are continually being compared, favorably or unfavorably, against the characteristics or actions of other people. |
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| Points of logical vulnerability |
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| Topics about which a person has difficulty being rational or objective. |
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| Scholars who study the effects of language on mental health and behavior. |
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| Tools created by general semanticists that help people make their words more accurately reflective of reality. |
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| A process by which one takes general labels (women, Catholics, Asians, Americans) and substitutes a reference to actual people. Used to prevent stereotyping. |
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| The ability to identify and understand the feelings and perspectives of others. |
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| Paraphrasing and summarizing the thoughts and feelings of the speaker with the aim of empathic understanding of his or her viewpoint. |
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