Deviant Behavior Test Questions with Correct Answers Latest Version 2025
Normative Perspective - Answers Something is deviant because it goes against society's widely accepted
rules (absolutists)
Situational Perspective - Answers Focuses on the social situation surrounding the behavior in question.
Relativistic because it understands deviance primarily in terms of where and when it occurs
(constructionists)
Deviant Behavior - Answers Activity that violates the normative structure of society and is socially
condemned
Culture - Answers A body of widely shared customs and values that provides general orientations
toward life and specific ways of achieving common goals
Social Organization - Answers The means for carrying out the complex network of social interactions
between individuals, social groups and institutions
Social Norms - Answers Generally agreed on guides for behavior that provide boundaries for
interpersonal relations
Social Roles - Answers A set of social norms for the behavior of individuals who occupy given statuses
within society
Expectational Norms - Answers Behaviors that are "ideal" for individuals who are enacting a particular
social role or who are in a given social situation
Behavioral Norms - Answers What persons "typically" do when occupying a particular social role or in a
given social situation
Processes of Globalization - Answers Complex set of processes that involve immediate worldwide
communication, transitional commerce and trade, and borderless opportunities for political and cultural
exchange
Conformist/Nondeviant Behavior - Answers Behavior that is obviously acceptable in regards to the
normative and situational perspectives
Extreme Forms of Conventional Behavior - Answers Behaviors that are negatively defined socially but
are consistent with the normative structure of society (i.e. workaholics, overachievers in school)
Crime/Deviant Behavior - Answers Behaviors that are clearly deviant and often also contravene
administrative statutes or criminal law
Mores - Answers Norms that govern more important sociocultural behaviors (i.e. morality and ethics,
appropriate dress, offensive language)
, Folkways - Answers Everyday practices commonly observed within a given culture (i.e. observing
holidays, behaving in public)
Laws - Answers The most serious form of social norms. Provide a codification of the specific elements of
crimes and civil torts and possible sanctions for their violation. Violation requires a formal response from
government agents.
Social Constructionists - Answers Interested in the processes involved in the formulation of social and
legal norms, the imposition of a deviant label on certain violators.
Positivistic Theorist - Answers Take an objective view of deviance. Certain behaviors are deviant in
themselves, and certain social, psychological, or biological factors explain why certain individuals engage
in those behaviors.
Societal Reaction/Labeling Theorists - Answers Focus on the consequences of labeling certain norm
violators as deviant and the societal reaction to them.
Social Control Theorists - Answers Interested in the ways in which social groups and society as a whole
impede the commission of deviant and criminal acts.
Formal Controls - Answers Official sanctioning of certain norm violators (i.e. government)
Informal Controls - Answers Unofficial means of sanctioning deviants within a group (i.e. gossip, ridicule)
William Graham Sumner - Answers Classified social norms by the severity of their violation: Folkways,
Mores & Laws
Emile Durkheim - Answers Crime and deviance are vitally important to a society's survival. Believed the
existence of a particular social entity depends on the formation of strong collective sentiments about
the kinds of behaviors that are appropriate for its members.
Kai Erickson - Answers Certain behaviors are defined as deviant, the function that deviant behaviors
serve in a given community, and the consequences of attempts to control deviant behavior. The agents
of social control(police, courts, etc..) perpetuate the very behaviors they are indented to control.
Scientific Method - Answers Observation, hypothesis development, data collection and analysis, and
hypothesis reformulation used in the quest for knowledge.
Neoclassical School - Answers School of thought developed during the time of the Enlightenment, based
on the idea that human beings possess free will and rationally decide to act or refrain from certain
activities.
Societal Reaction/Labeling Perspective - Answers Theoretical perspective that focuses on how society
reacts to and labels deviance and deviant actors, and how these reactions and labels affect the deviant
actor.
Normative Perspective - Answers Something is deviant because it goes against society's widely accepted
rules (absolutists)
Situational Perspective - Answers Focuses on the social situation surrounding the behavior in question.
Relativistic because it understands deviance primarily in terms of where and when it occurs
(constructionists)
Deviant Behavior - Answers Activity that violates the normative structure of society and is socially
condemned
Culture - Answers A body of widely shared customs and values that provides general orientations
toward life and specific ways of achieving common goals
Social Organization - Answers The means for carrying out the complex network of social interactions
between individuals, social groups and institutions
Social Norms - Answers Generally agreed on guides for behavior that provide boundaries for
interpersonal relations
Social Roles - Answers A set of social norms for the behavior of individuals who occupy given statuses
within society
Expectational Norms - Answers Behaviors that are "ideal" for individuals who are enacting a particular
social role or who are in a given social situation
Behavioral Norms - Answers What persons "typically" do when occupying a particular social role or in a
given social situation
Processes of Globalization - Answers Complex set of processes that involve immediate worldwide
communication, transitional commerce and trade, and borderless opportunities for political and cultural
exchange
Conformist/Nondeviant Behavior - Answers Behavior that is obviously acceptable in regards to the
normative and situational perspectives
Extreme Forms of Conventional Behavior - Answers Behaviors that are negatively defined socially but
are consistent with the normative structure of society (i.e. workaholics, overachievers in school)
Crime/Deviant Behavior - Answers Behaviors that are clearly deviant and often also contravene
administrative statutes or criminal law
Mores - Answers Norms that govern more important sociocultural behaviors (i.e. morality and ethics,
appropriate dress, offensive language)
, Folkways - Answers Everyday practices commonly observed within a given culture (i.e. observing
holidays, behaving in public)
Laws - Answers The most serious form of social norms. Provide a codification of the specific elements of
crimes and civil torts and possible sanctions for their violation. Violation requires a formal response from
government agents.
Social Constructionists - Answers Interested in the processes involved in the formulation of social and
legal norms, the imposition of a deviant label on certain violators.
Positivistic Theorist - Answers Take an objective view of deviance. Certain behaviors are deviant in
themselves, and certain social, psychological, or biological factors explain why certain individuals engage
in those behaviors.
Societal Reaction/Labeling Theorists - Answers Focus on the consequences of labeling certain norm
violators as deviant and the societal reaction to them.
Social Control Theorists - Answers Interested in the ways in which social groups and society as a whole
impede the commission of deviant and criminal acts.
Formal Controls - Answers Official sanctioning of certain norm violators (i.e. government)
Informal Controls - Answers Unofficial means of sanctioning deviants within a group (i.e. gossip, ridicule)
William Graham Sumner - Answers Classified social norms by the severity of their violation: Folkways,
Mores & Laws
Emile Durkheim - Answers Crime and deviance are vitally important to a society's survival. Believed the
existence of a particular social entity depends on the formation of strong collective sentiments about
the kinds of behaviors that are appropriate for its members.
Kai Erickson - Answers Certain behaviors are defined as deviant, the function that deviant behaviors
serve in a given community, and the consequences of attempts to control deviant behavior. The agents
of social control(police, courts, etc..) perpetuate the very behaviors they are indented to control.
Scientific Method - Answers Observation, hypothesis development, data collection and analysis, and
hypothesis reformulation used in the quest for knowledge.
Neoclassical School - Answers School of thought developed during the time of the Enlightenment, based
on the idea that human beings possess free will and rationally decide to act or refrain from certain
activities.
Societal Reaction/Labeling Perspective - Answers Theoretical perspective that focuses on how society
reacts to and labels deviance and deviant actors, and how these reactions and labels affect the deviant
actor.
