HHS4UThe Social Sciences & Theories

February 17th, 2015

PRIMARY SOURCE When you conduct research in the social sciences, you

must select from a variety of primary and secondary resources

Primary resource – are obtained from field research Examples: Interviews, observations, personal journal entries,

surveys etc. Secondary resource – summarize what other people have

to say about a topic Examples: Research reports, newspaper articles, magazine

articles, textbooks, most webpages etc.

When starting research, most social scientists begin with secondary sources to see what has already been found about your ‘research question’. Then you design your own primary source to test your hypothesis

BIAS

What is Bias??? A particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling,

or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned Ex. Illegal bias against older job applicants, the

magazine’s bias toward art rather than photography, your strong bias in favour of an idea

Unreasonably hostile feelings or opinions about a social group prejudice: accusations of racial bias

(Dictionary.com)

ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology Is the scientific study of the origin, the

behaviour, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.

It is the study of ________ factors – the arts, beliefs, habits, institutions, and other endeavours – that are characteristic of a specific _________, society or nation.

Examples???

ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural anthropologists study ___________ societies to determine __________ patterns and regional or national ___________

Anthropologists highlight the __________ of behaviours – which is necessary to overcome ethnocentrism Example: comparing initiation rites that mark the

transition into adulthood of Mbuti African boys with an upper-class North American boy

By reading anthropological ________ of other cultures, people learn to understand that all cultural __________ is invented, and as a result, they will develop an ability to observe their own culture objectively

SOCIOLOGY Sociology

Is the social science that explains the _________ of individuals as they interact in social ________ (i.e. in family settings, communities etc.) How society influences behaviour – can provide suggestions on how to _______ society to achieve more positive __________ (Civil Rights)

Sociologists investigate social ______, the social sources of behaviour that are used to determine ______ of behaviour

Example: Sociologist Reginald Bibby is best known for his studies of adolescence & youth in Canada

His studies have been used for the __________ industry, they use his analysis of adolescent behaviour and attitudes to plan effective ______ strategies targeting the adolescent consumer

What would be an example of a marketing company targeting young adolescents??

SOCIOLOGY

Sociological studies are more concerned with the ________ of behaviour in ______ groups – not so much behaviour in ____________ Stats Canada gathers information about

Canadians in many aspects: family, consumers, business lives

__________ use demographics for planning social policy, marketing decisions etc.

Determining __________ and ______ of behaviour of groups facilitates planning and policy decisions within a ________ (may not necessarily explain the behaviour of __________ people) Example: studying whether or not violent

television programming causes aggressive behavior in children

PSYCHOLOGY Psychology is the study of _________ based on _______

processes Its focus is how the _________ thinks

Jean Piaget studied the development of cognition in children by _________ them thinking in natural and ____________ settings

Theory of Stages of Cognitive Development (1970) Describes how children think at each age and is still the basis of

curriculum design in school systems http://

www.icels-educators-for-learning.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=61#4

Recent developments in brain imaging technology that enable researchers to observe _________ in the brain are helping psychologists to __________ the biological and chemical bases for the mental processes that Piaget described over 50 years ago

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologists use ________ processes and the characteristic patterns of _________ (personality) to explain ___________ behaviour

They also examine how individuals ________ and ___________ one another

Psychological research is used to help individuals manage their ___________

Marketing – businesses use psychological _______ to motivate people to ________ their consumer behaviour

Psychology can be used for ________ studies of individual behaviour, and for _______ studies of group behaviour

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Get into groups of about 3 Select one of the following theoretical

perspectives, consolidate the information and, on chart paper, write down the main points Functionalism Systems Theory Symbolic Interactionism Exchange Theory Life-Course Approach Conflict Theory Feminist Theories Ecological Perspectives

KEY TERMS

Ethnocentrism Theoretical perspective Theory Personality Status Role Norm Objective Subjective

WHAT IS A THEORY?????

When scientists explain their observations, their answers reflect their theories

Some theories are durable and continue to be used to explain human behaviour for many years

Others have become less useful as the facts of human behaviour have changed and been replaced by newer theories (new social changes bring about new social theories – likewise, get rid of ‘useless’ ones)

THEORIES CONT’D Stephen Hawking:

A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: 1st – it must accurately describe a large class of observations on

the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements 2nd – it must make definite predictions about the results of

future observations

Human behaviour is influenced by decisionsTheories in the social sciences define patterns and trends, and probabilities - NOT RULES, not absolutes Therefore, there are many theories that attempt to explain the same set of observationsEach theory contains underlying assumptions about how the social world works – which in turn guide our research questions and methods – decide which theory is more useful for each investigation