The Social Sciences & Theories February 17th, 2015 HHS4U The 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??? (Dictionary.com) 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 decisions Theories 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 observations Each 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