1. The Social Sciences & Theories February 17th, 2015
HHS4U
The Social Sciences & Theories
February 17th, 2015

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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???

5. 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

6. 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??

7. 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

8. 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
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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Key Terms Ethnocentrism Theoretical perspective Theory Personality
Status
Role
Norm
Objective
Subjective

12. 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)

13. 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