HHS4U
The Social Sciences & Theories
February 17th, 2015
PRIMARY SOURCE
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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
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Secondary resource – summarize what other people
have to say about a topic
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Examples: Interviews, observations, personal journal
entries, surveys etc.
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

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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
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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

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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
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
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)

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Describes how children think at each age and is still the basis
of curriculum design in school systems
http://www.icels-educators-forlearning.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4
6&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

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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:

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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