Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology (APS)

Contact Info: Some important information before we get started: My website: www.mcihistory.wordpress.com Spelling and grammar are very important to me!

Brain storm, what is Anthro, Psych, Soc?

Definition Social science is, in its broadest sense, the study of society and the manner in which people behave and influence the world around us. It tells us about the world beyond our immediate experience, and can help explain how our own society works - from the causes of unemployment or what helps economic growth, to how and why people vote, or what makes people happy. It provides vital information for governments and policymakers, local authorities, non- governmental organisations and others.

Social Science overview, animated 4mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSIdaTSG2Gg

Why Study Social Science? What can it teach us? We study social science because social phenomena affect people’s lives in profound ways. Think about this list and how the study of social science affects each of these things: Families, Schools, the Economy, Mass Media, Attitudes, Social Networks

Families Families.  What makes families more or less successful?   What makes marriages more successful?  What makes them fail?  What are the effects of divorce?  Does it hurt the children of divorce?  How much, in what ways, and for how long?  A medical doctor can treat the effects of family dysfunction and divorce—say, with anti- depressants or therapy and so on—but we can learn and know more about how to prevent some of this dysfunction from doing social science.

Schools Schools. What are effective means of educating children?  What makes for good teachers?  How can we measure and evaluate teaching and learning?  How can we overcome inequalities in educational achievement created by socioeconomic status and other factors?  The “hard” sciences and medicine might be able to help a bit here, but these too are mostly questions for social science.

The Economy The economy.  Fundamentally, what makes them grow or shrink?  Few things are as central to people’s quality of life as economic prosperity.  Here again, there is synergy with, say, medicine: getting sick affects your ability to be economically productive.  But doctors are not going to be shed much light on this question.  Economists and other social scientists can.

Mass Media Mass Media.  The information conveyed through mass media—cultural, political, and otherwise—can profoundly influence how we understand the world.  How is that information produced?  What are the incentives and norms that govern media organizations?  How does that information affect people?  How does that information help or hurt people—for example, by dismantling or reinforcing stereotypes, or by mitigating or fomenting outright violence?  Social scientists spend a lot of time trying to figure this out.

Attitudes Attitudes.  Why do people develop particular attitudes about social and political phenomena?  How does those attitudes affect subsequent behavior?  Whether people like or dislike social groups, for example, has an impact on the quality of life for those groups.  So we must understand the origins and evolution of attitudes like prejudice.

Social Networks Social networks.  The networks which people are embedded—which encompass families and schools as well as other institutions—can affect many things about them.  Whether they are healthy, whether they are prejudiced, whether they can survive natural disasters, and so on.

Anthropology What is Anthropology? The study of all aspects of human life an culture. Anthropology examines such topics as how people live, what they think, what they produce, and how they interact with their environments. Anthropologists try to understand the full range of human diversity as well as what all people share in common. Anthropologists ask such basic questions as: when, where, and how did humans evolve? How do people adapt to different environments? How have societies developed and changed from the ancient past to the present?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmnoxmVNW2Y What is Anthropology? (6mins)

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and the mind. This definition contains three elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains knowledge through systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Second is that psychologists study behaviour, which refers to any action or reaction that can be measured or observed- such as the blink if an eye, an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. Third is that psychologists study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious mental states. These states cannot be seen, only inferred from observable behaviour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M What is psychology video

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human social relations or group life. Socioloigists examine the ways in which social structures and institutions such as class, family, community and power and social problems such as crime and abuse, influence society. Social interaction, or the responses of individuals to each other, is perhaps the basic sociological concept, because such interaction is the elementary component of all relationships and groups that make up human society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5pp_fZDU8I What is Sociology video

Now that we understand the basics about Social Sciences, let’s put this knowledge to use. After watching the Documentary “Age of Anxiety”, we are going to think about how thinkers in each of the social sciences would view this topic. http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/age-of- anxiety