HSP3M Unit 1

What should I study?

What are the Social Sciences?

• Anthropology – the study or the origin, the behaviour, the physical, social, and cultural development of humans

What are the Social Sciences?

• Sociology – the study of human social behaviour and the institutions and organizations that form society

What are the Social Sciences?

• Psychology – the study of mental processes and human behaviour

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

• Quantitative• Numbers• Measurable• Uses statistical

inference• WHAT, WHERE,

WHEN

• Qualitative• Relies on reason• Smaller and more

focused samples• WHY and HOW

The Incident at OC Transpo• Pierre Lebrun/Charles

Whitman• Unpopular/Loner• Anger management

problems• Low self-esteem• No meaningful

relationships with women• Paranoid/delusional• Social outcast

Schools of Thought- Sociology1. Functionalism

• Functionalism• Society works in a

logical manner and protects the interests of its members

• Society is best studied as an organic system like the human body

Suicide - Durkheim• Egoistic suicide resulted

from too little social integration. Those individuals who were not sufficiently bound to social groups were left with little social support or guidance, and therefore more likely to take their own life

• Anomic suicide – can’t cope with rapid change

• Altruistic suicide was the result of too much social integration. Self sacrifice was the defining trait, where individuals were so integrated into social groups that they lost sight of their individuality and became willing to sacrifice themselves to the group's interests.

Altruistic or Egoistic?

In 1963 Buddhist monk Thich Quang Doc burned himself to death during a protest against South Vietnam President Diem.

Altruistic or Egoistic?

Heaven's Gate was a religious cult led by Marshall Applewhite who convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so their souls could ride on a spaceship hidden behind a comet.

2. Conflict Theory• Karl Marx – economics

and power differences• Study the social patterns

and structures that develop as classes compete for scarce resources

• Power/Conflict• Revolution not Evolution• Max Weber – many

factors; favoured bureaucracies

3. Symbolic Interactionism

• Max Weber argued that we act towards people and things on the basis of the meaning we assign them.

3 Schools of Anthropology• 1. Cultural Anthropology

– analyzes cultures of living people

• 2. Social Anthropology – analyzes social organization of living people

• 3. Physical Anthropology – analyzes human evolution and genetic development

Anthropology

• Cultural Materialism• Founder: Marvin

Harris• Breaks culture down

into 3 divisions• Culture is created to

solve the universal problems societies face

Ethical Research

• Napolean Chagnon • Yanomamo: The

Fierce People• Is extreme violence

among the Yanomami a cultural adaptation or a genetic difference?

3 Schools of Psychology

• 1. Psychoanalysis• Developed by Freud to

probe the unconscious mind and treat patients anxieties and phobias

3 Schools of Psychology

• 2. Behaviorism• Focuses on studying

observable behavior• Edward Lee

Thorndike• Law of Effect• Applied to curriculum

3 Schools of Psychology

• 3. Cognitive Psychology

• Studies how people perceive their environment, learn and remember

Aversion Therapy

• Controversial• Exposes patient to a

stimulus while subjecting them to a form of discomfort

• Stimulus = Unpleasant sensation

Desensitization

• Treatment of phobias• Repeatedly evoking an

emotional response in a “safe” environment so that anxiety becomes irrelevant

Introvert

• Tend to be quiet• Low-key, deliberate, • Gain energy when

performing solitary activities

• Enjoy intense one-on-one social interactions

Extrovert

• Tend to be energetic when surrounded by people

• Enthusiastic/Talkative/Assertive

• Tom Cruise is a Jackass

• “I’m in love!”