Soc 108 Exam 1 Study Guide
Chapter 1: Research in the real world
Ways that we know what we know and their problems
Tradition
What we’ve been told, what we’ve been socialized to believe
(ex) mom says you need to brush your teeth or else you’ll get cavities pros: you don’t have to do the experiment yourself; very efficient cons: you don’t think abt doing it yourself; we never question it so it becomes mindless of the world; constrained, tunnel-vision
Authorities
individuals who have the right to direct others
(ex) police, professors, doctors, judges, etc pros: efficient; rely upon them b/c they are accurate sources of info cons: they don’t know everything; knowledge may change over time
Personal Experience we are our own individual social psychologists pros: we can experience things ourselves and figure out what is true; we can learn abt how the world works & we won’t have to experience the pitfalls of authorities or traditions
***Cause & effect: experience where you can begin to establish the rel between 2 things. We learn this rel is probabilistic (not guaranteed) cons: cannot draw on experiences of others inaccurate observation poor observers of social world; we miss a LOT of stuff (Monkey bus. illusion) selective observation when we’re oriented to focus on something, we tend to ignore other things around overgeneralization racial & gender stereotyping examples the thought that “everybody does this” illogical reasoning we have to particularly enforce a system so that what we think is true (ex) slot machines: ppl think if the more # of times you don’t win, you have a better chance of winning (no!)
Elements of ‘good’ social science research theoretical rather than philosophical or normative talking abt what is rather than what should be deals with social regularities
*it is probabilistic and contingent patterns of behaviors aggregates rather than individuals categories of ppl; not specific individuals
“aims” to generalize systematic research ques &
Ways that we know what we know and their problems
Tradition
What we’ve been told, what we’ve been socialized to believe
(ex) mom says you need to brush your teeth or else you’ll get cavities pros: you don’t have to do the experiment yourself; very efficient cons: you don’t think abt doing it yourself; we never question it so it becomes mindless of the world; constrained, tunnel-vision
Authorities
individuals who have the right to direct others
(ex) police, professors, doctors, judges, etc pros: efficient; rely upon them b/c they are accurate sources of info cons: they don’t know everything; knowledge may change over time
Personal Experience we are our own individual social psychologists pros: we can experience things ourselves and figure out what is true; we can learn abt how the world works & we won’t have to experience the pitfalls of authorities or traditions
***Cause & effect: experience where you can begin to establish the rel between 2 things. We learn this rel is probabilistic (not guaranteed) cons: cannot draw on experiences of others inaccurate observation poor observers of social world; we miss a LOT of stuff (Monkey bus. illusion) selective observation when we’re oriented to focus on something, we tend to ignore other things around overgeneralization racial & gender stereotyping examples the thought that “everybody does this” illogical reasoning we have to particularly enforce a system so that what we think is true (ex) slot machines: ppl think if the more # of times you don’t win, you have a better chance of winning (no!)
Elements of ‘good’ social science research theoretical rather than philosophical or normative talking abt what is rather than what should be deals with social regularities
*it is probabilistic and contingent patterns of behaviors aggregates rather than individuals categories of ppl; not specific individuals
“aims” to generalize systematic research ques &