Human Sciences

1. Human Sciences An Introduction

2. Human Sciences

3. Psychology Economics Human Sciences Sociology Anthropology

4. The Scientific Method (recap) Prediction Refuted Observation Hypothesis Prediction Experiment Prediction Confirmed

5. Observation: Human Judgement • The 5 point scale: • 1 – Significantly below average • 2 – Slightly below average • 3 – Average • 4 – Slightly above average • 5 – Significantly above average • Try to answer the following questions on a 5-point scale • How good is your dress sense? • How much do you worry about what others think of you? • How good are you at judging people’s character? • How open-minded are you? • How understanding and compassionate are you? • Enter your results in the spreadsheet – the cell will change colour once you put your answer in but you WILL NOT be able to see it • While you wait, try to identify any other potential problems with observation in the Human Sciences

6. Observation: Loaded Questions • It is hard (perhaps impossible) to phrase questions an unbiased manner. • Consider the following questions: • Do you believe that women are entitled to full control over their bodies, including the right to terminate pregnancies? • Do you believe that women have the right to kill developing foetuses through abortion? • Do you believe women have the right to abort unwanted pregnancies? TASK: • Which of the above questions is most/least loaded? • Is any of them unloaded? • Can you think of an unloaded question that would ascertain people’s opinions about capital punishment?

7. Observation: Observer Effect • Chemicals don’t care who’s watching (not strictly true but that’s another story) • People do! • Consider the following: • In the romantic comedy ‘Lord of the Rings’, the main protagonist possesses a ring which when worn makes the wearer completely invisible. • How does the presence of other people change your behaviour? • The solutions: • Habituation • Hidden cameras (yes really!)

8. Hypothesis • Typically there is a much wider range of variables to consider and so the range of plausible hypotheses is likely to be much greater. TASK: • Develop a hypothesis to explain the enduring popularity of Justin Bieber?

9. Predictions: The expectancy effect • In the ’60s, Rosenthal and Jacobson tested groups of school children with an IQ test. • They told their teachers which kids in their class had scored in the top 20% in the test. • These kids subsequently did better at school. • What Rosenthal and Jacobson didn’t tell the teachers was that this top 20% was actually completely random and not the top 20% TASKS: • Why do you think this happened? • How might this have effected your own education? • How does this relate to any of the subjects you are currently studying?

10. Experiments: Problems of Measurement • Measurement is important in science: • Mass – measured with a balance • Length – measured with a rule • How do you measure: • Human happiness • The effectiveness of a national economy • The effectiveness of a law • The strength of a support network • The importance of honesty in a German culture

11. Experiments: Problems of Scope • Design and write down a controlled experiment that could be performed to address the following problems: • What is the best system for running a national economy? • What are the psychological effects of bringing boys up as girls? • What is the most effective punishment for drug dealers? • What problems are there with these? • This is not just a theoretical problem…

12. Experiments: The Milgram Experiments • 1960’s Yale: Stanley Milgram investigating the extent to which people are willing to obey orders. • The experiment • Volunteers in the role of ‘teacher’ were to administer electric shocks to a ‘learner’ in punishment for failure. • Shocks increased in strength from 15 to 450 volts • After 120V the learner started to complain, after 150V they demanded an end to it, after 270 there was screaming, after 330V just an ominous silence • If the ‘teacher’ hesitated, a lab-suited scientist would tell them how important it was to continue • Almost 2/3 of ‘teachers’ continued with shocks up to 450V (if working in 3s, this dropped to 10%) • Only 1/3 thought to refuse to comply • ‘Learner’ was an actor, and there was no electricity but ‘teacher’ did not know this. TASK: No one was actually hurt so this is perfectly fine right? Discuss.

13. Experiments: Problems with Modelling • Poor modelling can, in a significant part, explain the global financial crisis. How: • Models inevitably require simplifications • The world is not simple • The devil is in the detail • Reductionism – the whole is the sum of it’s parts • Understand the individual elements one at a time • Holism – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts • Requires immersion in society/culture to understand from the inside • Verstehn Position – meaning and purposevscause and effect • How it works is less important than what it means. Discuss: Which model do you think is best for understanding the society in which you live?

14. Conclusions: Problems of Universality • An experimentally verified physical law applies always and in all places • Is this the same for the results of studies in the human sciences? TASK: Can you think of anything that a human scientist may find true in your culture, that may not apply across all cultures?

15. Summary • Draw a Venn diagram summarising your understanding of the differences between the natural and human sciences • Is knowledge in the human sciences more or less certain than that in the natural sciences? Justify your answer. • If you answered less: Does this matter? Are there any alternatives? • If you answered more: A quote by Noam Chomsky* says it is probable that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than we ever will from scientific psychology. What do you think and why? * One of the founders of modern linguistics and well known critic of American foreign policy. Loved and loathed.