This is a summary of the definitions of Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology.

1. Summary of U1A1 Concepts
What is Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology ?

2. Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of culture
It is the science of people, which includes the study of
human beings in relation to origin, classification,
distribution, and relationship of races, physical character,
and culture.

3. Sociology
Sociology is the study of the actions of members within a
specific society.
It examines the way in which people organize themselves
within groups, institutions, and associations. Social research
can be used to inform policy, or to facilitate in the
engineering of social change.

4. Psychology
Psychology is the study of human behaviour.
It seeks to answer the question “why?” it examines the
specific actions, responses, and the factors that dictate how
an individual reacts under a specific set of conditions,
provides insight to how an individual can affect society.

5. Social Science Theorists
The three aspects of the social sciences have within them
different theories that :
1. Try to explain that people the way people live and act can
change their world
2. Try to explain how the world changes the way people live and
act
3. Pose important questions about these interactions
4. Try to interpret the world from different perspectives

6. Anthropology
Functionalism (Robert K. Merton)
An important part of his theory is the relationship of shared
values between society and its institutions. Merton explains
how expected consequences, manifest functions, unintended
consequences, and latent functions, impact the functioning
of society

7. Anthropology
Structuralism (Claude Levi-Strauss, Mary Douglas)
As social beings we like the idea of predictability and
familiarity. We foster a social idea, and reinforce it in a
society to make it a norm? Reinforcement of a norm or a
value increases the acceptance of the practice within a given
society.

8. Anthropology
Cultural Materialism (Carlo Ember, Stephen Sanderson,
Marvin Harris)
Cultural materialism is an anthropological school of thought
(or "research strategy") that says that the best way to
understand human culture is to examine material conditions
- climate, food supply, geography, etc.

9. Sociology
Karl Marx (Marxism)
Marx, production is essential for the advancement of society.
Associated with the creation of goods there will be,
eventually, a few individuals that will control the majority of
the resources and their means of production.

10. Sociology
Talcott Parsons (Structural Functionalism)
A structural functionalist, believed that society will create
structures within itself that will assist with its fundamental
functioning requirements. It deals with the maintenance of a
society.

11. Sociology
Feminist Theory
Feminist theory explores both inequality in gender relations
and the constitution of gender. It looks to understand the
structure in society that marginalizes and discriminates
against all genders (female, males, transgender etc.)

12. Psychology
Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud
He believed that human behaviour is driven by desires and
the suppression of these same desires. Freud views human
development as progressing through stages of development
where the main conflict deals with an erogenous zone of the
body.

13. Psychology
Human Motivation: Burrhus Frederick Skinner
Humans develop their behaviours due to a set of rewards that
promote activities being repeated and reinforced. Skinner
believes that Operant Conditioning was an effective tool to
promote this change. This type of conditioning is used in
behaviour modification programs as well as computer-assisted
instruction.

14. Psychology
Human Development: Erik Erikson
Erikson believes that at certain stages in an individual’s life there
are tasks (milestones) that must be met in order to have a
healthy development. Decisions made later in life may be
affected by a person’s ability to successfully navigate
psychological dilemmas during the development stages in a
person’s life.

15. The End