Psychology is the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors. It aims to understand individuals and groups to benefit society. Key concepts include behavior, personality, motivation, and intelligence. Major theories include behavioral, cognitive, developmental, humanist, personality, social, and learning theories. Research methods include correlational research, descriptive research, experimental research, interviews, surveys, and computer simulation. Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. Key concepts include society, culture, language, values, norms, beliefs, deviance, and social organization. Major theories include conflict theory, functionalism theory, symbolic interactionism theory, and social exchange theory. Research

1. Group 1
Block 22- BS PH
2013- 2014
Social Science:
A Concept Map
I. Psychology
A. Definition of Psychology
Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study
of mental functions and behaviours. Psychology has the immediate goal of
understanding individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and
researching specific cases, and by many accounts it ultimately aims to benefit
society
B. Key Concepts in Psychology
There are four main key concepts in psychology.
1. Behaviour- What is it that influences or determines human and non-human
behaviour and how can it be measured. Psychologists pose a variety of theories
to explain human behaviour.
2. Personality- The term ‘personality’ refers to a person’s unique behavioural and
cognitive patterns. Personality is closely linked to identity.
3. Motivation- Motivation is largely about values and rewards. Motivation theories
tend to assume that every learned response is the result of some motivation.
4. Intelligence- Some psychologists believe that intelligence is a single, general
ability, while others believe it encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents.
C. Some Theories in Psychology:
1. Behavioural Theories
It is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired
through conditioning. Advocated by famous psychologists such as John B. Watson
and B.F. Skinner, behavioral theories dominated psychology during the early half
of the twentieth century. Today, behavioral techniques are still widely used in
therapeutic settings to help clients learn new skills and behaviors.
It includes Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and the like.
2. Cognitive Theories
Cognitive theories of psychology are focused on internal states, such as
motivation, problem solving, decision-making, thinking, and attention.
It includes Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: sensorimotor stage (from
birth to age 2), preoperational stage (from age 2 to about age 7), concrete
operational stage (from age 7 to 11), and formal operational stage (adolescence
to adulthood)

2. 3. Developmental Theories
Theories of development provide a framework for thinking about human growth,
development, and learning.
It includes Freud’s Psychosexual Theory of Development and Erikson's Theory of
Psychosocial Development.
4. Humanist Theories
It began to grow in popularity during the 1950s. While earlier theories often focused
on abnormal behavior and psychological problems, humanist theories instead
emphasized the basic goodness of human beings. Some of the major humanist
theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. It includes Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs
5. Personality Theories
It looks at the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that make a person
unique.
6. Social Psychology Theories
It focused on helping us understand and explain social behavior. Social theories
are generally centered on specific social phenomena, including group behavior,
prosocial behavior, social influence, love and much more.
7. Learning Theories
Learning theories focus on how people learning and acquire new knowledge. This
is an interdisciplinary topic of interest that often draws upon information from
psychology, education, instructional design, and other areas.
D. Research Methods in Psychology
A wide range of research methods are used in psychology. These methods vary
by the sources of information that are drawn on, how that information is sampled, and the
types of instruments that are used in data collection. Methods also vary by whether they
collect qualitative data, quantitative data or both. Qualitative psychological research is
where the research findings are not arrived at by statistical or other quantitative
procedures. Quantitative psychological research is where the research findings result
from mathematical modelling and statistical estimation or statistical inference.
1. Correlational Research- refers to any of a broad class of statistical
relationships involving dependence.Familiar examples of dependent phenomena include
the correlation between the physical statures of parents and their offspring, and the
correlation between the demand for a product and its price.
2. Descriptive research- is used to describe characteristics of a population or
phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about how/when/why the
characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the "what" question (What are the
characteristics of the population or situation being studied?)
3. Experimental psychology research- refers to work done by those who apply
experimental methods to the study of behavior and the processes that underlie it.
Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a
great many topics, including, among others sensation & perception, memory, cognition,
learning, motivation, emotion; developmental processes, social psychology, and the
neural substrates of all of these.

3. 4. Other Research Methods in Psychology

Computer simulation (modelling)

Interview, can be structured or unstructured.

Survey, often with a random sample (see survey sampling)
II. Sociology
A. What is Sociology?
Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and
consequences of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups
organizations, and societies and how people interact within these contexts.
B. Some concepts found in Sociology

Society - humanly created organization or system of interrelationships that
connects individuals in a common culture.

Culture - sets of traditions, rules, symbols that shape and are enacted as feelings,
thoughts, and behaviours of groups of people.

Language - a system of verbal symbols through which humans communicate ideas,
feelings, experiences.

Values - preferences - ideas people share about what is good, bad, desirable,
undesirable.

Norms - concepts and behaviors that constitute the normal.

Beliefs - conceptions or ideas about the world and about human life that center on
the meaning of human experience or the character of the supernatural world.

Deviant Behavior - behavior falling outside the acceptable range according to
societal or group norms and values.

Social Organization - the arrangement of the parts that constitute society, the
organization of social positions and distribution of people within those positions.

Identity - combines the intimate or personal world with the collective space of
cultural forms and social relations.
C. Sociological Theories
1. Conflict Theory- claims that society is in a state of perpetual conflict and
competition for limited resources. It emphasizes the role of coercion and power in
producing social order.
2. Functionalism Theory- claims that society is in a state of balance and kept that
way through the function of society's component parts.
3. Symbolic Interactionism Theory- claims that society is composed of everpresent interactions among individuals who share symbols and their meanings.

4. 4. Social Exchange Theory- claims that society is composed of ever present
interactions among individuals who attempt to maximize rewards while minimizing
costs.
D. Research Methods

Survey - a research method in which subjects respond to a series of statements
or questions in a questionnaire or an interview.

Experiments - a research method for investigating cause and effect under
highly controlled conditions.

Participant Observations - Participant observation is a method by which
researchers systematically observe people while joining in their routine
activities. Participant observation research is descriptive and often exploratory.
It is normally qualitative research, inquiry based on subjective impressions.

Secondary Analysis- A research method in which a researcher utilizes data
collected by others.
III. Anthropology
A. Key Concepts in Anthropology
1.
Culture - behavior patterns, customary beliefs and intellectual faculties acquired by
people as members of a society
2.
Adaptation – process of obtaining knowledge and creating technology to adjust
to environmental conditions; it provides a selective advantage in the competition for
survival
3.
Integration – a view suggesting that all aspects of a culture are interconnected and
that knowing any cultural trait or institution involves knowing how it influences other
institutions, and vice versa.
4.
Human Universalism - a notion that all people today are fully and equally human.
5.
Function - Social institutions, behavior, cultural logic functions to satisfy human
needs
6.
Comparison - cross-cultural comparison & the comparative approach
7.
Structure - systems of relationships, organization, forms of associations,
standardized modes of behavior
B. Theories
1. Evolutionism - organisms are inherently bound to increase in complexity through
the process of evolution
2. Functionalism - the society as a complex system whose parts work together to
uphold unity and stability.
3. Configurationalism – the culture’s personality is supposed to pattern the
personalities of the members within that culture

5. 4. Neoevolutionism – discards some dogmas from the earlier theory of evolutionism
5. Cultural Materialism - human social life is a response to the practical problems of
earthly existence
6. Structuralism - cultures, viewed as systems, are analyzed in terms of the structural
relations among their elements
7. Practice Theory - theory of how social beings, with their distinct purpose, make and
transform the world in which they live
C. Research Methods
1. Field work – a method of learning and understanding by first-hand observation of
people and other primates since their complexity is difficult to learn through
laboratory experiments
2. Scientific method - This is the system now used in all sciences to objectively learn
about natural phenomena
IV.
Sources:
A. Psychology
1. Concepts
http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Social-sciences/Psychology/Key-concepts
2. Theories
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/u/psychology-theories.htm
3. Methods
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_psychological_research_methods
B. Sociology
1. Concepts
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-245j-power-interpersonalorganizational-and-global-dimensions-fall-2005/study-materials/basic_conc.pdf
2. Theories
http://freebooks.uvu.edu/SOC1010/index.php/03.html
http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociology101/tp/Major-Sociological-Frameworks.htm
3. Research Methods
https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0C
DoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.ccc.edu%2Faberger%2F201.04%2520Socio
logical%2520Research%2520Methods.ppt&ei=h9iIUqP2MLG8iAeLvYCoAw&usg=A
FQjCNF8uMZ-jf4OAN3bwJ1zfx_i1zoerg&sig2=LlMGi_MlrnfNjXV5_Xjxdg
C. Anthropology
1. Concepts
http://anthro.palomar.edu/intro/overview.htm
2. Theories
Appendix 1 A History of Theories in Anthropology
http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/dl/free/0078035023/886575/Appendix_1_A_History_of_Theories_In_A
nthropology.pdf
3. Methods
http://anthro.palomar.edu/intro/overview.htm