Human Sciences Part 2: Studying the human sciences, problems in human sciences, human sciences and change.

Human Sciences

Part 2:Studying the human sciences, problems in

human sciences, human sciences and change

The argument

• Is anthropology really a science? Defend your answer.

• Is economics really a science? Defend your answer.

See handout and discuss with others

Milgram’s Experiment1960s

Stanley Milgram experimented with authority and obedience and whether or not people would forego their morals and values if an authority figure instructed them to do so. What are the ethical ramifications of this experiment?

Studying the Human Sciences

What laws or rules should be applied to studies and experimentation in the human sciences? Think…

EthicsReliability

Stages of development (cognitive and emotional!)**Revisit pg. 265 of textbook (blue box)

Laws in Human Sciences

• Laws vs. Trends• Beware of Hasty Generalizations• Fluidity: things change over time—new

information…what do we do with it? • Paradigm shifts—can you think of examples?

What causes paradigm shifts in the human sciences?

*Revisit pg. 270 of text book

Revisit these ideas!

• Reductionism: pg. 274• Reductive Fallacy: pg. 275• Holism: pg. 275• Verstehen position: pg. 276

Measurement

• What areas or concepts in the HS can be measured easily? Which cannot?

• Active vs. passive listening

• Quantitative vs. qualitative

• Behaviorism

Assignment:

This takes place over 2 days. You may work in pairs.

Day 1: Pick a person at random (best if it’s a stranger) and observe one aspect of them. Choose something simple, like counting how many people they interact with in a given time period (lunch). Day 2: Tell this person that you will be observing them for a class. Inform them of exactly what you will be looking for.

In Class: Report out your findings.

Observer Effect

• Is it possible to have realistic observation?

• Habituation? Hidden Observer?

• Inside vs. outside methods of observation

• What about empathy and compassion? Can the observer remove his/her experience from observation? SHOULD he/she? (See R. Abel)

Announcements

• FULL DP: Load your EE onto Managebac asap for Ms. Cordell!

• Meet with EE Advisor by the 26th to go over your paper.

• IB Exam Registration: Please remind your IB teachers to hand them out! Due Oct. 15!

• Open House Monday Evening• TOK Due Dates Moved:– Paper Proposal Due Monday (9/23)– Global Issues Paper due next Wednesday (9/25)

Problems in the Human Sciences

• Ethnocentrism• “Mesh of interconnected and elaborate

variables.” It is difficult to change one variable while keeping the others the same

• People are not identical samples• People are independent thinkers• People respond to being tested—self-fullfilling

or defeating prophecy.

• Placebo effect• Fulfill researchers’ or their own expectations• “Humanity” of the data• Ethical implications and ramifications limit

possible experiments• Connotations of words and phrasing, language

barriers, influence of social situation on what people say

Problems continued

• Positive self-bias (remember your self-perception rankings)

• Preexisting prejudices• Indigenous knowledge systems• Genuine vs. disingenuous open-mindedness• The power of predictions• Hypotheticals vs. reality

BEWARE

• Fallacious conclusions• Hasty generalizations• Persuasive statistics• Ineffective sample groups (not randomized)• Flawed statistics• Baseline assumptions• Conspiracy theories

Human Sciences and Change

• How does time affect what we discover regarding the human sciences?

• Free will vs. determinism vs. fatalism…what do you think?

• How does regret fit into free will and determinism?

• What conclusions in the human sciences have we seen change over time?

• What human sciences knowledge issues does literature and art attempt to answer?

• How does knowing your Myers Briggs personality affect how you “TOK”?

• How does personal knowledge and collective knowledge ‘behave’ in the human sciences?

The ultimate Human Sciences Questions

• Why are we here?• Why do each of us understand humans

differently? • How do we draw conclusions about human

beings?

Recommend

• Freakonomics (book or film)• The Truman Show (film)• The Last Lecture (book or film)