Class 2' Soc' ScienceDisciplines

1
Class 2. Soc. Science/Disciplines

• D. Propst

1/19/98
2
Introduction

• Personal info. forms for the new folks
• Questions about syllabus
• Reading Team assignments
• Introduce Nicole Higgason
• Purpose Today
• Understand social science disciplinary
  perspectives of leisure behavior
• 3 Tools of social science

3
Topics of Discussion

• What is social?
• What is science?
• How do social scientists think?
• What are the various disciplinary perspectives of
  recreation behavior?
• What are the 3 tools of social science?
• How to use course website?

4
Topic One Review

• Shoe overhead (outcome or behavior? P? E?)
• Questions from readings

5
Topic two Social

• Mannell reading critical -- Person/Environment
  Interactions (S-O-R, pp. 22-23 in Mannell)
• Recreation Experience people participating in
  activities in particular environments
• People part -- demographics, individual
  states/traits, group, culture, economic,
  geographic/spatial
• Interdisciplinary

6
Topic Three Science

• Mannell reading scientific method (steps), cause
  effect, dependent independent variables (is
  there a relationship?)
• Steps in the scientific method
• Most important statement of the problem
• To start what do I hope to learn or
  accomplish?
• First part of leis. behavior observation plan due
  Feb. 18
• Hypotheses as to cause of problem
• Experiments designed to test hypotheses
• Predicted results of experiments
• Observed results of experiments
• Conclusions from results of experiments
• Pink handout assignment--answer questions at
  bottom

7
Other ways to understand the world

• Faith and reason (common sense)
• Tradition and authority
• Inherent human biases to create order where none
  exists (Gilovich)
• Science
• conscious and careful
• based on logic and observation
• apply judgments after the facts are known, not
  before
• not value free, but ..

8
Social scientists

• are curious
• avoid jumping to conclusions, over-generalizing,
  reasoning illogically
• use logic and observation via the scientific
  method
• apply knowledge to solve social problems
• much of how we think depends on our disciplinary
  background (handout)

9
Disciplinary Perspectives of Rec. Behavior

• Behavior a function of --
• Psychology--individual traits the situation
  Bf(P, E)
• Economics--market forces
• Geography--space, mobility
• Sociology--groups institutions
• Anthropology--culture

10
Psychology--individual traits

• overt behavior, cognition affect
  (feelings/emotions)
• tries to explain observable behavior (overt)
  its relation to
• unseen mental processes (covert) and
• external environmental events (the situation)
• situation-organism-response approach (S-O-R)

11
Economics--market forces

• Some Basic questions
• How should scarce resources be allocated?
• free market system laws of supply demand
• What are the costs benefits of our choices?
• Who gains who loses?

12
Geography--space, mobility

• Systematic study of patterns processes on the
  landscape
• People are here resources there--people move
  through space to the resources
• accessibility
• mobility
• substitutes
• distance

13
Sociology--groups institutions

• Understanding society in a systematic way
• Socialinteractions between people in
  environments
• Basic questions
• what are people doing with each other?
• what are their relationships with each other?
• what are their relationships to institutions?
• what are the collective ideas that motivate
  people institutions?

14
Anthropology--culture

• Focus on entire cultures
• Two questions pertinent to this field
• what is the role of leisure recreation in the
  development maintenance of human culture?
• what impact does tourism have on cultures?

15
3 Tools of Soc. Science

• Models (e.g., course model)
• Theories
• Observation

16
Next Steps

• Wednesday
• sit with your reading group
• exchange read someone elses
• make comment, initial date
• Logbook entries due at beginning of class only
• Pink handout exercise due