Division IV - Foundations of Social Science
Students should be able to:
1. Recognize and understand the principles of the scientific method as it applies to the social sciences and the study of the social universe
2. Comprehend commonalities and differences among various social science disciplines
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of social science theories and perspectives in investigating and explaining social phenomena
4. Distinguish between knowledge supported by social science scholarship and “common sense” assumptions and similar forms of “conventional wisdom”
5. Express an understanding of one’s place in society’s culture, history, and political and economic systems.
1. Recognize and understand the principles of the scientific method as it applies to the social sciences and the study of the social universe
2. Comprehend commonalities and differences among various social science disciplines
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of social science theories and perspectives in investigating and explaining social phenomena
4. Distinguish between knowledge supported by social science scholarship and “common sense” assumptions and similar forms of “conventional wisdom”
5. Express an understanding of one’s place in society’s culture, history, and political and economic systems.
EC101 Introduction to Economics - A survey of the basic principles of economics with an emphasis on their applications to current issues and/or historical events. Major economic structures like the banking system, government and global exchange are discussed. Supply and demand forces and their impact on these structures are addressed.
Within this lecture based course we had bi-weekly quizzes and two exams. Attached is an extra credit assignment I completed to help study for the final exam.
HON 211 The Social Sciences: Psychology of Emotions
This course first pondered "what is an emotion?" through a variety of readings from notable philosophers and psychologists including but not limited to: James, Baumeister, Darms, Jacobson, Prinz, and Robinson. For our mid-term paper we had to explain what we felt an emotion was and research evidence to back our opinion up. I chose to defend one of the earliest solutions: The James-Lange Theory which proposes that emotions are simply the brains way of interpreting the chemical signals your body creates in reaction to stimuli (ie. Feelings). Along with writing the paper we created a paper poster to present our ideas to classmates and other faculty.
For the second half of class we explored various emotional anomalies including humor, apathy, extreme empathy, emotional objects and moral dilemmas. I chose to explore Robinson's studies on music and emotion and focus my final paper on how instrumental music can evoke powerful emotions when it has no apparent emotional object (something to relate to such as words, visuals, situations). We created a paper poster for this project as well and once more were asked to defend our position during an informal poster session involving other students and faculty.
Within this lecture based course we had bi-weekly quizzes and two exams. Attached is an extra credit assignment I completed to help study for the final exam.
HON 211 The Social Sciences: Psychology of Emotions
This course first pondered "what is an emotion?" through a variety of readings from notable philosophers and psychologists including but not limited to: James, Baumeister, Darms, Jacobson, Prinz, and Robinson. For our mid-term paper we had to explain what we felt an emotion was and research evidence to back our opinion up. I chose to defend one of the earliest solutions: The James-Lange Theory which proposes that emotions are simply the brains way of interpreting the chemical signals your body creates in reaction to stimuli (ie. Feelings). Along with writing the paper we created a paper poster to present our ideas to classmates and other faculty.
For the second half of class we explored various emotional anomalies including humor, apathy, extreme empathy, emotional objects and moral dilemmas. I chose to explore Robinson's studies on music and emotion and focus my final paper on how instrumental music can evoke powerful emotions when it has no apparent emotional object (something to relate to such as words, visuals, situations). We created a paper poster for this project as well and once more were asked to defend our position during an informal poster session involving other students and faculty.