SSED 113 – Reviewer  Political Science - study of governance,

political activities and behavior

Chapter 1
Social Studies - is the integrated study of social
Science (scientia) "knowledge"
sciences and humanities to promote civic
Natural science - understanding of natural competence
phenomena based on empirical evidence from
Scope of Social Studies
observation. Two main branches: life & physical
science. Social studies as:

Formal science - includes mathematics, systems  citizen education

theory and theoretical computer science.
 skilled development
Applied science - application of existing scientific
 ecological studies
knowledge like technology or inventions.
 social science
Social science - academic discipline concerned
with society and the relationships of individual  cultural integration
within a society.
 a discipline
 it includes Anthropology, Economics,
 a dynamic education
Political Science, Psychology and
Sociology.  a relevant education
 it may include some fields in the
Humanities such as Archaeology,  education for living
History, Law and Linguistics. Importance of teaching Social Sciences in the
Positivist social scientists - use methods Philippines:
resembling those of the natural sciences as tools  build social understanding, civic efficacy,
for understanding society. critical thinking and instill character
Interpretivist social scientists - use social  understanding of their role as a citizen
critique or symbolic interpretation rather than
constructing theories.  helps students learn from the mistake of
their country and others
Scope of Social Sciences
 teaches fundamental concepts of
 Anthropology - study of humans culture, economics and political skills
 Geography - study of phenomena  teaches basic values, such as justice &
 Economics - study of production and equality
consumption Difference between Social Sciences and Social
 History - study of the past events Studies:

 Psychology - study of mind and behavior Intended purposes:

 Sociology - study of society and  Social Science - analyze society and

relationships social interactions of people
  Social Studies - study of an integrated
body of content from social sciences &
humanities
Orientation:
 Social Science - more stream oriented
 Social Studies - integrated study of social
sciences & humanity to promote
effective citizenry
Implications
 Social Science - utilizes the gathering and
analysis of the data
 Social Studies - observation of society
Curriculum
 Social Science - are taught under higher
studies curriculum
 Social Studies - most frequently taught
to school based students
Purpose
 Social Science - study the society and
social life of human
 Social Studies - study both social science
& humanities
Phases
 Social Studies - study of all phases of
society
 Social Science - studies with the
intention of solving problems
Fields
 Social Science - study of social life of
human groups
 Social Studies - broad study of various
fields
Branches/Categories
 Social Science - divided into many
branches
 Social Studies - two main categories of
humanities and social sciences
Time Origin
 Social Science - 18th century
 Social Studies - new term
Chapter 2
Philosophy – derived from the Greek words
“philia” (love) and “Sophia” (wisdom) and means
“the love of wisdom”.
Pythagoras – coined the word philosopher,
which he defined as one who is attempting to
find out
 According to him, men and women can
be classified into 3 groups:
1. Those that love pleasure
2. Those that love activity
3. Those that love wisdom
Philosophy – study of general and fundamental
problems, such as those connected with
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and
language.
 It is the rational attempt to formulate,
understand and answer fundamental
questions.
Nature of Philosophy
1. Philosophy is a set of views or beliefs
about life and the universe.
2. Philosophy is a process of reflecting on
and criticizing our most deeply held
conceptions and beliefs.
3. Philosophy is a rational attempt to look
at the world as a whole.
 4. Philosophy is the logical analysis of
language and the clarification of the
meaning of words and concepts.
5. Philosophy is a group of perennial
problems that interest people and for
which philosophers always sought
answers.
Importance of Philosophy
1. The study of Philosophy enables us to
think carefully and clearly about
important issues.
2. In studying philosophy, we learn to take
a step back from our everyday thinking
and explore the deeper, bigger question
which underpins our thought.
3. The focus in the study of philosophy is to
learn not what to believe but how to
think.
4. Studying philosophy sharpens your
analytical abilities, enabling you to
identify and evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses in any position.
5. It hones your ability to construct and
articulate cogent arguments of your
own.
6. It prompts you to work across
disciplinary boundaries and to think
flexibly and creatively about problems
which do not present immediate
solutions.
7. It also develops your ability to think and
work independently.
Branches of Philosophy
Logic – the systematic study of the rules for the
correct use of these supporting reasons, rules we
can use to distinguish good arguments from bad
ones.
Metaphysics – is concerned with such problems
as the relation of mind to matter, nature of
change, meaning of “freedom”, existence of God
and the belief in personal immortality.
Epistemology – comes from the Greek word
“episteme” meaning knowledge. It studies the
sources, nature and validity of knowledge.
 Rationalism – human alone can discover
the basic principles of the universe
 Empiricism – all knowledge is derived
from sense experience and that our
knowledge is limited to what can be
experienced
Value Theory – the branch of philosophy that
studies values. It can be subdivided into ethics,
aesthetics and social and political philosophy.
 Ethics – the conduct of individuals or
personal morality; the conduct of groups
or social morality and the culture
patterns of national and racial groups.
 Aesthetics – concerns the theory of art
and beauty. It is considered to be part of
the realm of values because many
philosophical problems in aesthetics
involve critical judgements.
 Social and political philosophy –
investigates value judgements
concerning society, the state and the
individual’s relation to these
institutions.
Chapter 3
History of Psychology
Psychology – comes from the Greek roots
“psyche” meaning soul or mind and “logos”
meaning word or study.
 It is the science of behavior and mental
processes
o Behavior – overt can be directly
observed, covert cannot be
directly observed
o Mental processes – internal
experiences such as sensations,
dreams, thoughts and feelings
Four Goals of Psychology
 To describe – what is happening?
 To explain – why is it happening?
 To predict – will it happen again?
 To control – how can it be changed?
387 B.C. – Plato believed in innate ideas, suggest
that the brain is the seat of mental processes
335 B.C. – Aristotle argued that the heart is the
seat of mental processes
430 B.C. – Hippocrates believed that mental
illness is caused by the four major bodily liquids
Rene Descartes (1649) – pineal gland as a seat of
the soul
John Locke – mind at birth is a blank state
Franz Gall – Phrenology; shape of a person’s
skulls reveals mental faculties and traits
Phineas Gage (1848) – suffers from brain
damage that alter his personality
Charles Darwin (1859) – on the Origin of Species
by means of Natural Selection
Francis Galton (1869) – Hereditary Genius
Wilhelm Wundt (1879) – first experimental
psych lab in Leipzig, Germany
Structuralism (Edward Titchener) – it is focus on
studying the building blocks/structure of the
mind
Introspection – careful, systematic observations
of one’s own conscious experience
Functionalism: William James (1890) – claimed
that searching for building blocks was a waste of
time because brain and mind are constantly
changing.
Psychoanalytic Approach (1900) – this school of
thought emphasized the influence of the
unconscious mind and childhood experiences on
behavior.
Psychoanalysis – Freud’s method for treating
people with emotional problems
Classical Conditioning (1905) – Ivan Pavlov used
the conditioning of dogs to show that behavior is
learned.
Gestalt psychology (1912) – “the whole is
different from the sum of its parts”.
Behaviorism (1913) – it is focused on observable
behavior
Humanistic approach – Abraham Maslow and
Carl Rogers
Human Potential: Everyone is striving to reach
their highest potential
Branches of Psychology
1. Abnormal psychology – focuses on
unusual patterns of behavior.
2. Behavioral psychology – sees our
behaviors as being acquired through
conditioning.
3. Biopsychology – analyzes how the brain,
nervous system and other aspects of our
biology influence who we are.
4. Clinical psychology – deals with the
diagnosis, assessment and treatment of
mental illness for individuals.
5. Cognitive psychology – focuses on
mental processes such as perception,
thinking, learning and memory.
6. Comparative psychology – studies
similarities and differences among living
beings.
7. Cross-cultural psychology – analyzes
human behavior through the lens of
culture.
8. Developmental psychology – analyzes
human behavior over the course of
people’s lives.
9. Educational psychology – the study of
how individuals learn in school and other
settings.
 10. Experimental psychology – utilizes
scientific methods to research the brain
and behavior.
11. Forensic psychology – combines the
practice of psychology with the legal
system and law.
12. Industrial psychology – studies human
behavior in organizations and
workplace.
13. Personality psychology – studies
personality and its variations among
individuals.
14. Quantitative psychology – develops the
methods and techniques used to
measure human behavior and other
attributes.
15. Social psychology – analyzes how
people’s thoughts, feelings and
behaviors are influenced by the actual,
imagined or implied presence of others.
16. Sport psychology – involves the study of
how psychological components affect
factors related to physical activities such
as motivation, persistence and so on.
Educational Psychology - defined as that branch
of psychology that is concerned with the study of
the mental processes and behaviors associated
with human learning and instruction.
 Educational psychologists study a wide
range of phenomena associated with
learning, both in the laboratory and in
the classroom.
 When educational psychologists ask
questions about learning, they apply the
methods of science, careful observation,
and rational analysis to answer their
questions.
Chapter 4
Economics – study of how individuals and
societies make decisions about ways to use
scarce resources to fulfill wants and needs.
Macroeconomics – choices made by large
groups (like countries)
Microeconomics – how do individuals make
economic decisions
Five Economic Questions:
 What to produce? (make)
 How much to produce? (quantity)
 How to produce it? (manufacture)
 For whom to produce? (who gets what)
 Who gets to make these decisions?
Resources – the things used to make other goods
Fundamental problem: Scarcity
 “unlimited wants and needs but limited
resources”
 Because all resources, goods, and
services are limited – We must make
choices
 We make choices about how we spend
money, time, and energy so we can fulfill
our needs and wants.
Needs – stuff that we must have to survive such
as food, shelter and clothing
Wants – stuff that we really like to have such as
fancy foods, big screen TVs, jewelry,
conveniences or also known as luxuries
Trade-offs – decisions that involve picking one
thing over all the other possibilities
Opportunity cost – when you choose to do one
thing, its value is measured by the value of the
next best choice
Production – how much stuff an individual,
business, country and even the world makes
  Stuff – goods and services
 Goods – tangible products we can buy
 Services – work that is performed for
others
Four Factors of Production:
1. Land – natural resources
 Water, natural gas, oil, trees
2. Labor – physical and intellectual
 manpower
3. Capital – tools, machinery, factories
 The things we use to make
things
 Human capital is brainpower,
ideas, innovation
4. Entrepreneurship – investment
 Investing time, natural
resources, labor and capital are
all risks associated with
production
Three parts of the Production Process:
1. Factors of Production – what we need to
make goods and services
2. Producer – company that makes goods
and delivers services
3. Consumer – people who buy goods and
services
Land, Labor, Capital,
Entrepreneurship
Production/
Manufacturing
Goods and
Services
Consumers
Capital goods – used to make other goods
Consumer goods – final products that are
purchased directly by the consumer
Changes in Production:
Specialization – dividing up production so that
goods are produced efficiently
Division of Labor – different people perform
different jobs to achieve greater efficiency
Consumption – how much we buy (Consumer
Sovereignty)
 If we increase land, labor and
capital, we increase production
 If we decrease land, labor and
capital, we decrease production
Gross Domestic Product – a measure of the
production of an entire country in one year
 the total peso value of all final goods and
services produces in a country per year
Cost – the total amount of money it takes to
produce an item
Revenues – the total amount of money a
company or government takes in
Fixed costs – the amount of money a business
must pay each month or year (like rent and
capital expenses)
Variable costs – the amount of money a business
pays that changes over time (labor and raw
materials)
Total costs = fixed + variable costs
Marginal costs – the additional cost of the next
unit produced
Profit – the difference between total costs and
revenues
 profit = revenues – total cost
 profit motive – to make money
Cost Benefit Analysis – weighing the marginal
costs vs. marginal benefits of producing an item
or making any economic decision
Traditional Economies
 Def: Economic questions answered by
customs
 Predominately agricultural
 Developing or 3rd world
 Trade and barter oriented
 Low GDP & PCI (average income)
Command Economies
 Def: Economic questions answered by
the government
 Very little economic choice
 No private ownership
 Communism
 Old Soviet Union, old Communist China,
Cuba and North Korea
Karl Marx – 19th century German economist
 Author of “Communist Manifesto” and
“Das Kapital” – government should
control economy and distribute goods
and services to the people
 Founder of revolutionary socialism and
communism
Communism Falls
 Market reforms in China in the mid-
1970s
 Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
 Collapse of the Soviet Union 1991
 Free Market Capitalism (with some
mixed economies) the only show in town
Free Market (Capitalist) Economies
 Economic questions answered by
producers and consumers
 Limited government involvement
 Private property rights
 Wide variety of choices and products
 US, Japan
Adam Smith – 18th century Scottish economist
 Published “The Wealth of Nations” in
1776
 Explained the workings of the free
market within capitalist economies
 Invisible hand of the market
 Laissez-faire – government stays out of
business practices “hands off” to let the
marketplace determine production,
consumption and distribution
 Individual freedom and choice
emphasized
Principles of Capitalism
 Competition – more businesses means
lower prices and higher quality products
for consumers to buy.
 Voluntary Exchange – businesses and
consumers must be free to buy or sell
what and when they want.
 Private Property – individuals and
businesses must be able to get the
benefits of owning their own property.
Government doesn’t control it.
 Consumer Sovereignty – consumers get
to make free choices about what to buy
and this helps drive production (demand
drives supply).
 Profit Motive – people want to make or
save money. Their “self-interest”
motivates capitalism.
 Social Safety Net – “mixed economy”
idea that says the government should
not allow people to suffer in economic
crisis but provide security instead –
Social Security, Unemployment,
Insurance, etc.
Mixed Economy/Socialism
 Government involvement and
ownership and control of property,
decision making and companies
 Government control of business
  Social “safety net” for people Labor Unions – organization of workers who
 Socialism have banded together to achieve common goals
 Common in Europe, Latin America and
 Wage protection
Africa
 Workplace safety
John Maynard Keynes – the invisible hand  Benefits
doesn’t always work  Job protection

 Government should intervene in Collective Bargaining – representatives of the

economic emergencies through tax and union and the company negotiate a contract for
spending (Fiscal Policy) and changing the the workers; usually they rely on compromise
money supply (Monetary Policy)
Strikes – when an agreement can’t be reached,
 This is done to smooth out the business
workers stop working to try to force the hand of
cycle (expansion and recession) and
the company
keep inflation low

Labor

Wages – what companies pay employees for

their labor, usually based upon an hourly rate

 Blue collar
 Manufacturing, work with hands
 Usually the ‘labor’ in production

Salary – the amount of pay a person gets over a

year especially for professional jobs

 White collar
 Office jobs
 Usually control production

When Production Decreases

 Downsizing – laying off employees to

save costs
 Outsourcing – sending jobs and
manufacturing overseas or contracting
to outside companies to save money
 Bankruptcy – government allows
business to restructure its debt, but now
all profits go to paying off debt rather
than to the owners/investors
 Out of Business – lose all your business,
money and profits