Introduction to Sociology versus Social Psychology

[Dandine]

I'm currently in need of an extra social science course, and I'm between either taking Introduction to Sociology or Social Psychology. Anyone want to persuade me to take a certain one?

Personally I have a bias towards one of them given my own interests, but I'm willing to listen to anyone's case for one or the other. If you've somehow taken both, which one did you prefer and why? Or (sorry, but I have to ask!) is there a huge difference between taking one or the other?

Appreciate any feedback!

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[SN12357]

I'm currently in need of an extra social science course, and I'm between either taking Introduction to Sociology or Social Psychology. Anyone want to persuade me to take a certain one?

Personally I have a bias towards one of them given my own interests, but I'm willing to listen to anyone's case for one or the other. If you've somehow taken both, which one did you prefer and why? Or (sorry, but I have to ask!) is there a huge difference between taking one or the other?

Appreciate any feedback!

Take the one with the better instructor.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Soc/Psych double major here. The big difference when I was in school was: do you want to do more writing? Go for Sociology. Want standard multiple choice course? Do psych. If politics matters to you, you'll get to read a lot of Marx and Weber in a sociology course.

 

[Dandine]

Bonus round: what about Economics? Have a friend who has taken both micro and macro, so I have some perspective there, but feel free to make a case for econ as well.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Bonus round: what about Economics? Have a friend who has taken both micro and macro, so I have some perspective there, but feel free to make a case for econ as well.

I never took an economics class. I wish I had. What I can tell you is that sociologists HATE economists.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I'm currently in need of an extra social science course, and I'm between either taking Introduction to Sociology or Social Psychology. Anyone want to persuade me to take a certain one?

Personally I have a bias towards one of them given my own interests, but I'm willing to listen to anyone's case for one or the other. If you've somehow taken both, which one did you prefer and why? Or (sorry, but I have to ask!) is there a huge difference between taking one or the other?

Appreciate any feedback!

I took sociology and it was honestly one of the most interesting classes because of the public health emphasis my course had. So maybe take that

 

[deleted407021]

I never took an economics class. I wish I had. What I can tell you it's that sociologists HATE economists.

And visa versa. OP, I suggest you take the psych course for no particular reason aside from the fact that I'm a psych major.
Economics was fun.

 

[music2doc]

Social Psych is a very interesting subdiscipline of psych. I would take that if the professor is good. They really are studying entirely different things:

Sociology studies social dynamics on a macro level, so you'll be dealing with large group dynamics (i.e., populations, communities).
Social psych deals with interpersonal dynamics on a micro/interpersonal level (i.e., 1-on-1 and small group/team/classroom/etc. dynamics).

Some of the principles do overlap, but all-in-all, they are really very different disciplines. You could say it's like comparing clinical nursing and public health. The only real similarity is that they both deal with human health. Otherwise, they are pretty far on opposite sides of a spectrum (although nursing is probably a bit closer to public health in its emphasis than is medicine, just like social psych is closer to sociology than is clinical psych).

In terms of your medical career, I would say:

• If you have an interest in public health; international, rural, or inner city (i.e., underserved) populations; or want something that otherwise complements your non-clinical background in medicine (e.g., medical/patient advocacy on a political/systems level), do sociology.
• If you want something that will complement your clinical work very well and help you better understand your patients as well as team dynamics within your hospital, do social psych.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

Sociology. I preferred this one because it really broke down the demographics of different populations. I think this would be helpful later on in life in dealing with people of different socio-cultural backgrounds. Psych was eh, id, ego, superego, how a person thinks etc. But if you do have an option for Social Psych, then that's a mix of both, and I think that would be a good idea.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Sociology. I preferred this one because it really broke down the demographics of different populations. I think this would be helpful later on in life in dealing with people of different socio-cultural backgrounds. Psych was eh, id, ego, superego, how a person thinks etc. But if you do have an option for Social Psych, then that's a mix of both, and I think that would be a good idea.

It's a big misconception that you get a mix of both in Social Psychology. Psychology will teach you about the effects of the individual on the situation, whereas sociology teaches you how the environment affects you as a person. The only field of psychology that approximates this is environmental psychology, but they take a more evolutionary approach and a lot of research is in mice.