Psychology vs. Sociology?

Question

Psychology: the study of the human mind

Sociology: the study of society

Anthropology: the study of cultures

I want to take one of these classes next semester, but they all sound the same to me. What I really want to study is understanding how people react or behave towards certain things and how to approach them.

Well, it's not like I want to manipulate people's minds, but I just want to understand them so that I can influence them positively. For example, if a person is angry, what can I do to calm them down? Or if I am a salesperson, how can I get a customer to buy something. Stuff like that, you know?

Which class should I take?

Answer 1

I really don't think you'll find that kind of info in any of these classes.  But if you want to know about individuals, I think that psychology is your best bet.  Anthropology and Sociology concentrate more on people as a group.

Answer 2

I recommend psychology. There's a lot of overlap between the three subjects, but psychology is the most focused on the individual, while sociology and anthropology look a lot at humans within groups and cultures. Sounds like, based on your examples, that you want to know more about the reasons by people's individual behavior, so I recommend psychology for you.

Answer 3

psychology. u learn a lot about how people's minds work and why they act the way they do. with that knowledge, u can learn how to approach different kinds of people and talk to them in a way that will get through to them.

Answer 4

Easy way to think of it is:

Psychology is the study of individuals

Sociology is the study of groups

Anthropology is the study of groups over time

Answer 5

In order, I would rank the psych class as most important for your goals, then the soc. class.  The anthropology class would probably be least effective for what you want to do.

Answer 6

Psychology. I took both psychology and sociology and I was able to pay attention in psychology. Sociology is ok too but it just wasn't as interesting.

Answer 7

psychology..studying ppl on a more individual level...vs studying them as groups

Answer 8

You should prob. take psychology if you want to learn how to deal with how individuals think (which it sounds like you do!).

Take sociology to learn more about the problems within a culture - and hopefully how to correct them.

Take anthropology to learn about exotic / indigenous cultures, or ancient cultures.

Answer 9

Psychology all the way

Answer 10

Which are you more interested in? The study of people as individuals or the study of people in groups? They are both really interesting. You should try both. They both study "how people react or behave towards certain things". There's Social Psychology, too. It's sociology in the psychology area. It all comes down to what you like best.