Brief summary of social science

About

The human mind is a complex organ. We don’t know how does it fully work, at least not just yet. Yet, we use it every day, at least that’s true for most of us. Our mind is what makes us who we are.

Like in how it has always been in physics, we don’t need to understand a certain phenomenon to build technologies out of it. The light bulb was invented before we knew what makes up light. The invention, however, wouldn’t have seen light (given light?) without all the previous empirical and experimental works that came first.

So, to hack our brains, we need tools.

A lot of us, including me, might tend to think that social science and psychology are only for those who are mentally or socially disordered. For example, consequences of some distressing events, e.g. wars, might cause psychological trauma or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In both cases, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has clinically demonstrated to be an effective tool to tackle such mental issues. Or, socially anxious children or young adults find it helpful to speak to a psychologist to point out the source of their anxiety to help them reduce their effect. Although social science and psychology help those who are in need, there’s an entire side of social science and psychology that helps us enhance our mental state.

Social science and psychology are the tools to scientifically probe our mystery minds without the need to really understand how fully does a mind work. Basically, social science and psychology have been trying to elevate our thinking by showing us that the exact opposite of what we thought was true or common sense. Angela Duckworth, a renowned psychologist at University of Pennsylvania, and her colleagues have been demonstrating that it’s not how smarter you are but how grittier you are for you to become a world-class expert in what you are passionate about, e.g. becoming Olympic medalist. Being familiar with such a concept is not only useful for the individual who to apply it to his/her daily life, but also helpful to children because it teaches them that the sky’s the limit.

If you don’t have the time to go through such wonderful literature and read lengthy and technical papers, worry not, this website squeezes the most interesting literature and delivers it in a simple and digestible way. Basically, as you might have guessed by now, this website, Brief Summary of Social Science (BSSS), is meant to summarize the most intriguing recent literature in social science, psychology, and education about topics you most probably haven’t thought of. You should expect a new summary every one to two months.

Disclaimer

Please note that I am NOT an expert in social science or psychology. I’m just an enthusiast about the subject. Also, any personal opinions presented on this website are NOT to be taken as the absolute truth. In short, I take no reasonability in how you choose to use the content of this website.