The Core - Behavioral and Social Sciences
The mission of the behavioral and social science core is to engage students actively in scientific approaches to the understanding of both individual and social behavior, so that they can better understand the world in which they live. While unique in their discipline-specific approaches, the behavioral and social sciences - Anthropology, Economics, Politics, Psychology, and Sociology - are based on knowledge of behavior that is collected through systematic observation and subject to empirical verification.
Students of these sciences are presented with alternative paradigms of behavior. They are challenged to think in new ways to understand and solve the problems of individuals and societies. Through their study of the behavioral and social sciences, students will:
- Develop an understanding of alternative models of individual and social behavior
- Develop the ability to interpret a variety of forms of empirical data
- Be able to address behavioral and social science issues in a systematic fashion and use discipline-specific tools to formulate and test solutions to problems