Transcript Correlation - Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

SOC101Y
Introduction to Sociology
Professor Adam Green
Lecture #4
Socialization
3 Oct 12
(Lower case indicates sample; upper case indicates population.)
Probability of Being Stopped by the Police,
Toronto, by Race, Sex, and Age (n=1,257)
Probability
Which category
has the highest
probability of
being stopped? For
white and Asian
males and females,
what is the
association
between age/
education and the
probability of
being stopped? For
black males and
females, what is
the association
between age/
education and the
probability of
being stopped?
Correlation
 A variable is a concept that can have more
than one value.
 A correlation is the relationship or
association between two variables.
 The correlation coefficient (r) measures
the strength of the association between two
variables. Its value ranges from -1 to +1, with
-1 indicating a perfect negative linear
association, +1 indicating a perfect positive
linear association, and 0 indicating no
association.
Correlations
Variable y
60
Variable y
Variable y
60
60
r = .85
40
40
20
20
0
0
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
r=0
r = -.92
40
20
0
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
0
2
4
6
8
Variable x
1. Positive Correlation 2. Negative Correlation 3. No Correlation
Coincidence
 Events, including correlations, may be due to
coincidence.
 For example, you may toss a coin and get heads, and
then toss it again and get heads. The chance of this
happening is ½ x ½ = ½2 = ¼. Common sense
suggests that these successive events are likely just a
coincidence.
 However, if you tossed a coin 10 times and got all
heads, the chance of this happening is 1/210 =
1/1,024. This is a sufficiently rare event that we
suspect the event is not due to chance.
 We study statistics partly to know the chance that
events, including correlations, are likely to be real or
coincidental.
Spuriousness
 A correlation may also be spurious (or
phony) if it is preceded by the real cause
of the correlation.
Frequency of
stork sightings
Frequency of
stork sightings
Correlation
Correlation
Rurality
No correlation
Correlation
Fertility rate
Fertility rate
Statistics
 We must eliminate (or at least
sharply reduce) the chance of
coincidence and spuriousness
before we can conclude that a
correlation signifies a causal
relationship.
 Statistics teaches us how to do
these things.
Test #1 Locations
Surname Range
Abate-DiFonzo
Dijkema-Kim
Kinney-Levy
Li-Maris
Marques-Najmaddin
Nam-Pinosa
Plain-Sangha
Sankaranarayanan-Stojakovic
Strakhov-Verma
Vincelli-Zuccarelli-Pegoraro
Test Location
Examination Centre (EX) 100
Examination Centre (EX) 200
Examination Centre (EX) 300
Examination Centre (EX) 310
Examination Centre (EX) 320
Banting Institute (BI) 131
FitzGerald Bldg (FG) 103
Health Sciences (HS) 610
Koffler House (KP) 108
Leslie Dan Pharmacy Bldg (PB)
B150
Campus map: http://map.utoronto.ca/
Test #1
 The test begins 12:10, 19 October, but
arrive no later than 12:00 to find your room.
 The test comprises 50 multiple-choice
questions and lasts 75 minutes.
 Give your best answers.
 Fill in boxes completely with dark pencil.
 Test locations, structure and instructions:
see “Class Announcements” on course
website.
Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron
Socialization is the process of
learning culture and becoming
aware of yourself as you
interact with others.
Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory
1. The characteristics of members of each
species vary widely.
2. Species members with more adaptive
characteristics are more likely to survive
until reproduction.
3. Therefore, the species characteristics
that endure are those that increase the
survival chances of the species.
The Logic of Sociobiology
1. Identify a supposedly universal form of
human behaviour.
2. Make up a story about why this behaviour
increases survival chances.
3. Assert that the behaviour in question
cannot be changed.
Number of Sex Partners by
Respondent’s Sex, USA, 2002 (in
percent, n=2,237)
respondent’s sex
number of sex partners
male
0 or 1
79
90
more than 1
21
10
100
100
1,004
1,233
total
n
female
Number of Sex Partners by
Respondent’s Sex, USA, 2002,
Married People Only (in percent,
n=1,033)
respondent’s sex
number of sex partners
0 or 1
more than 1
total
n
male
95
5
100
499
female
99
1
100
534
4+/wk
2-3/mo
Never in
preceding year
Criticisms of Sociobiology
1. Many behaviours discussed by
sociobiologists are not universal and some are
not even that common.
2. It has never been verified that specific
behaviours and social arrangements are
associated with specific genes.
3. Variations among people are not due just to
their genes, but also to their environment and
random variation.
“It’s Human Nature”
“Nature, Mr Allnut, is what we are put in the
world to rise above.” -- Rose Sayer (Katherine
Hepburn) in The African Queen (1951)
Social Factors Underlying the
Emergence of Childhood,
Adolescence, and Young Adulthood
 Prolonged childhood, etc., was necessary
in societies that required better-educated
adults to do increasingly complex work
because childhood gave young people a
chance to prepare for adult life.
 Prolonged childhood, etc., was possible in
societies where improved hygiene and
nutrition allowed most people to live more
than 35 years.
Recent Influences on
Youth Socialization
 Declining adult supervision and
guidance.
 Increasing media and peer group
influence.
 Declining extracurricular activities.
 Increasing adult responsibilities.
 Changes in child-rearing practices.
Percent of American adults who say an
event is at least somewhat important to
being considered an adult, 2002 (in
percent; n=1,400)
Percent
Percent of American adults completing transition
to adulthood using traditional benchmarks
(leaving home, finishing school, getting married,
having a child, and being financially independent;
1960 and 2000, census data)
Reasons for Slower Transition to
Adulthood
 Less government assistance for
education and housing.
 More difficulty finding a secure, fulltime job, especially for those without
higher education because the
proportion of “precarious” jobs has
increased.
 More training necessary for some
jobs.
Resocialization
 Resocialization occurs when powerful
socializing agents deliberately cause rapid
change in people’s values, roles and selfconception, sometimes against their will.
 Initiation rites signify the transition of the
individual from one group to another and
insure his or her loyalty to the new group.
Often they involve a three-stage ceremony:
 rejection (separation from one’s old status and
identity);
 death (degradation, disorientation)
 rebirth (acceptance of the new group culture
and ones’ new status)
Private Lynndie England
at Abu Ghraib Prison
American Private
Lynndie England
became infamous when
photographs were
made public showing
her and other American
soldiers abusing Iraqi
prisoners in
contravention of
international law. “She’s
never been in trouble.
She’s not the person
that the photographs
point her out to be,”
said her childhood
friend, Destiny Gloin. As
in Zimbardo’s
experiment, she was
transformed by a
structure of power and
a culture of intimidation
that made the prisoners
seem subhuman.
The Stanford Prison Experiment Website
http://www.prisonexp.org/
Das Experiment (2001)