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Social Sciences Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
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Social Sciences Trivia

Social Sciences Trivia Quizzes

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Pique your grey matter with these sciences dealing with our relationships in and to society.......
30 Social Sciences quizzes and 420 Social Sciences trivia questions.
Sub-Categories:
Anthropology Anthropology (9 quizzes)
Sociology Sociology (4)
1.
  Social Sciences 101   popular trivia quiz  
Fun Fill-It
 15 Qns
The term social sciences refers to the application of scientific techniques to the study of human interactions. This brief overview of the various fields of study may help confirm your interest in the area.
Average, 15 Qns, looney_tunes, Aug 11 24
Average
looney_tunes editor
Aug 11 24
114 plays
2.
  How Adults Learn   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Have you ever thought about going back to college as an adult? Here's what you should know about adult learning.
Average, 10 Qns, pagiedamon, May 04 24
Average
pagiedamon gold member
May 04 24
6659 plays
3.
  Criminal Anthropology   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
This quiz looks at some of the biological and physiological theories on criminology, from well in the past until more recently. Most information comes from "Deviance and Social Control", by Linda B. Deutschmann.
Tough, 15 Qns, guitargoddess, Mar 18 08
Tough
guitargoddess gold member
5535 plays
4.
  Are You Being Logical or Emotional?    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz will cover two of the main triggers for your behavior: logic and emotion and is based on theories by Wayne Dyer, Don Miguel Ruiz, and Elizabeth Claire Prophet.
Average, 10 Qns, superferd, Aug 31 19
Average
superferd
Aug 31 19
12634 plays
5.
  Social Science Questions    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is on basics of social sciences. Good luck!
Average, 10 Qns, Lanire, May 29 22
Average
Lanire
May 29 22
13968 plays
6.
  Governments, Economic Systems, and Cows   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Since the 1930's, various parodies have circulated about instructors' attempts to use analogies to explain the world's economic systems and governments. Typically these jokes relied on cows. How many answers can you deduce?
Average, 10 Qns, alaspooryoric, Jun 10 22
Average
alaspooryoric gold member
Jun 10 22
2226 plays
7.
  Lots of 'Isms'   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
'Isms' in my opinion are good....after all, if we didn't have '-isms', what would we name all these movements?
Difficult, 10 Qns, thejazzkickazz, Jun 12 22
Difficult
thejazzkickazz gold member
Jun 12 22
10360 plays
8.
  Genealogy 101   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
You've heard about family trees, right? How much do you know about the science of genealogy?
Average, 10 Qns, Eolena, May 04 24
Average
Eolena
May 04 24
5166 plays
9.
  Art of Work    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Answer these questions about the use of Arts and Humanities to heal and reform.
Average, 10 Qns, Godwit, Sep 21 23
Average
Godwit gold member
Sep 21 23
1340 plays
10.
  International Relations Theory    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A quick look at the theories of international relations. Match the description to the correct theory.
Tough, 10 Qns, Portobello, Jan 06 20
Tough
Portobello
Jan 06 20
2651 plays
trivia question Quick Question
In socially advanced hospital wards, premature babies listen to professionals do what, so the babies won't "fret"?

From Quiz "Art of Work"




11.
  A Paper on Motivation    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Over the years, psychologists have tried to explain 'motivation' using a lot of theories. Some of the more important ones...
Average, 10 Qns, ace_sodium, Jun 10 22
Average
ace_sodium
Jun 10 22
2866 plays
12.
  Assailing the Dream: U.S. Social Critics   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
For a nation perceived by much of the rest of the world as insufferably self-satisfied and smug, we Yanks have turned out a fair number of cynical and interesting social critics.
Difficult, 10 Qns, coolupway, Jun 06 14
Difficult
coolupway
3638 plays
13.
  Classic International Relations    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
International Relations has a long history and this quiz is about some of the major events, people, and ideas.
Average, 10 Qns, mcdede, Dec 31 14
Average
mcdede
2962 plays
14.
  Approaches to Organizational Behaviour    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz will deal with the major theories and research methods of organizational behaviour. Information was verified by "Organizational Behaviour: Managing People and Organizations" (Moorhead & Griffin).
Average, 10 Qns, InflectionPt, Dec 22 22
Average
InflectionPt
Dec 22 22
2194 plays
15.
  The Joys of Criminal Science    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Just a few questions the wonderful world of criminology.
Difficult, 10 Qns, sr337, May 13 22
Difficult
sr337
May 13 22
7305 plays
16.
  Organizational Behavior    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Organizational behavior is the study of individualistic and group behavior in organizations. This quiz will briefly touch on some of the main points of OB. Have fun!
Average, 10 Qns, jaredrrt, May 11 19
Average
jaredrrt
May 11 19
3461 plays
17.
  Social Theorists of the 19th and 20th Centuries    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the way we think about the world around us was revolutionized by great thinkers. Some of these are well known; others are more obscure: here is a quiz about their theories, works and lives.
Average, 10 Qns, lola0177, Jun 27 22
Average
lola0177
Jun 27 22
1629 plays

Social Sciences Trivia Questions

1. Adult students tend to have certain similarities. For example, they are usually independent. What is NOT typically true of adult learners?

From Quiz
How Adults Learn

Answer: They are confident about being in school

According to Malcolm Knowles, andragogy theorist, adult students tend to be "self-directed", though they appreciate assistance from instructors. They typically have rich life experiences and have worked in the public or private sector for a number of years. Due to their hands-on experiences, they have a lot to offer in an educational setting. Also, they usually return to college to meet personal goals. While they may enjoy learning for its own merit, few have the luxury to pay for classes just because the subject is interesting. While many of them have been successful in their professional lives, and are highly intelligent, most adult learners are not confident when they first return to school. They may feel that they are too old or too out of touch with current educational practices--especially in the area of technology. (Stephen Lieb, 1991).

2. Which international relations theory holds that states are unitary, rational actors driven to maximize their power and utility in an anarchic world, and that the nature of states comes from human nature?

From Quiz International Relations Theory

Answer: Classical Realism

Realism came to dominance in the post World War II period as a response to the failure of classical liberalism and idealism to predict or prevent World War II. The term 'Machtpolitik' (German for 'power politics') is more or less a synonym of realism. Hans Morgenthau is considered the father of classical realism. A common term in international relations is the 'black box,' which is one way of referring to the state as a unitary actor. That is, its internal characteristics are irrelevant when analyzing its international behavior. This is one of the core ideas of realism, whether classical or one of the more modern variants.

3. Scientific management was one of the first approaches to the study of management. Who is most closely identified with scientific management?

From Quiz Approaches to Organizational Behaviour

Answer: Frederick Taylor

Abraham Maslow and Carl Jung are both psychologists (Maslow contributed some valuable theories to a later stage of management studies), and Henry Mintzberg is a Canadian scholar of organization design. Frederick Taylor wrote the book "Principles of Scientific Management", and is considered the key player in the development of scientific management.

4. Who wrote the famous article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct?"

From Quiz Classic International Relations

Answer: George Kennan

Kennan wrote the famous article signed X. He looked at the history of Russia and applied it to the tenets of Lenin. Kennan advocated "patient but firm and vigilant containment."

5. One of the most important theories (according to many experts) is Abraham Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs' theory. He categorised needs into various components; how many?

From Quiz A Paper on Motivation

Answer: 5

The five needs a man has (1) Physiological (2) Safety & Security (3) Social (4) Esteem and (5) Self-Actualisation. These needs are arranged on the basis of priority i.e. an individual would need to meet his Physiological needs before he went to his Security need etc. ("A Theory of Human Motivation", Psychological Review Vol 50, No 4, July 1943.)

6. In a hilarious essay entitled "An Intellectual Experiment," who skewered intelligentsia and lowbrows alike by reading an issue of the "New York Review of Books," watching network television, and then comparing these two cultural undertakings?

From Quiz Assailing the Dream: U.S. Social Critics

Answer: P. J. O'Rourke

Gleaned by O'Rourke from NYRB: "Colette was a self-obsessed ratchet-jaw"... "Berlioz's music either stinks or it doesn't."... "Communism is bad when Russians have anything to do with it." Gleaned from TV: "Meat comes from dead animals"... "Small-town folks are behind the times"... "It's fun to trick others." O'Rourke concludes by hypothesizing in part that "Intelligence is, in this case, slightly preferable to stupidity, because it is, well, more intelligent."

7. What is the social science that deals with the behaviour and thinking of living organisms?

From Quiz Social Science Questions

Answer: Psychology

Sociology is the study of human groups or societies and the way the individuals relate to and are influenced by these groups. Anthropology studies the physical and cultural origins of humankind. Paleontology is considered an Earth science rather than a social science.

8. What 'ism' was founded in the 1920s by the 'Vienna Circle'?

From Quiz Lots of 'Isms'

Answer: Logical Positivism

Founded by M. Schlick, this little group of philosophers proposed that only those statements that could be proved through logic and/or mathematics were of meaning, which ruled out such things as religion and ethics. Needless to say, their movement died out after a couple of decades...people need illogic in their lives!

9. This beautiful animal has helped heal human beings since ancient times. Which arts are at work when disabled or troubled people groom and ride upon horses?

From Quiz Art of Work

Answer: Movement

Called "equine therapy", grooming or riding horses helps disabled or troubled human beings, as it has since ancient Greece. Those with physical challenges gain strength, balance and confidence as they practice rehabilitation movements, called hippotherapy. Movement therapy is based in humanities research which shows that specific kinds of movement heal not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well.

10. Famous for such often misinterpreted notions as the the "Superman" and such statements as "God is dead," who is the author of such well-known works as "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and "The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music?"

From Quiz Social Theorists of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

The contemporary of, and often influenced by, such thinkers as Wagner and Freud, Nietzsche (1844-1900) did much to introduce moral relativism and psychological uncertainty to modern philosophical thought.

11. When are adult learners most likely to become interested in and enthusiastic about a college class?

From Quiz How Adults Learn

Answer: When they are allowed to discuss their life experiences

Adult learners prefer to participate in class, as opposed to listening to lectures. They want to share the vast store of knowledge they have accumulated over the years. Once they realize that their experiences and knowledge are useful and meaningful, they gain confidence in their own abilities.

12. Scholars of scientific management used theories developed by a very well-known economist and author, who wrote the classic work "The Wealth of Nations". Who was this author?

From Quiz Approaches to Organizational Behaviour

Answer: Adam Smith

Adam Smith had some valuable insights for scientific management enthusiasts in "The Wealth of Nations". In this book, Smith lays the foundations for job specialization, a key factor in efficient scientific management, which focuses on maximizing worker productivity. Smith uses the example of pin-making. He explains that instead of each worker in a pin factory performing each assembly task himself (e.g. cutting the wire for the pin, shaping it, etc.), productivity can be increased if the tasks are divided up, with one worker cutting all the wire for all the pins, and the next worker shaping all the pins. This was the foundation for the modern assembly line, and it dramatically improved productivity in most organizations when put into practice by scientific managers.

13. Genealogists frequently use a chart that shows multiple generations of a person's genealogy. What is that chart called by genealogists?

From Quiz Genealogy 101

Answer: A pedigree chart

This chart is called a pedigree chart. A pedigree chart typically shows five generations of a person's family tree. An individual, his/her parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents are all named in the chart with spaces for the birth, marriage and death dates of each individual.

14. Who is considered the father of international law?

From Quiz Classic International Relations

Answer: Hugo Grotius

Grotius, focusing on natural law, believed there was a law of war as well as a law of peace.

15. According to Maslow, after all other needs are met; an individual has "a need to focus on self-fulfillment". How did Maslow term this need?

From Quiz A Paper on Motivation

Answer: Self-Actualisation

This need is on top of Maslow's hierarchy - it is basically the need to 'do as best as I can". One of the major problems with Maslow's theory (with respect to Human Resource manager in a firm) was that it didn't provide a solution for compensation - as in one didn't know the weightage an individual gave to accomplishment of his needs etc. ("A Theory of Human Motivation", Psychological Review (Vol 50, No 4, July 1943)

16. In his incisive book "Class", author Paul Fussell argued, focusing on one particularly egregious example, that "large assets or high income" do not necessarily "confer high class". Whom did he use as his example?

From Quiz Assailing the Dream: U.S. Social Critics

Answer: C. V. Whitney

Whitney had apparently written a little volume about himself called "Live a Year with a Millionaire", redolent of mental midgetry. "Not to put too fine a point on it," Fussell writes, "the banality, stupidity, complacency and witlessness of this author can remind a reader only of characters in Ring Lardner or in such satires by Sinclair Lewis as "The Man Who Knew Coolidge."

17. What is the process of shaping an individual relative to his or her environment called?

From Quiz Social Science Questions

Answer: Socialization

Cognition is the act of thinking and acquiring knowledge. Haptics is the study of human touch and proxemics is the study of space between people when they communicate.

18. What term did Cesare Lombroso use to describe persons whom he believed to be biological throwbacks to more primitive ancestors?

From Quiz The Joys of Criminal Science

Answer: Atavists

19. St. Anthony, known as ?the Great?, could very well have been the first to practice what 'ism'?

From Quiz Lots of 'Isms'

Answer: Monasticism

St. Anthony was the earliest of the Christian hermits. He lived alone in a hut for 15 years, and then in the desert for another 20. Great example for future monks and hermits!

20. In socially advanced hospital wards, premature babies listen to professionals do what, so the babies won't "fret"?

From Quiz Art of Work

Answer: Play guitar

Professional music therapists play soft guitar to premature babies. Correctly done, guitar music was shown via research to promote deeper sleep, improve breathing, mask jarring sounds in the hospital such as beeps and alarms, improve neurological development and add needed weight. Read "Music Therapy with Premature Infants" by Dr. Jayne M. Standley for some fascinating details.

21. Who is the 19th century Scottish anthropologist whose seminal work, "The Golden Bough," influenced Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," itself an influence on the original Star Wars trilogy?

From Quiz Social Theorists of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Answer: Sir James Frazer

Frazer (1854-1941), the quintessential armchair anthropologist, argued for a transition in religious thought from magic to organized religion and finally to science, all of which attempt to answer the same basic questions about the universe and man's role in it.

22. Max Weber and Henri Fayol developed a theory of management and organizational behaviour called "classical organization theory". What was the goal of this theory?

From Quiz Approaches to Organizational Behaviour

Answer: To group and structure organizations favorably

Max Weber developed a bureaucratic structure during this time that he believed would work for all types of organizations. Modern students of organizational behaviour understand that there is never one "best" way of doing things that will work in every single organization all over the world!

23. Who was considered one of the first international realists and wrote, in 1532, advice to princes on how to be feared rather than loved?

From Quiz Classic International Relations

Answer: Niccolo Machiavelli

Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" which emphasizes force, warfare and that results are infinitely more important than methods.

24. What is one of the most popular quizzes that is used today to test personalities?

From Quiz Organizational Behavior

Answer: Myers-Briggs type indicator

Cognitive dissonance is a theory about how individuals deal with internal conflict in a job. The GLOBE framework is an organization that assesses cultures, and the Rokeach value survey classifies individual's values.

25. Another important theory was the "Two - Factor" theory, in which the motivation is measured on two factors - the 'Motivators' and the 'Hygiene' factor. Who proposed this theory?

From Quiz A Paper on Motivation

Answer: Frederick Herzberg

Both these factors were on a continuum, with one end being totally satisfied (with respect to the conditions on that factor) and the other end being totally dissatisfied. Herzberg places more importance on 'Hygiene' motivating factors. ("The Motivation to Work", John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1959)

26. What is the person called when he or she expresses the traits of both males and females?

From Quiz Social Science Questions

Answer: Androgynous

I-self and Me-self is George Mead's theory that I-self is the true, subjective self that shows only in intimate relationships and Me-self is the side of personality that shows during social gatherings and is guided by the expectations of the society.

27. Which 'ism' relating to hypnosis was created by an Austrian doctor in the late 18th-early 19th centuries?

From Quiz Lots of 'Isms'

Answer: Mesmerism & Mesmer

Mesmer was an early practicioner of another 'ism' as well...that being charlatanism!

28. Many hospitals utilize music therapists, but one military sergeant used the art of lyric and song in a unique way, to treat which trauma-related condition?

From Quiz Art of Work

Answer: PTSD

Sergeant Leo Dunson served honorably (2003 to 2008), earning commendations in the wars of the Middle East, but he also developed post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). He was jailed, divorced and attempted suicide. Rejecting talk therapy and medicines, he turned to the art of music. "What's Wrong With Me?" was among his first highly successful rap songs: "Nothings ever going to be the same again everything different I'm quick to snap on someone I'm quick to start trippen..." Dunson has produced a number of popular recordings. While his PTSD did not resolve, he was successful in his art, and work. GERD is essentially heartburn.

29. Which 20th century thinker posited the notion of a "collective unconscious," which holds that cross-culturally recurrent themes can be attributed to universally, subconsciously recognizable symbols and motifs?

From Quiz Social Theorists of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Answer: Carl Jung

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) called these recurring motifs "archetypes", accessible by "dream analysis", the research of which Jung was a pioneer.

30. Which type of teaching practice, aimed at adult students, have researchers found to be the most beneficial?

From Quiz How Adults Learn

Answer: "Hands on" learning

Adult students, with their financial and familial obligations, may not always come to class wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. Adults typically take evening classes, after having already worked a full day and/or making arrangements for their children. Therefore, constant reading, direct instruction, and/or lecture may cause many adults to lose focus and "zone out". Adults need hands-on, reality-based experiences to make learning meaningful. Stephen Brookfield notes, "...almost every textbook on adult education practice affirms the importance of experiential methods such as games, simulations, case studies, psychodrama, role play and internships". (International Encyclopedia of Education, 2008).

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