Disciplines & Programs
Anthropology, the comparative study of humanity and culture, seeks to explain both diversity and similarity in human behavior around the world. It is an academic discipline that integrates a number of specialized fields, including physical anthropology, archaeology, social and cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and applied studies of human problems. The UM-D program emphasizes anthropology's unique concern with the interdependence of human biology and culture. Anthropology at UM-D provides the foundation for a broad understanding of human behavior and values for students interested in a truly liberal education.
The major in Behavioral Sciences is an interdisciplinary program encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and sociology. It is designed as a general preparation for a career in human services such as social work, counseling, criminology, or prevention/treatment programs in mental health. The idea for combining the three fields is based on the belief that it is important for an individual who plans to work with people to understand human beings as individuals (psychologically) who function in groups (social psychologically) within a social context (sociologically) which varies across cultures (anthropologically).
The study of social factors and their relationship to the health care system has become increasingly important in recent decades. It is now widely accepted that understanding the social dimensions of health, illnesses, and the health care system is crucial for all the health-related professions and for an informed consumer citizenry as well.
As the science of behavior and psychological processes, psychology has a vast range. At one end, it borders on the natural sciences such as biology and physiology, and at the other, it shares interest with social science disciplines such as sociology and anthropology. With the goal of understanding, predicting, and modifying behavior and psychological processes, psychologists must include in their studies a variety of perspectives.
Sociology is the study of society and how it is shaped by individual and collective action. A "sociological imagination" helps us to see the connections between private troubles, experience individually, and public issues, experienced collectively. It also explains how individual attitudes and behaviors are distributed in patterned and predictable ways according to the position of the individual society's institutional structure. These institutions include those of economy, government, family, education, and religion.