Division of Social Science
Wide-ranging expertise
The faculty of the FAS Social Science division are experts in politics, economics, society, and the human mind. Their methods are cutting edge, ranging from data-driven statistical analysis to ethnography and fieldwork; from polling and surveys to neuroimaging. Their work leads to new understandings of social and political systems and the nature of human interaction and thought.
The acting divisional dean of Social Science is Alan Gerber.

Social Science departments and programs
The FAS is home to seven social science departments: Anthropology, Economics, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Statistics and Data Science. In addition, several programs are cross-divisional, bridging Social Science and Humanities.
News

Attention scan: How our minds shift focus in dynamic settings
In a new study, Yale researchers introduce a new model of human attention that explains how the mind evaluates task-relevant factors in a dynamic setting — and apportions, on-the-fly, computational capacity accordingly.
Study offers glimpse into how monkeys — and machines — process images
New visual modeling research revealed a specialized algorithm deep in the primate brain that transforms 2D images into 3D mental models.
Bias against non-Americans spans demographic and political spectrums
A new study co-authored by Yale psychologist Melissa Ferguson finds pervasive anti-foreign biases in the United States predict voting patterns on ballot initiatives that restrict immigrant rights.
In Athens, Peter Salovey honored for distinguished scholarship, university leadership
The University of Athens medical school bestowed an honorary degree on the former Yale president in recognition of his work as a social psychologist and his “exceptional” administrative leadership.
At the forefront of economics
Can the field of economics help to achieve greater equality? Rohini Pande, economist and Director of the Yale Economic Growth Center, believes economists should consider notions of justice, not just efficiency. As part of a large study, she and her colleagues, along with researchers from the Inclusion Economics initiative, are currently surveying over 5,000 Indian women to better understand a major gender disparity in mobile phone use in the country and whether government policies might be needed to correct the imbalance.