In my last four posts you’ll see a pattern repeated twice: first I participate in “ground” talk on a particular issue, then I stand back and reflect on some patterns in that ground talk. I see this as a healthy way to think about social behavior.

If I only participated in each topic, I’d miss the chance to notice key social patterns up close. A great pleasure and power of being a social scientist is that most all social behavior you see around you is grist for your mills.

If I only thought about behaviors from a distance, without participating in them, I’d miss many crucial details useful in testing broader theories. Yes, by participating I risk collecting biases due to my particular stances, biases that my block me from seeing larger pictures. That probably does happen, maybe even a lot. But this still seems like a good mix.