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Old 09-02-2016, 01:04 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

"Parapsychologist, n. A psychologist trained for parachute insertion" -- RyanW

Psychology is the IQ/H study of sapient behaviour and minds. Specialisation by species is required. It defaults to IQ-6 or Sociology-4, and Body Language, Criminology, Detect Lies, Interrogation, Propaganda, and Sociology all have defaults to Psychology; it's also a prerequisite for Brainwashing. The skill is boosted by Empathy and Healer talent, and penalised by Callous and Low Empathy, while Easy to Read gives a bonus to Psychology rolls made on you, and Fortune-Telling can substitute for it.

With a successful roll, you can predict the actions of an individual or small group, especially in stressful circumstances. The uFAQ clarifies that doing this requires prolonged observation, a full interview, or documentation by another psychologist who has done these things. You get +3 if you know the subject well, and another +3 if they have a unusual type of personality and you know this. The modifiers for (Low) Empathy only apply to someone in your presence, and the modifier for Callous doesn't apply if you're looking for weaknesses to exploit. At the GM's option, Psychology can have required specialisations of (Applied), as above, and (Experimental). The skill appeared at GURPS 1e.

Sociology is the IQ/H study of societies and social relationships. It defaults to IQ-6, Anthropology -3 or Psychology-4, and Anthropology and Psychology have defaults to Sociology. The skill is penalised by Low Empathy. On a success, you can predict how a large group of people will work together, deduce the causes of social changes, or predict their results. The distinction between Anthropology and Sociology seems to be that Anthropology is observational and qualitative, usually applied to pre-industrial societies, while Sociology appeared in industrial societies, studying themselves by means of surveys and statistics. The skill appeared at GURPS 4e, after being mentioned in Compendium I without a description.

Both skills take Cultural Familiarity modifiers, and can be substituted for by Expert Skills.

Psychology is a pretty common skill on templates for face-men, healers, spies, counter-spies, experienced cops, and anyone whose work is mainly about people. Sociology is much rarer. Action gives Psychology uses in interrogation, including good-cop/bad-cop tactics, psychological warfare, and manipulating opponents in combat. Adaptations gives Sociology uses in learning about societies, and AtE makes Psychology useful in dealing with gangs, and drawing opponents to attack you. Bio-Tech has "persona mapping" which uses Psychology plus ultra-tech sensors; Psychology and Sociology can both be useful against some of Creatures of the Night's monsters. DF characters study opponents' Psychology, its deities have the new specialisation of (Fears), summoners can use (Demons) and (Elementals) and psis get many bonuses. Fantasy requires Psychology for tavern-keepers, and its Roma Arcana setting features Psychology-based magic. Horror adds more Expert Skills that cover Psychology and the (Clinical) specialisation; Madness Dossier has lots of uses for both skills. Infinite Worlds has the applications of sociology in altering history, and Magic has a mental healing spell that works better for a caster with Psychology-15. Martial Arts has an Expert Skill that can substitute for either of these skills, and Monster Hunters uses Psychology to dig into survivors' experiences, recognise psychic powers, deduce motives, and convince ghosts to move on, while Sociology gives insight into conspiracies. Mysteries explains the fuzzy boundary between Criminology and Psychology, since there are times when either can work. Power-Ups 2, 3, 6, and 7 have examples for one or both of these skills. Powers and Enhanced Senses have uses and enhancement for Psychology, and The Weird has more dramatic applications. The Psi series uses Psychology as a substitute for Expert Skill (Psionics), with the (Parapsychology) specialisation, gives it roles in analysis of psi and treatment of psychic injuries, and has abilities and equipment that can boost it substantially; Reign of Steel: Will to Live adds (Robots).

Social Engineering elaborates on all the uses of Psychology and Sociology, and adds more for them as complementary skills, with far too much to list. Back to School uses it for bribing students and to boost Brainwashing. Space reminds us that Psychology is specialised by species, and Sociology by culture, and Supers uses Psychology (Experimental) to analyse powers with the Savant power modifier. Thaumatology can use Psychology on spirits, in mass rituals, and for Magic-as-Psi; Magical Styles can apply it to the Mind Control college, and RPM can use it for memory-reading and interrogation. Transhuman Space: Changing Times has (Bioroid) and (AI), and has (Human) include all upgrades and parahumans; maybe there should be specialisations for uplifted animals, too. Ultra-Tech disagrees with THS, and reckons robots are handled by (Human). And if you can invent a memetic plague, you can make Zombies via Psychology.

I've only ever had Sociology on characters for completeness, since I've never done large-scale social operations. I've used Psychology as a supporting skill a fair bit, and seen a player with good Psychology skill herself frighten a dangerous NPC into willingly going back to jail and giving up trying to escape.

What have you done with these skills?

Last edited by johndallman; 08-20-2017 at 10:37 AM. Reason: Gramar
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Old 09-02-2016, 01:10 PM   #2
ericthered
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

Psychology is a bread and butter skill for monster hunters, particularly as I like lots of human antagonists. It's probably cinematic as described there, but hey! its monster hunters.

I run a lot of investigation games, and there its invaluable. As Pirot says: "Its all about the Psychology".

I've never seen sociology used, though if anyone in my "Seed of Illrium" game had taken it they'd get a good chance to use it. Alas, they are not that interested in running the colony. Or at least, they're more interested in exploring the forest and talking to locals than dealing with the social problems of a colony cut off from everyone else.
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Old 09-02-2016, 06:10 PM   #3
sir_pudding
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

With my upcoming Madness Dossier campaign I'm anticipating these skills coming up quite a bit!
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Old 09-02-2016, 06:25 PM   #4
Celti
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

My character has been using Psychology heavily since the start of the “manaclypse” After the End game I'm playing in, and is using Sociology increasingly often as well, both as she has been forging fanatically loyal relationships of increasing scale — first a family, then an extended family, progressing into an island nation, a alliance of local city-states, and hopefully soon an army able to stand against the forces of the “New United States” inexorably marching in their direction.

Of course, it's not all sweetness and light — said character has something of a tendency to brainwash and enslave people so thoroughly they couldn't imagine it wasn't their idea in the first place — but of course it's for their own good! Then again, what do you expect of someone who deliberately sought out, commissioned the crafting of, and drank a potion intended to turn her more-or-less into a succubus?
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Old 09-03-2016, 12:04 AM   #5
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

Several players in my Aeon campaign have used Psychology to create "psych profiles" to track down metahumans who've gone crazy. One player is going to be using it soon to actually help one of the PCs in the campaign get his bearings again since said character's sanity was severely damaged.
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Old 09-03-2016, 06:47 AM   #6
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

I always thought that Psychology was neglected. As written in the Basic Set, its the skill of modelling minds, not an academic discipline (although someone in a modern setting with an education may use psychological jargon). It should be the skill of the wise-about-people, such as politicians, master manipulators, cinematic con-men, powers-behind-thr-throne ,... but characters like that in official publications rarely have it.
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Old 09-03-2016, 07:09 AM   #7
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

Quote:
Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
I always thought that Psychology was neglected. ... It should be the skill of the wise-about-people, such as politicians, master manipulators, cinematic con-men, powers-behind-the-throne ... but characters like that in official publications rarely have it
I'm trying to use it that way in a low-powered monster hunters campaign that's just starting up. Combining it with Diplomacy and Fortune-Telling looks promising so far.
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Old 09-03-2016, 02:22 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
I'm trying to use it that way in a low-powered monster hunters campaign that's just starting up. Combining it with Diplomacy and Fortune-Telling looks promising so far.
"As the policeman wonders just why he has just recounted his life story to this strange woman…"
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Old 09-03-2016, 03:06 PM   #9
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

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Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
"As the policeman wonders just why he has just recounted his life story to this strange woman…"
If we end up with a need for someone to be arrested, we'll make sure he gets to do it and take the public credit.
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Old 09-03-2016, 04:36 PM   #10
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Psychology and Sociology

Quote:
Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
I always thought that Psychology was neglected. As written in the Basic Set, its the skill of modelling minds, not an academic discipline (although someone in a modern setting with an education may use psychological jargon). It should be the skill of the wise-about-people, such as politicians, master manipulators, cinematic con-men, powers-behind-thr-throne ,... but characters like that in official publications rarely have it.
However, Social Engineering provides a lot of uses for it.
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