This study is to conceptualize the disposition of the social studies, to discover its attributes, and to search the methods and direction of effective social studies. For the purpose of the above, I tried to examine the disposition conduced to the development of thinking ability in the social studies by analyzing literature on the essence of thinking ability in the social studies, the general dispositions of thinking, and the dispositions of thinking based on the patterns of thinking in the social studies. And then, I discussed the improvement in learning methods and those evaluation in the social studies. I suggested how we could improve learning methods to develop thinking abilities in the social studies and evaluate affective domain among thinking abilities.