PSY-210 Social Psychology
This course provides students with an overview of the study of social influence including the influence of others on the individual as well as the influence of the individual on the group. The course builds on the knowledge of research in social science including observation, hypothesis development, data collection and measurement, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of mathematical and interpretative analysis. This examination of social influence focuses on interpersonal attraction, prejudice, conflict, aggression and helping behavior.
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Course Outline
Course Description
This course provides students with an overview of the study of social influence including the influence of others on the individual as well as the influence of the individual on the group. The course builds on the knowledge of research in social science including observation, hypothesis development, data collection and measurement, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of mathematical and interpretative analysis. This examination of social influence focuses on interpersonal attraction, prejudice, conflict, aggression and helping behavior.
Credit Hours
3Course Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate social psychological topics (e.g., cognitive dissonance, bystander effect, conformity, compliance, obedience) and their relationship to the formation and maintenance of human interactions.
- Explain how different social psychological factors (e.g., belonging, understanding, controlling, self-enhancement, trusting, etc.) can influence group dynamics.
- Analyze psychological themes put forth by social psychologists (e.g. Asch, Milgram, Sharif, Festinger, Zimbardo, et al.) to illustrate how they apply to social situations.
Topic Outline
- 1. Understanding social behavior
- a. Social psychology and the understanding of social behavior
- b. Social psychology and related fields
- c. Research in social psychology
- 2. The social self
- a. Self-concept
- b. Self-esteem: evaluating the self
- c. Self-control: how people regulate their behavior
- d. Thinking about ourselves
- e. Self-awareness
- f. Managing self-presentations
- g. The impression we make on others
- 3. Social perception: understanding other people
- a. Automatic and controlled processing
- b. Impression formation
- c. The attribution process: deciding why people act as they do
- d. Attribution biases
- e. Schemas
- f. Positive psychology: optimism, cognition, health, and life
- 4. Prejudice and discrimination
- a. The dynamics of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination
- b. The persistence and recurrence of prejudice and stereotypes
- c. The social roots of prejudice
- d. The cognitive roots of prejudice: from categories to stereotypes
- e. The consequences of being a target of prejudice
- f. Coping with prejudice
- g. Reducing prejudice
- 5. Attitudes
- a. What are attitudes?
- b. How are attitudes measured?
- c. How are attitudes formed?
- d. Attitudes and behavior
- e. Why we don't like those who think differently than we do: naive realism and attitudes
- 6. Persuasion and attitude change
- a. The persuasion process
- b. The Yale communication model
- c. The cognitive approach to persuasion
- d. Cognitive dissonance theory: a model of self-persuasion
- e. Persuading the masses through propaganda
- 7. Conformity, compliance, and obedience
- a. Conformity: going along with the crowd
- b. Minority influence
- c. Compliance: responding to a direct request
- d. Obedience
- e. Disobedience
- 8. Group processes
- a. What is a group?
- b. How and why do groups form?
- c. How do groups influence the behavior of individuals?
- d. Groups, self-identity, and intergroup relationships
- e. Group performance
- f. Factors that affect the decision-making ability of a group
- g. The dynamics of group decision making: decision rules, group polarization, and groupthink
- 9. Interpersonal attraction and close relationships
- a. The roots of interpersonal attraction and close relationships
- b. Loneliness and social anxiety
- c. Love and close relationships
- d. Determinants of interpersonal attraction
- e. Dynamics of close relationships
- f. Friendships
- 10. Interpersonal aggression
- a. What is aggression?
- b. Biological explanations for aggression
- c. The frustration-aggression link
- d. The social learning explanation for aggression
- e. Viewing sexual violence: the impact of aggression
- f. Reducing aggression
- 11. Prosocial behavior and altruism
- a. Why do people help?
- b. Helping in emergencies: a five-stage decision model
- c. Increasing chances of receiving help
- d. Courageous resistance and heroism
- e. Altruistic behavior from the perspective of the recipient