Social Psychology

Course Number:

PSY 216

Transcript Title:

Social Psychology

Created:

Aug 16, 2022

Updated:

Jul 17, 2023

Total Credits:

4

Lecture Hours:

40

Lecture / Lab Hours:

0

Lab Hours:

0

Satisfies Cultural Literacy requirement:

No

Satisfies General Education requirement:

Yes

Grading Options

A-F, P/NP, Audit

Default Grading Options

A-F

Repeats available for credit:

0

Alignment with Institutional Learning Outcomes

Major

1. Communicate effectively using appropriate reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. (Communication)

Major

2. Creatively solve problems by using relevant methods of research, personal reflection, reasoning, and evaluation of information. (Critical thinking and Problem-Solving)

Not Addressed

3. Extract, interpret, evaluate, communicate, and apply quantitative information and methods to solve problems, evaluate claims, and support decisions in their academic, professional and private lives. (Quantitative Literacy)

Minor

4. Use an understanding of cultural differences to constructively address issues that arise in the workplace and community. (Cultural Awareness)

Major

5. Recognize the consequences of human activity upon our social and natural world. (Community and Environmental Responsibility)

To establish an intentional learning environment, Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) require a clear definition of instructional strategies, evidence of recurrent instruction, and employment of several assessment modes.

Major Designation

1. The outcome is addressed recurrently in the curriculum, regularly enough to establish a thorough understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a thorough understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Minor Designation

1. The outcome is addressed adequately in the curriculum, establishing fundamental understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a fundamental understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

The determination of assessment strategies is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: writings (journals, self-reflections, pre writing exercises, essays), quizzes, tests, midterm and final exams, group projects, presentations (in person, videos, etc), self-assessments, experimentations, lab reports, peer critiques, responses (to texts, podcasts, videos, films, etc), student generated questions, Escape Room, interviews, and/or portfolios.

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

1. Social influences on the self-concept and related judgments of others, including: collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations; self-serving biases; attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error, the Just World Hypothesis and blaming the victim. How to resist the influences of these biases upon self- and social judgments.
2. Social cognition, including errors and biases in perception (illusory correlations, hindsight bias, etc) decision-making (heuristics, etc), and memory (constructive nature of memory, false memory syndrome).
3. Conformity as social influence, including: normative and informational influences; compliance (particularly obedience) and internalization. How to recognize and resist pressures to conform to harmful behavior.
4. The relationship between attitudes and behavior, particularly the impact of behavior upon attitude change and explanatory theories for the ubiquitousness of self-justification throughout human social behavior. How the relationship between behaviors and attitudes can be used to increase anti-social or pro-social attitudes and behaviors.
5. Persuasion, including: the factors relating to message type and content, source of persuasive message, and audience; social norms and scripts that are strategically used to increase effectiveness of persuasion; inoculation and resistance to persuasion.
6. Effects of group membership on individuals, including: groupthink; social facilitation; social loafing; deindividuation; bystander apathy. How to prevent groupthink and social loafing, and how to transform bystander apathy into pro-social action.
7. Prejudice, including: the distinctions among stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination; the basic motivations for prejudice and discrimination (perceived competition for scarce resources, scapegoating, need to justify social inequalities, and dispositional influences). How to reduce inter-group conflict and prejudice.
8. Aggression, including: basic theories of human aggression (biological, evolutionary, and socio-cultural); personal, situational, and social influences; aggression and violence in media (including pornography). Effective and ineffective ways to reduce aggression and violence.
9. Interpersonal attraction, including: predictors of liking and loving (including evolutionary and socio-cultural theories); social influence of physical attractiveness; factors that characterize satisfactory relationships and theories that predict satisfaction maintenance and dissolution of relationships (both friendships and romantic relations).
10. Basic research methods of social psychology, including: experimental and non-experimental methods; ethics in human social research.

Competencies and Skills

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the social influences on the self-concept and related judgments of others, including: collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations; self-serving biases; attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error, the Just World Hypothesis and blaming the victim. Demonstrate knowledge of strategies to resist the influences and correct the errors of these biases upon self- and social judgments.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the processes of social cognition that affect human judgment, including errors and biases in perception (illusory correlations, hindsight bias, etc) decision-making (heuristics, etc), and memory (constructive nature of memory, false memory syndrome).
3. Demonstrate an understanding of conformity as a powerful social influence, including: the role of normative and informational influences; compliance (particularly the classic studies of obedience) and internalization. Demonstrate an understanding of how the pressures to conform can be recognized and how knowledge of these pressures can be used to resist pressures to conform to harmful behavior.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between attitudes and behavior, particularly the impact of behavior upon attitude change and explanatory theories for the pervasiveness of self-justification throughout human social behavior. Demonstrate knowledge of how the relationship between behaviors and attitudes can be used to increase anti-social or pro-social attitudes and behaviors.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the influence of persuasion, including: the variety of factors relating to message type and content, how the source of persuasive message is evaluated, and how knowledge about the audience can be used to increase the effectiveness of the persuasive message. Demonstrate an understanding of the social norms and scripts that can be and are strategically used to increase effectiveness of persuasion. Demonstrate knowledge of the strategies of inoculation and how to make oneself a more critical audience of persuasive messages.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of group membership on individuals, including: groupthink; social facilitation; social loafing; deindividuation; bystander apathy. Demonstrate knowledge of how to prevent groupthink and social loafing, and how to transform bystander apathy into pro-social action.
7. Demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of prejudice, including: the distinctions among stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination; the basic motivations for prejudice and discrimination (perceived competition for scarce resources, scapegoating, need to justify social inequities, and dispositional influences). Demonstrate an understanding of how prejudice and inter-group can be reduced through interdependence and equal status.
8. Demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of aggression, including: basic theories of human aggression (biological, evolutionary, and socio-cultural); personal, situational, and social influences; aggression and violence in media (including pornography). Demonstrate knowledge of both effective and ineffective ways to reduce aggression and violence.
9. Demonstrate an understanding of the theories and factors surrounding interpersonal attraction, including: predictors of liking and loving (including evolutionary and socio-cultural theories); social influence of physical attractiveness; factors that characterize satisfactory relationships and theories that predict satisfaction maintenance and dissolution of relationships (both friendships and romantic relations).
10. Demonstrate an understanding of basic research methods of social psychology, including experimental and non-experimental methods, and ethics in human social research.