PSY 3441 Social Psychology

Lecture: Introduction to Social Psychology

Outcomes

• Define Social Psychology and discuss its applications
• Discuss how Social Psychology compares to fields like Sociology, Clinical Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Cognitive Psychology
• Explain how the findings of Social Psychology do not necessarily coincide with common sense
• Discuss the history and development of the field and the major contributors

Lecture: Social Psychology Research

Outcomes

• Explain the important steps in research, including the development of a hypothesis and a theory
• Discuss the difference between basic and applied research and give an example of both
• Discuss the process of moving from a concept to an operational definition to measurement of a variable
• Distinguish between descriptive research, correlational research, and experiments
• Identify the independent and dependent variables in a study
• Explain the concept of statistical significance
• Differentiate between experimental realism and mundane realism
• Discuss research ethics and the role of Institutional Review Boards

Lecture: The Social Self

Outcomes

• Explain the ABCs of the self and the idea of self-concept and self-schemas
• Discuss the important components of the 5 sources of our self concept: introspection, perceptions of our own behavior, influences of other people, autobiographical memories, and culture
• Discuss self-esteem and why we have a need for it
• Define self-discrepancy theory, self-awareness, and self-regulation
• Explain the four methods of self-enhancement: self-serving cognitions, self-handicapping, basking in reflected glory, and downward social comparison
• Discuss how different cultures conceptualize the self

Lecture: Perceiving Persons

Outcomes

• Define social perception and explain how it can be influenced by people, situations, and behavior
• Discuss the attribution theories of Heider, Jones, and Kelley
• Define and give examples of cognitive heuristics and the fundamental attribution error
• Explain the two-step model of the attributional process and why it may not be followed
• Discuss cultural and motivational influences on attributions and our perceptions of other people
  Define information integration theory
• Explain the three “deviations” from the arithmetic in information integration: perceiver characteristics, priming effects, target characteristics, and the primacy effect
• Discuss confirmation biases and the contributions of perseverance of beliefs, confirmatory hypothesis testing, and the self-fulfilling prophecy

Lecture: Stereotypes, Prejudices, and Discrimination

Outcomes

• Distinguish between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination
• Discuss how social categorization, ingroup vs. outgroup thinking, and implicit personality theories lead to stereotype formation
• Explain how illusory correlations, attributions, subtyping and contrasting, and confirmation biases contribute to the survival of stereotypes
• Discuss the automatic activation of stereotypes and the effect that may have on people’s actions and perceptions
• Compare and contrast the following theories of prejudice: intergroup conflict, social identity theory, and social dominance orientation
• Discuss how culture and the media contribute to hostile and benevolent sexism
• Explain what is meant by a “threat in the air” and stereotype threat
• Discuss various ways to reduce stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

Lecture: Attitudes

Outcomes

• Define attitudes and compare and contrast the three ways to study attitudes: self-report, covert measures, and the implicit association test
• Discuss the link between attitudes and behavior and research supporting and refuting this link
• Explain the factors that affect the strength of an attitude
• Compare and contrast the central and peripheral routes of persuasion and give an example of each
• What research says about the importance of credibility and likability of the source of a message and the related phenomenon called the sleeper effect
• How a message is best communicated and when a communicator may want to appeal to fear and emotion and when to stick to the facts
• How a subjects need for cognition influences persuasion and discuss the inoculation hypothesis and psychological reactance
• Explain the theory of cognitive dissonance using examples of current and classic research
• Compare and contrast Bem’s self-perception theory, impression management theory, and self-esteem theories

Lecture: Conformity

Outcomes

• Define social influence and compare and contrast conformity, compliance, and obedience
• Compare Asch and Sherif’s studies on conformity and explain the difference between public and private conformity
• Explain the difference between normative and informational influence
• Compare and contrast majority and minority influence
• Discuss the difference types of compliance including the norm of reciprocity, foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, and low-balling
• Describe Milgram’s famous experiment and what it tells us about obedience to authority
• Explain how cultural differences play a role in social influence

Lecture: Group Processes

Outcomes

• Define a group and a collective
• Compare and contrast social facilitation and social loafing
• Discuss the mere presence theory, the evaluation apprehension theory, and the distraction-conflict theory
• Explain the concept of deindividuation
• Explain the three essential components of groups: roles, norms, and cohesiveness
• Describe the process of group polarization
• Describe the process of groupthink
• Discuss the concept of brainstorming and whether or not it is beneficial for group performance
• Define a social dilemma and explain the prisoner’s dilemma and resource dilemmas
• Suggest ways to solve social dilemmas

Lecture: Attraction and Close Relationships

Outcomes

• Define the need for affiliation and compare it to our resentment of loneliness
• Explain the principle components of attraction, including proximity and the mere exposure effect
• Provide arguments to support the idea that beauty is an objective standard
• Provide arguments to support the idea that beauty is a subjective standard
• Define the what-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype and discuss if there is any truth to it
• Describe the factors involved in becoming interested in some one and starting a relationship
• Discuss evolutionary and cultural contributions to relationships
• Compare and contrast the social exchange theory and the equity theory of intimate relationships

Lecture: Helping Others

Outcomes

• Explain the evolutionary approaches to helping
• Describe how possible rewards could increase helping
• Discuss the debate over egoism and altruism; that is, whether or not true altruism can exist
• Explain the empathy-altruism hypothesis and the negative state relief model
• Give the five steps to helping in an emergency and the influential factors at each step
• Describe the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility
• Discuss the effects of time constraints, mood, culture, role models, and social norms on decisions to help
• Describe the people we are most likely to help

Lecture: Aggression

Outcomes

• Explain why defining aggression may be difficult
• Distinguish between emotional and instrumental aggression
• Describe various culture and gender differences in aggression expression
• Describe theories of aggression that propose aggression is an innate characteristic, including instinct, evolutionary, and biological theories
• Explain the role of learning, modeling, and socialization
• Define the frustration-aggression hypothesis and research supporting or refuting it
• Explain the roles that affect, arousal, and cognition have on aggression
• Describe how the media contributes to violence and aggression
• Discuss pornography and sexual aggression

Lecture: Law

Outcomes

• Discuss the process of jury selection and what is meant by scientific jury selection
• Discuss death qualification and its ramifications
• Explain the nine steps of interrogation and how some of the approaches can lead to false confessions
• Using concepts from previous modules discuss how a jury may react to confession evidence
• Explain some of the problems with eyewitnesses and eyewitness identifications at the stage of information acquisition, storage, and retrieval
• Discuss how eyewitness evidence may be interpreted by a juror and the different topics that an eyewitness expert may discuss if asked to testify
• Explain, using concepts from previous modules, how pretrial publicity, inadmissible testimony, and the judge’s instructions can affect a juror’s verdict
• Describe the process of jury deliberations and the different factors involved
• Discuss sentencing and relate the Stanford Prison Study to a person’s experience in jail
• Discuss different theories on justice and the purpose of the legal system