Social Psychology – PSYC 512
CG • Section 8WK • 11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 02/09/2024
Course Description
Examination of scientific literature involving individual behavior in relation to social contexts. Topics include attribution, social perception, socialization, attitude formation/change, group dynamics, prosocial behavior, aggression, social influence, and applications. (Crosslisted with MSPS 513)
For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.
Rationale
Many individuals go through their daily routines with little thought as to what influences their own behavior and the behavior of those around them. They seem unaware of how other people influence their thoughts and behavior. Still others attempt to understand and explain their behavior, but their explanations are inaccurate. This course will seek to explain how the student’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of others, so that the student can better understand himself/herself, and those around him/her. This course will put major emphasis on the theory, research, and scientific evidence supporting the above claims, and is designed to provide the student with psychological evidence that is relevant in every area of psychological inquiry.
Course Assignment
Textbook readings and lecture presentations
Course Requirements Checklist
After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.
Discussions (3)
Discussions are a collaborative experience, therefore the student will complete 3 discussions in the course. The student will answer two questions for each prompt and reply to two classmates. It is required to include two academic sources for the main thread along with two Bible verses. A minimum of 200 words for the thread and 100 words for the replies is required.
Content Summary Assignments (6)
The student is required to read and become comfortable/familiar with all the required reading material. Each summary will include: an integration of the Kassin, Markus, & Fein text chapters, Chadee theory chapters, and two journal articles related to each module. The summary should include an intro paragraph, 1–2 paragraphs each for 3–5 major themes supported by at least two of the sources each, and a closing paragraph. Each content summary should be 1.5–2 pages.
Article Review Assignments (3)
For three of the modules, the student will submit one journal article summary that will be used to understand both the topic and research related to the topic of interest each week. The article summary should follow the article summary handout. Each summary must be at least 350 words.
Quiz: Midterm
The Quiz: Midterm will cover all content from Modules 1–4 and will consist of 75 multiple-choice questions. The quiz has a time limit of 2 hours and allows 1 attempt.
Quiz: Final
The Quiz: Final will be comprehensive. It will have 75 multiple-choice questions (2 points each) on Modules 5-8. It will also have 5 short answer/essay questions (20 points each) on anything from Modules 1-8. The quiz has a time limit of 3 hours and allows 1 attempt.
