Psychological Science: Social Psychology

An introduction to theory and research on the science of how one's situation influences individual thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.

Asynchronous online

This online survey course is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the major research and theoretical foundations of social psychology and the application of social psychological concepts to everyday life. The course will cover major theories, research, and themes within the field of social psychology, illustrating the powerful influence of situational factors on human behavior and interpersonal relations.

Course expectations: This online, summer session course condenses a full semester’s worth of Social Psychology into 6 weeks. This equates to approximately 2.5 weeks’ worth of material per week of the summer session, resulting in a rigorous, fast-paced, reading- and writing-intensive course. Each of the six Course Modules includes readings, quizzes, class activities, writing assignments, and an end-of-module test, with staggered due dates throughout the week. Some of these assignments will ask you to share contributions with your classmates, and to provide timely responses and feedback on their contributions by a specific deadline. Others will provide you with a choice of deadlines, so it is up to you to be sure to complete and submit your work within the appropriate time frame. You should thus be prepared to devote ample time each day to completing readings and assignments, set aside protected time each week to prepare for and complete the online tests, and familiarize yourself with the course schedule to help keep track of important dates. Course Materials: 1. REVEL PLATFORM (Required course "text"): PSYS 2300OL will utilize an online learning platform called "Revel for Social Psychology" in place of a traditional textbook. This is where you will find the assigned chapter readings and associated chapter quizzes for the course. Access to the Revel platform can be purchased through most online textbook retailers as well as directly through Pearson’s web site. Aronson, A., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., & Sommers, S.R. (2022). Revel for Social Psychology (11th ed.). Pearson. ISBN-13: 978-0137634019 Once you’ve purchased access to the Revel platform, you will need to navigate to our course space. I will send out a link to this space as the course start date approaches. 2. JOURNAL ARTICLES (Available via Brightspace): In addition to the chapters in the Revel platform, weekly assignments will include primary source (journal article) readings that can be found on Brightspace. 3. COURSE MODULES (Available via Brightspace): Readings, videos, lecture material, and assignment instructions can be found in the Weekly Course Modules on Brightspace. Course Modules are released on Friday afternoons, and assignment due dates are scattered throughout the following week.

Surveys, Class Activities, Reading Assignments, EA Paper, Quizzes, Module Tests SURVEYS: Each week, I will ask you to complete a brief Survey in Brightspace that we can use to facilitate class discussion or to illustrate a concept. These surveys are time-sensitive as responses will be used to illustrate concepts and/or facilitate class discussions for that week’s module, so no credit will be given for late submissions. Only aggregated group information from these survey responses (e.g., ‘this percentage of the class said _______’) will be shared with the class. CLASS ACTIVITIES: These interactive assignments are submitted via Brightspace, and may include participating in collaborative activities and asynchronous class discussions, submitting or creating material to illustrate a social psychological concept, and responding to your classmates’ posts. Class Activities are meant to provide an opportunity to interact with your classmates and actively engage with the course material, so your participation in these activities is time-sensitive. Your contributions will be evaluated based on depth of response, originality, adherence to assignment instructions, relevance to course material, punctuality, and clarity. READING ASSIGNMENTS: • Revel quizzes In each chapter of the Revel platform, you will encounter several “module quizzes” (quizzes interspersed throughout the chapter) and a “chapter quiz” at the end of each chapter. You should plan to complete all of these quizzes as you proceed through the chapter readings. You will have up to two attempts for each Revel quiz, and only your better of the two scores will count. • Journal Article “Reading Reflection” Assignments Each week, I will provide a selection of journal article readings to accompany that Module’s topic area. Each Reading Reflection assignment asks that you select ONE of these readings and respond to a series of open-ended questions. Further details on these assignments can be found on Brightspace. EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT (Experience Analysis paper): The Experience Analysis assignment asks that you describe a single specific event that you feel illustrates one of the broad topics from the course, and then carefully analyze the event by applying social psychology concepts and explaining how they connect with your example. Topics include Attitude Change (Modules 2 & 3), Conformity and Obedience (Module 3), Prejudice and Group Dynamics (Module 4), Aggression (Module 5), and Prosocial Behavior (Module 5). Specifics on how to complete the Experience Analysis writing assignment, including detailed prompts, a Word document template, and a scoring rubric, will be provided in Brightspace. MODULE TESTS: Module Tests are administered through Brightspace, and may contain multiple choice, short answer, fill-in, or essay items. The Module Tests are timed, and you will be allotted a certain number of minutes to complete each test once you have opened it. This means that you should wait until you have enough time to take the test in its entirety before beginning (I will always indicate the number of minutes allotted for the test). Please note that once you have opened the test, the timer will continue to run even if you close the page. If you run out of time, you will not be able to complete the remaining items for credit.