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Description
This course is a survey of social psychological study. One of the first questions we address is “what is social psychology,” or, perhaps, more specifically, “what isn’t social psychology?” As this question suggests, the topics, methods, and theories of social psychological inquiry are exceedingly diverse, often contradictory, and, occasionally, adversarial. We will spend time exploring the field, work to understand the diversity of perspectives, and consider how we might learn from seemingly opposed viewpoints. Broadly, social psychology aims to understand the reciprocal relationship between individuals and groups. By the end of the course, students are equipped with a basic toolkit for thinking about and investigating the complexity of our shared social world.
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Modules
- The History of Social Psychology
- The "Crisis" of Social Psychology
- A Primer on Social Constructionism
- Symbolic Interactionism
- The Self & Society
- Social Theory
- Methods
- The Social Psychology of Political Resentment
- Social Phenomenology and Cognition
- Psychology & Social Influence
- Socialization
- Deviance & Motivation
- Ethnomethodology & Conversation Analysis
- Medical Interaction, Diagnosis, & Autism
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Major Assignments
Virtual "Ethnography"
Increasingly, our social interactions are mediated by virtual spaces. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people spent dozens of hours per week on social media sites, online video games, topic/activity-oriented web-forums, and engaged in other activities mediated wholly or in part by the internet. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated prescriptions to socially distance and physically isolate, the amount of time people spend in virtual spaces has increased staggeringly. For this assignment, students design, complete, and report on an observation of a virtual space. The goal of this assignment is to prompt students to think about and reflect on how the internet (and other related technologies) affect our everyday social interactions.
Increasingly, our social interactions are mediated by virtual spaces. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people spent dozens of hours per week on social media sites, online video games, topic/activity-oriented web-forums, and engaged in other activities mediated wholly or in part by the internet. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated prescriptions to socially distance and physically isolate, the amount of time people spend in virtual spaces has increased staggeringly. For this assignment, students design, complete, and report on an observation of a virtual space. The goal of this assignment is to prompt students to think about and reflect on how the internet (and other related technologies) affect our everyday social interactions.
Podcast Segment
In this assignment, students use what they have learned during the term and to produce s short (4-8 minute) podcast segment. The course covers a variety of concepts and topics, all of which will have applicability far beyond the boundaries of the class. Students will take a concept or topic from this course, explore how it plays out in some corner of the world, and then synthesize the findings of their exploration into a short podcast segment.
This assignment is an opportunity for students to develop skills related to communicating knowledge. A recurrent topic in this course is how the internet and the increasing amounts of time we are spending in virtual environments is changing the practices of everyday life. Podcasts have become important and powerful tools for teaching and learning, and this assignment is an opportunity for students to learn and practice new skills.
In this assignment, students use what they have learned during the term and to produce s short (4-8 minute) podcast segment. The course covers a variety of concepts and topics, all of which will have applicability far beyond the boundaries of the class. Students will take a concept or topic from this course, explore how it plays out in some corner of the world, and then synthesize the findings of their exploration into a short podcast segment.
This assignment is an opportunity for students to develop skills related to communicating knowledge. A recurrent topic in this course is how the internet and the increasing amounts of time we are spending in virtual environments is changing the practices of everyday life. Podcasts have become important and powerful tools for teaching and learning, and this assignment is an opportunity for students to learn and practice new skills.
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Student Comments
“No suggestions, I wish all courses were designed this way, I was able to test my knowledge and truly learn content without feeling overwhelmed and stressed about remembering random facts for exams, this content will remain with me for life honestly because of this method of assessment and teaching.”
“Best thing about the class was the environment, despite it being online it still often felt very engaging and I always enjoyed coming to class because of it. Variety of asynchronous material was good and helped me learn, it was good to engage with a variety of media to see different points of view.”
"In the beginning of the course when we received our syllabus I was generally a little nervous about doing the ethnography and the podcast, however, now that I've almost completed the course I found that those projects gave me a better understanding of how a researcher in the social psychology field might actually gather data, and overall, gave me a better understanding of how social psychology relates to my everyday life."
