Blackboard

Myers, D. (2006). Exploring social psychology, fourth  edition.  New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0073228877

Other handouts, readings, and webpages to be distributed in class or on the web.

Click here to go to the publisher's website for this book. 

Prerequisites:  General Psychology 110. Experimental Psychology I & II are strongly recommended

Email: Email and frequent access to Blackboard are requirements for this course. You will need to check your email and Blackboard 24 hours prior to each class meeting time.  

Course Description
     This course surveys the major theories, principles, and methodologies of social psychology with special emphasis on their relations to human behavior.  Current research findings are included wherever applicable.  The course will follow a lecture/discussion format. Classroom activities, films, and brief presentations may also be used. Questions are encouraged. As a courtesy to other students, please turn off cell phones and pagers during class.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
     Social Psychology is the study of how people think about, relate to, and influence one another. In this course we will investigate why individuals fight, help, conform, obey, resist, love, and hate. Social psychology has strong cognitive (thinking) elements and we will assess how individuals think, explain, predict, and understand themselves and others. Some of the goals for this course include:

• to gain a greater understanding of the situational and personality factors contributing to human behavior, affect, and cognition

• to learn about the ways we think we know about the world and ourselves 

• to learn how to manipulate, control, and persuade other people

• to investigate how "the self" operates in the social world and how the social world operates on "the self"

• to investigate the activities and roles of social and personality psychologists in science, academia, and the community and examine the theoretical and applied issues in social psychology

• to make connections between social psychology, personal experiences, and other fields of psychology (e.g., psychodynamic, behavioral, biological, cognitive, humanistic etc.)

• to explore how social psychology can help make positive social changes for individuals and groups

Attendance
    Attendance is required.  More than one unexcused absence will lower your grade. No exceptions.  Sleeping in class is counted as an absence. Leaving early from class is counted as an absence.

Evaluation
     Evaluation is based on the course objectives.   These objectives will be met by completing assignments, quizzes, in-class activities, exams as well as active participation and class attendance

Quizzes  (30%)
      Seven  quizzes will assess your understanding of the material. Quizzes will contain both multiple choice and short answer items from handouts, lecture, and reading. Quizzes will cover material since the last quiz or exam. There will be no make-up quizzes; if you are late to class the day of the quiz, you will not be able to take the quiz.
Exams (50%)
       There will be four EXAMS  throughout the semester.  These exams will draw on lecture, reading, handouts, assignment material, and will contain both multiple choice and essay items. There will be three in-class exams and a cumulative final exam. YOU WILL NEED A NUMBER 2 PENCIL FOR THESE TESTS.  Absolutely no make-up quizzes or exams.
Assignments and Homework (10%)
    Several assignments will deepen and strengthen your understanding of course material. Assignments will be graded on accuracy, depth of understanding, college level writing (e.g.,  grammatically correct sentence structure and phrasing), and clarity of presentation. Written portions of assignments must be typed, stapled together, spell-checked, and proofread. Papers that are not written at the college level will be returned with a grade of zero. Extra credit assignments may appear on the web and will not be announced in class, so check Blackboard regularly. 
    Assignments will be due at the beginning of class (i.e., 2:00 NOT 2:15 or 2:30 etc).  An electronic copy of the assignment must also be deposited in the digital dropbox  BEFORE class and should be named as follows:  yourlastname_a1_220 (for assignment 1)  in Microsoft Word or RTF format ONLY.  Late assignments will not be accepted. Assignments handed in at the end of class will not be accepted. Assignments not handed in via blackboard will receive a grade of zero.  Printout failures, not uploading an assignment attachment (bb), uploading the wrong version of an assignment (bb), inability to get on blackboard (barring a system disruption that lasts for more than 24 hours), or other computer mishaps will result in a zero for that assignment. 
Participation (10%)
      Contributions to discussion, online contributions (bb), thoughtful responses to homework and in class assignments, rapt attention, good attendance (no more than one absence -- "excused" or otherwise), actual (even feigned) interest in the course material, thoughtful comment, turntaking, and playing off of other students' comments are all encouraged. Class "dis-participation" (disrespect for other students, leaving beepers or cell phones during class [and/or answering them], SLEEPING, text messaging, wandering out for a snack or to make phone calls, eating gross/crunchy things in class, chronic lateness, private conversations with a neighbor while others are speaking etc.) can not be tolerated.

Grading will be on a traditional grading scale where 88-89.9 is a B+, 90-92 is an A-,  93 or above is an A and so on. 

Advice
     This course is intense.  We will progress quickly through the course material and it will be easy to fall behind.  The following four points are essential for success in this course.

• Focus. Come to class ready to learn. If you prepare for class and concentrate on the lecture and in-class activities you will need to spend less time studying.
• Prepare. Skim over the reading assigned for the day PRIOR to coming to class. After class, go back and thoroughly read the entire chapter.
• Read.  Actually read the textbook. Keep up with the material. Reading the summaries will give you an overall outline for the important points as you read the chapters making it easier for you to absorb information  Skim and then read the chapters as they are assigned so you can understand the in-class activities. 
• Rehearse. When quizzes and assignments are returned, review the answers to understand where you have gone wrong (and where you have gone right).   Learning occurs best when you have feedback on your performance and use that feedback to enhance your learning. 

Communication
     Communication is essential to the learning process.  If the question is brief, email is the most efficient method of contact.  Communication between students is strongly encouraged.  It is a requirement to get two students' phone numbers and email addresses on the first day of class so that you may collaborate on notes and have a study partner.

Important Withdrawal Dates:   Wednesday 9/13 last day for 100% refund for withdrawal from a course and last day to register for a course; Tuesday 10/10  last day for 50% refund for withdrawal from a course;  Tuesday 10/24 last day to academically withdraw from the course (no refund) .

Academic Honesty
     It is expected that all work handed in for this class is based upon your learning and personal effort. Violations of academic integrity, including cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and lying, can not be tolerated. Please familiarize yourself with the University's Academic Honesty Policy. 

Course Schedule
This 28 course day schedule is a general outline and is subject to change.
Alterations to course schedule will be announced in class.