Psychology 2720A-001
Introduction to Social Psychology
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
An introduction to the theories, findings, methods, and problems encountered in the study of people as social beings. Emphasis will be placed on experimental research, conducted both in the laboratory and in the field. Content areas include: attitudes and social cognition, social interaction and influence, group processes and applications of social psychology.
Antirequisite(s): Psychology 2070A/B, Psychology 2712F/G, Psychology 2780E.
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.
Prerequisite(s): At least 60% in a 1000 level Psychology course.
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour; 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Dr. Corey Isaacs
Office: SSC 7440
Office Hours: by appointment
Email: cisaacs3@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistants: Jaclyn Siegel Courtney Hillier
Email: jsiegel3@uwo.ca chillie9@uwo.ca
Office Hours: TBA TBA
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays at 11:30 am - 1:30 pm in HSB-35
Time and Location of Tutorials/Labs: Section 002: Wednesdays at 2:30 - 3:30 pm in UCC-63
Section 003: Wednesdays at 3:30 - 4:30 pm in UCC-63If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to assist you. Please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these resources and on mental health.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Fehr, B., & Akert, R. M. (2017). Social Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition. Toronto: Pearson.
NOTE: Online access to the REVEL etextbook is required to complete the Online Quizzes portion of the course. The looseleaf copy of the textbook is optional and NOT sufficient for this course.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course students should have an understanding of the basic theories, methods, and findings in various areas of social psychology. The topics include attitudes, conformity, aggression, helping behaviour, social relations, social cognition, and prejudice.4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, the successful student should be able to:
- Identify key concepts, principles and overarching themes in social psychology.
- Interpret and critically evaluate social psychological research.
- Apply psychological principles to the understanding of everyday problems.
- Communicate accurately, clearly, and logically, in a way that would be broadly understandable to a non-specialist audience.
- Recognize the limits of one’s own knowledge and knowledge in the field of psychology and how this might influence the analysis and interpretations of broader issues.
- Work collaboratively with others to achieve a goal.
4.2 COURSE EXPECTATIONS
Classes will include lecture, discussion, activities, and videos. Class attendance is your responsibility, and you should attend class if you expect to succeed in this course. Some material covered in lecture will not be in the textbook and will be on the exams. I do not give out class notes, so if you miss a class, it is recommended that you obtain notes from a classmate. I will be happy to answer specific questions about class notes once you have obtained them.
During class, I encourage you to ask questions about concepts that are unclear, or to share examples that you think are relevant. I’m not on Western campus every day, so email is the best way to contact me outside of class, though I’m happy to meet in person as needed.
I expect that each of you will respect your classmates and me by arriving to class on time, ready to listen and participate. Please make sure your cell phones are either turned off or on mute when you arrive to class. In addition, please do not disrupt the class by carrying on private conversations during class time. For students with laptops, please note that your laptop is to be used only for taking notes for this course, not recreational purposes (e.g., Facebook, YouTube) or for doing work for another class. Inappropriate classroom laptop usage will result in laptop privileges being revoked.
5.0 EVALUATION
Student evaluation will be based on two exams, online chapter quizzes, and participation in the tutorials.
|
Component |
% of final grade |
|
Chapter Quizzes |
10% |
|
Tutorial Participation |
10% |
|
Midterm Exam |
40% |
|
Final Exam |
40% |
5.1 CHAPTER QUIZZES
The textbook for this course (i.e., REVEL Social Psychology) is an online, interactive etextbook, and includes quizzes as part of every chapter. These quizzes are worth 10% of your course grade, based on your best 10 of 11 quiz grades.
The quizzes must be completed by 11:59 pm on the Sunday PRIOR to the class in which we discuss the chapter material, and each quiz will be available online two weeks prior to its deadline.
5.2 TUTORIAL PARTICIPATION
Your participation in the weekly tutorial discussions and activities comprises 10% of your course grade and will be graded by your TA. You are encouraged to check in with your TA during the term to receive feedback on your participation grade to date.
5.3 EXAMS
Students must complete two exams consisting of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. The exams are NOT cumulative. See the Course Schedule below for the list of topics and readings covered on each exam.
All exams will be closed-book—no books, notes, cell phones, or other aids will be allowed. Please bring a couple of pencils, a good eraser, a watch, and your student identification to the examinations. It is recommended that you do NOT bring items such as laptops, backpacks, textbooks, notes, etc. with you to examinations. At the beginning of every examination, you will be asked to place all such items in a common area in the exam room and neither the instructor nor Western can be responsible for theft, damage, or loss of such items.
5.4 MAKE-UP EXAMS
Tests must be written on the scheduled dates unless you have a legitimate excuse recognized by the university administration. Valid reasons include medical or compassionate reasons, and must be substantiated by proper documentation (e.g., a medical certificate, which will be verified by an Academic Counselor in your Faculty). A student who misses a regularly scheduled exam for other reasons, or who cannot justify a claim, will be assigned a grade of zero for the exam.
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2190-2990 level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows Western's grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf):
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE
The Midterm Exam is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, and will cover textbook chapters 1 & 3-6 and the accompanying lecture material.
The Final Exam will be held during the December exam period (December 10-21 -- date and time to be announced on the course website) and will cover textbook chapters 7 - 12 and the accompanying online notes.
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
|
Dates |
Chapter |
Topic |
|
Sept. 11 |
Chapter 1 |
Introduction to Social Psychology |
|
Sept. 18 |
Chapter 3 |
Social Cognition: How We |
|
Sept. 25 |
Chapter 4 |
Social Perception: How We |
|
Oct. 2 |
Chapter 5 |
Self-Knowledge and the |
|
Oct. 7 - 13 |
READING WEEK |
|
|
Oct. 16 |
Chapter 6 |
Attitudes and Attitude Change |
|
Oct. 23 |
MIDTERM EXAM (Chapters 1 - 6) |
|
|
Oct. 30 |
Chapter 7 |
Conformity: Influencing Others |
|
Nov. 6 |
Chapter 8 |
Group Processes: |
|
Nov. 13 |
Chapter 9 |
Interpersonal Attraction: From First Impressions to Close Relationships |
|
Nov. 20 |
Chapter 10 |
Prosocial Behaviour: |
|
Nov. 27 |
Chapter 11 |
Aggression: Why Do We |
|
Dec. 4 |
Chapter 12 |
Prejudice: Causes and Cures |
|
December (TBA) |
FINAL EXAM (Chapters 7 - 12) |
|
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?Command=showCategory&PolicyCategoryID=1&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
10.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2018 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.
