Psychology 3723G-001

Attitudes and Attitude Change

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

This course will describe research and theory in social psychology relating to attitudes. Topics to be covered include dissonance, factors associated with effective persuasion, resistance to persuasion, advertising, religious attitudes, environmental attitudes, prejudice and propaganda.

Prerequisite: Psychology 2820E (or both Psychology 2800E and 2810)

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.

Antirequisites: Psychology 3710F/G, 3721F/G, 3740F/G

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.

2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour; 0.5 course

2.0    COURSE INFORMATION

Instructor

Paolo A. Palma (ppalma@uwo.ca)    

     Office Hours: Mon 4:30 – 6:30 (SSC 6327)         

 

 

Teaching Assistants:

Zhuo Li (zli2455@uwo.ca)

Section: 002, 003        

 

Joshua Patenaude (jpatena3@uwo.ca)  

Section: 004, 005

    

     Time and Location of Classes:  

 

Section

Location

Day

Time

LEC 001

UCC-37

Monday

7:00 – 9:00 PM

 

 

 

 

TUT 002

SSC-3028

Wednesday

3:30 – 4:30PM

TUT 003

SSC-3028

Wednesday

4:30 – 5:30 PM

TUT 004

SH-3305

Thursday

3:30 – 4:30 PM

TUT 005

SH-3305

Thursday

4:30 – 5:30 PM

                                                                                   

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western

http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

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 Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.

3.0  TEXTBOOK

There is NO textbook for this course. Readings will come from journal articles which you can access either through Western Libraries or are made open-access online by researchers. Please see the weekly reading list for details.

 

4.0    COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the basic theories, methods, and findings in the literature on attitudes and attitude change. Topics include the structure and function of attitudes, its measurement, and mechanisms underlying persuasion, advertising, propaganda, and prejudice.

 

Lectures are the primary mode of instruction for the course. Students will learn the basics and fundamentals for each topic through lecture content. Although lecture notes will be posted online, these notes will only be a bare-bones summary of what will be discussed; students are expected to attend every lecture and take notes. Assigned readings are meant to compliment the lecture either as foundational papers, or as papers tackling contemporary issues in research and society.

 

Tutorials will focus on specific aspects of the week’s lecture. Some tutorials may involve discussions of the week’s topic and/or reading or hands-on activities on how to apply that week’s topic in the real world.

 

   4.1    STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES 

Assessment Information

Learning Outcome

Examinations

·          Describe theories, research methods, and findings regarding the study of attitudes and attitude change.

·          Discuss critical concepts and theories that are important in the field of attitude research.

 

Tutorials

·          Apply theoretical principles and research findings to examples of attitude formation and change in everyday life.

 

Critical Thought Papers

·          Describe and critically evaluate research findings from social psychology.

·          Communicate clearly and cogently in writing using the discourse of psychology.

 

5.0     EVALUATION

5.1 EXAMINATIONS—60% total (Midterm = 25%; Final Exam = 37%)

 

Course content (lectures, readings, tutorials) will be evaluated through a mid-term exam (25%) administered during class time, and a cumulative final exam (37%) during the exam period. The examinations will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and long answer questions.

 

     5.2 TUTORIALS—10% total

 

Students are expected to attend tutorials every week and actively participate in each week’s activity. The tutorial will be marked holistically based on participation for a total of 10% of your final grade. This means that you can miss one or two tutorials and still attain the full 10% of your tutorial marks if you consistently participate in class. Participation means active engagement in tutorial and not simply being present. Students should be participating in in-class activities, being attentive when there is a mini-lecture component, participating in discussion, and being respectful of other students.

 

5.3 ESSAY COMPONENT—28% (Four Critical Thought Papers, 7% each)

 

The purpose of the essay component is to assess student’s ability to understand scientific literature and critically assess research findings. To that end, students are required to submit four critical thought papers based on assigned papers chosen for this assignment (note: these are not the same as the weekly readings).

 

In 500 – 750 words (i.e., 2 – 3 pages double-spaced), students are expected to succinctly summarize the assigned paper (approximately 150 – 200 words) and discuss their thoughts on this paper (approximately 350 – 600 words). As these four papers are equivalent to a final essay component, it is NOT sufficient to simply give your opinion on the paper. To get good marks, students should be relating these papers to other research discussed in class or readings and discuss how these expand on each other, assess the methodology and claims made by the paper, and ground their critiques in scientific literature, and/or address these limitations. The purpose of these thought papers is to develop skills to critically analyse research findings so a primary focus will be on the quality of critiques, and not the quantity.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.

 

This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.

 

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  ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE

Midterms will be conducted during class time. To accommodate for self-reported absences, the make-up midterm will be scheduled 72 hrs after the midterm. If you are unable to attend the midterm or make-up midterm, additional accommodation details can be found in Psychology Undergraduate website:

https://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html#pmeed

 

Examination

Date & Time

Location

Midterm

February 10 (7:00 – 9:00 PM)

TBA

Make-up Midterm

February 13 (7:00 – 9:00 PM)

TBA

Final Exam

Final Exam Period (TBA)

TBA

Critical Thought Papers will be due throughout the semester. Late submissions will be penalized 1% of the total mark per day, including weekends. For example, since each thought paper is worth 7% of the total mark, a thought paper submitted two days late (i.e. submitted the following Sunday) can only be worth a maximum of 5%. Because of this, thought papers that are one week late will not be accepted. Assignments will be submitted online through the assignment tab. Note: Assignments will be submitted to Turnitin through OWL, but students will only be able to submit assignments once.

 

Critical Thought Paper

Due Date

Assigned Reading

Thought Paper 1

January 24 (11:55 PM)

TBA

Thought Paper 2

February 24 (11:55 PM)

TBA

Thought Paper 3

March 13 (11:55 PM)

TBA

Thought Paper 4

April 3 (11:55 PM)

TBA

7.0   CLASS SCHEDULE

Date

Topic

Readings

(see full reading list for details)

Week 1:

January 6

Introduction

 

Tutorial: None

None

Week 2:

January 13

 The Structure and Function of Attitudes

 

Tutorial: Using the Library + How to Read Research Articles

TBA

Week 3:

January 20

 

Assessing Attitudes

 

Tutorial: Designing a short attitude survey

Axt (2018)

 

Payne et al. (2017)

Week 4:

January 27

**Thought Paper 1 due Jan 24**

Attitudes and Cognition

 

Tutorial: Fact or Opinion: Understanding News Reporting

Metzger et al. (2015)

Week 5:

February 3

Attitudes and Emotion

 

Tutorial: TBA

TBA

Week 6:

February 10

**In-Class Midterm February 10**

**No Lecture or Tutorial**

None

***NO CLASSES: SPRING READING WEEK FEBRUARY 17 – 21***

Week 7:

February 24

**Thought Paper 2 due Feb 24**

Attitudes and Behaviour

 

Tutorial: TBA

TBA

Week 8:

March 2

**Office hours cancelled**

Attitudes and Individual Differences | Guest Lecture: Hiten Dave

 

Tutorial: TBA

Olson et al. (2001), JPSP

Week 9:

March 9

**Thought Paper 3 due March 13**

Attitudes and Social Context

 

Tutorial: TBA

Ofosu et al. (2019), PNAS

 

Kroeper et al. (2019), ASAP

Week 10:

March 16

Persuading Others: The Messenger

 

Tutorial: TBA

TBA

Week 11:

March 23

Persuading Others: The Message

 

Tutorial: TBA

TBA

Week 12:

March 30

**Thought Paper 4 due April 3**

Future Directions in Attitude Research

 

Tutorial: TBA

TBA

***FINAL EXAM PERIOD: APRIL 6 – APRIL 26***

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

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams may be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

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://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12

 

The full policy for consideration for absences can be accessed at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic_Consideration_for_absences.pdf


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

 

If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:

  1. Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
  2. For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;

For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.

Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods: http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html

Students seeking academic consideration:

  • are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;  
  • are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;

must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence



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
- 2019-2020 Calendar References

No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.

Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute lecture notes, wiki material, and other course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.