Psychology 2070B-001 (Online for 2020-21)
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
ANTIREQUISITES: Psychology 2720A/B, 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.
3 lecture hours, 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Erin Heerey
Office: Zoom
Phone number: (519) 661-2111 ext. 86917
Office hours: By appointment only
Email: eheerey@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: Alexa Clerke
Office: Zoom
Office hours: By appointment only
Email: Alexa.Clerke@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: This course takes place ASYNCHRONOUSLY and ONLINE. That means you do not need to sign in at any particular time to engage in the coursework, as long as you are meeting the course milestones in a timely manner. Each week, Dr Heerey will give a short pre-recorded introductory lecture on the week’s topic and will offer an optional recorded SYNCHRONOUS Q&A (via zoom) on FRIDAYS from 10:30 – 11:30. You may join these sessions and ask/chat your questions in real time. You may also email any questions you have to Dr Heerey in advance (e.g., if you cannot attend synchronously). These meetings will be recorded and posted to the OWL site (typically later on the same day) so that if you are unavailable at the time they occur, you may always view them later.
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
The textbook for this class is a set of open (i.e., free) modules from the NOBA Psychology series. This means you may access all the reading through its creative commons license for free. The entire series is available at the link below – but for this class, we will only cover a small portion of the available content.
NOBA textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from: https://nobaproject.com/browse-content
Because of the way the participation component of the class works, you must access the required readings through Perusall.com. More information on how to access the Persuall course site and how to participate in the course component is available on OWL and in the introductory lecture video. The weekly reading lists will appear in Perusall.
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 as well as an understanding of different types of research methods in 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 the term, students should have developed the following skills:
|
Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
|
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge. Identify and illustrate the ways in which social psychological processes occur in daily life, such as how people perceive themselves and others and how they interact with the surrounding environment |
Online readings; Video Lectures; Q&A |
Multiple choice exams; Annotations in the readings |
|
Examine social psychology from an empirically-based, scholarly perspective, rather than from an intuitive or speculative perspective based solely on personal experience and observations
|
Online readings; Video lectures; Q&A |
Multiple choice exams; Annotations in the readings |
|
Application of Knowledge. Apply concepts and theories in social psychology to novel examples of behaviours and situations to make predictions about social behaviour and outcomes |
Online readings; Video lectures; Infographic assignments |
Multiple choice exams; Annotations in the readings; Infographic assignments |
|
Debate and reflect upon social psychological concepts and their application to everyday experience
|
Q&A; Infographic peer review |
Annotations in the readings; Infographic assignments |
|
Application of Methodologies. Explain the scientific study of social psychology to a non-academic/non-psychologist |
Annotations in the readings; Infographic assignment |
Multiple choice exams; Infographic assignment |
|
Integrate knowledge gained from the empirical tradition of social psychology with knowledge gained from the “folk” psychological perspective
|
Video lectures; Online readings |
Multiple choice exams; Annotations in the readings; Infographic assignment |
|
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge. Identify and think critically about weakness in social psychology research methods |
Online readings; Video lectures; SONA participation |
Multiple choice exams; Annotations in the readings
|
5.0 EVALUATION
EXAMS (69%)
Course evaluation will consist of two examinations, worth a total of 69% of the final grade. The midterm is worth 25%. The final exam is worth 44% and is cumulative. Both exams will follow a similar format. They will include multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, select-all-that-apply, and short answer items. Exam items will assess a range of things including general knowledge of course material, application of course material to real-world scenarios, interpretation of and critical thinking about social psychological findings and understanding of social psychology theories. The items will not be directly drawn from any test-bank. To prepare for the exams, please do your best to learn and understand the course content. Anything presented in any of the course materials may be tested on the exams (exceptions to this rule will be clearly noted). Your engaged participation while reading and listening to the lectures will help you do well on the exams.
The midterm will take place during the regular term (see schedule below). The final will occur during the final exam period in April. Because the final is cumulative, a make-up exam will NOT be offered for the midterm (see below). A make-up will be offered for the final exam. It will take place after the originally scheduled exam and the exact time/date will be announced once the final exam schedule has been released. Please ensure that any travel plans you make during the semester allow you to complete the make-up final in the event that you need to miss the main exam time for one reason or another. The exams will be conducted open book/open internet and will not be individually proctored (e.g., with Zoom or Proctortrack). However, it is Dr Heerey’s expectation that you work independently. To achieve that, the exams will use a linear format and you will not be able to return to an item once you complete it. You may take the exam only once. Evidence of working with others, sharing test items, etc., will be formally pursued as academic misconduct.
What to do if you need to miss an exam: You may opt to self-report or request that academic counseling excuse you from the midterm. Note, however, that if you decide to miss the midterm, the final exam will be worth 69% of the final course grade. That is a lot – so please think very carefully about whether you really must skip the midterm before you make your decision. In addition, if you do skip the midterm, you will not have the opportunity to test your knowledge of the course material and receive feedback prior to the drop deadline. If you miss the midterm and have an approved accommodation or self-reported absence, I will assign you a score based on your grade on the final exam questions that cover the same material as the midterm (these will be clearly marked on the final exam). In that case, your final exam grade will be based on the previously untested content from that exam.
To excuse yourself from the registrar-scheduled final exam session, you must seek accommodation with academic counselling by providing the course details, exam date and adequate documentation of your excuse (please do not pass excuse documentation to the course staff). If your accommodation is approved, you should contact Dr Heerey via email. Importantly, the make-up exam will consist of a new set of questions, of similar difficulty to the original items. However, the format of the make-up exam will NOT be the same. Instead of consisting of mainly multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, and select-all-that-apply items, it will consist of short answer and essay-type questions. Be sure that you understand the implications of this change before you decide to excuse yourself from the final exam.
INFOGRAPHIC ASSIGNMENT (22%)
Infographics are one way of communicating information to other people. Over the course of this assignment, you will create a series of two infographics (schedule appears below), uploading your work to OWL each time. For each infographic, you will illustrate some aspect of the course content and/or apply that content to a real-world problem using a visual explanation. Examples/additional information is available in the resources section of the course website. You will then be asked to review a series of 10 of your classmates’ infographics (the review rubric appears in the resources section of the course site). The goal of this assignment is to get you thinking creatively about the applications of the course content to real-world problems. To incentivize learning from the feedback you receive, the second infographic is worth a greater portion of the total grade than is the first. You might also consider this assignment as contributing to your educational work “portfolio” that will help you showcase your skills to future employers. The first infographic is worth 6%, the second is worth 8%. Each set of peer reviews is worth 4%. Unexcused late infographics/peer reviews will lose 5% per 24 hour period (or portion thereof).
READING ANNOTATIONS (8%)
As noted above, the assigned readings will be available via perusall.com. The idea behind Perusall is a simple one, supported by a large body of research: the more engaged you are with the course readings, the better you will learn and understand the material. In addition, evidence shows that regular access of course material (rather than leaving the reading until just before the exams) promotes better learning. Perusall supports both these ideas. How does it work? Each week, you will login to Perusall and complete the assigned readings. You may do so in a single sitting – or in several, depending on what works for you. Perusall measures engagement by allowing you to annotate the readings and engage in course dialogue with other students in the class. If you are actively engaged with the readings, you should have questions about the course material. Sometimes, these will be information-related (e.g., a question about how a process works, or a question about something you don’t understand). Other times, these will be more fundamental questions about why something works the way the reading describes. When you have a reading-related question, use the annotation tools in Perusall to note your question. You can also use the annotation tools to answer another student’s question and engage in relevant dialogue with your classmates. All of these annotations are graded by AI (Artificial Intelligence). More information on Perusall, the grading rubric, how many and what types of comments you need to make and how AI grading works is available in the OWL resources folder. Starting in week 2, you will be assigned a grade for the week based on the quality of your annotations. The deadline for completing the weekly readings is Thursday at 6:00pm in the week they are assigned. Although you should aim to complete the readings by this time, I will always allow you a grace period of an additional 78 hours to complete the reading (this effectively gives you until Sunday at midnight). Any annotations not completed by the expiration of the grace period will receive a score of 0. Note that because participation in the weekly reading is worth 1% per week and your 2 lowest marks will be dropped, I will not accept any accommodations or excuses for late work.
SYLLABUS QUIZ (1%)
In order to make sure that you fully understand the course outline and class policies, you must complete a short syllabus quiz. This quiz will be due on Monday, 25 January 2021 at 10:30am. The quiz is multiple-choice format and will be completed on OWL. To maximize your score please ensure that you read the syllabus fully before you take the quiz. Once you begin the quiz, you will have 20 minutes to complete it (this is approximately twice the time most people will need). You may take it only once. Once you complete a question, you may not go back to it. Because the quiz is due on 25 January, nearly a week after the late add deadline, and is worth only 1% of the course grade, I will not accept any accommodations or excuses for missing this quiz.
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
Extra Credit (OPTIONAL)
Because social psychology is an empirical discipline, participating in research is an excellent way to learn about the types of questions that social psychologists investigate. You may also be able to see some of the theories covered in the class in action in the laboratory. You will therefore have the opportunity to earn some extra credits toward your overall course grade by participating in research studies. These are the same studies in which first year students participate as part of Psychology 1000. In order to participate you will be given access to the SONA sign up system and you may choose any studies that you wish. To help make your participation more relevant to social psychology, a list of studies that are specifically within the domain of social psychology will be posted on the class website, however, you may complete any of the available research studies.
You will receive bonus credits added to your overall course grade for each study in which you participate, to a maximum of 3% of the grade. However, the bonus will only be added if you have achieved a passing course grade without any bonus credit – in other words before bonus credits are added you must get at least 50% on the coursework/exams. The maximum number of SONA credits for which you can receive course credit is 6.0. For each 1.0 SONA credit you receive, you will earn 0.5% extra credit. Note that if you sign up for a study and then fail to attend, you will receive a penalty equal to the number of SONA credits the study is worth (e.g., if your study was worth 1.5 credits, you will need a total of 7.5 credits to achieve the full extra credit bonus).
The SONA system will track study participation and I will be given the information at the end of the term in order to adjust your grade. This is an opportunity to earn extra credits and is not required as part of your normal grade, you will not lose any marks if you do not participate in studies. The opportunity to earn bonus marks ends at midnight the last day of classes in this term when SONA closes. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
Please note that grades in this class are based on what students earn. Grades are not rounded up (e.g., 79.4% does NOT become 80%) or adjusted for any reason.
6.0 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
|
Week |
Date |
Component |
Value |
|
2 |
January 21 |
Week 2 Perusall annotations due (6pm) *Note: Lowest 2 Perusall Scores dropped |
~1%* |
|
3 |
January 25 |
Syllabus Quiz Due in OWL (11:55pm) |
1% |
|
3 |
January 28 |
Week 3 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
4 |
February 4 |
Week 4 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
5 |
February 11 |
Week 5 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
7 |
February 22 |
Midterm Exam 1 (Tested Content: Weeks 1-5) Note: You will have 70 minutes to complete the exam once you begin. The exam will be available for 12 hours. |
25% |
|
7 |
February 26 |
Infographic 1 Due (6pm) |
6% |
|
8 |
March 4 |
Week 8 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
8 |
March 5 |
Infographic 1 Peer Review Due (6pm) |
4% |
|
9 |
March 11 |
Week 9 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
10 |
March 18 |
Week 10 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
11 |
March 25 |
Week 11 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
12 |
April 1 |
Week 12 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
13 |
April 8 |
Week 13 Perusall Annotations Due (6pm) |
~1%* |
|
13 |
April 5 |
Infographic 2 Due (6pm) |
8% |
|
14 |
April 12 |
Infographic 2 Peer Review Due (6pm) |
4% |
|
-- |
TBA |
Final Exam (Tested content: Weeks 1-13) Note: You will have 140 minutes to complete the exam once you begin. The exam will be available for 12 hours. |
44% |
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
|
Week |
Date |
Topic |
Online Reading @(perusall.com) |
|
1 |
January 11
|
Introduction |
- Introduction to the Science of Social Psychology - Thinking like a Psychological Scientist |
|
2 |
January 18
|
Knowledge Acquisition in Social Psychology
|
- Research Methods in Social Psychology - The Replication Crisis in Psychology |
|
3 |
January 25 |
Social Cognition |
- Theory of Mind - Social Cognition & Attitudes |
|
4 |
February 1
|
Emotion |
- Functions of Emotions - Culture & Emotion - Emotional Experience & Well-being |
|
5 |
February 8
|
Social Self
|
- Self and Identity - Self-Efficacy - Social Comparison |
|
6 |
February 15
|
Reading Week (no new course material) |
|
|
7 |
February 22
|
Midterm Exam 1 (Tested Content: Weeks 1-5) |
|
|
8 |
March 1
|
Cooperation and Interpersonal Attraction |
- Cooperation - Attraction and Beauty |
|
9 |
March 8 |
Relationships
|
- Love, Friendship & Social Support - Relationships & Well-being - Positive Relationships |
|
10 |
March 15
|
Conformity, Obedience & Social Influence |
- Conformity & Obedience - Persuasion: So Easily Fooled |
|
11 |
March 22
|
Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination
|
- Prejudice, Discrimination & Stereotyping |
|
12 |
March 29
|
Groups
|
- The Psychology of Groups - The Family - Culture |
|
13 |
April 5
|
Pro- & Anti-Social Behaviour
|
- Helping & Prosocial Behavior - Aggression & Violence |
|
14 |
April 12
|
Review and revision |
No new readings |
|
-- |
TBA
|
Final Exam (Tested content: Weeks 1-13) |
|
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:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- 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
- 2020-2021 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.
Policy on the Recording of Synchronous Sessions: All of the remote learning sessions for this course will be recorded. The data captured during these recordings may include your image, voice recordings, chat logs and personal identifiers (name displayed on the screen). The recordings will be used for educational purposes related to this course, including evaluations. The recordings may be disclosed to other individuals participating in the course for their private or group study purposes. Please contact the instructor if you have any concerns related to session recordings. Participants in this course are not permitted to record the sessions, except where recording is an approved accommodation, or the participant has the prior written permission of the instructor.
