Psychology 2070B 650 FW24
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.
WESTERN UNIVERSITY
LONDON CANADA
Department of Psychology
Winter 2025
Psychology 2070B - 650
Social Psychology
1 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
An introduction to the theories, methods, findings, techniques and problems encountered in the study of people as social beings.
Antirequisites: Psychology 2720A/B, 2780E
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. 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 COURSE INFORMATION:
Lecture (Online/Asynchronous): New lectures will be posted at 9am each Monday
COURSE STAFF:
Instructor: Dr. Erin Heerey
Office: see Brightspace
Email: eheerey@uwo.ca
Office Hours: TBD; Zoom (see link on OWL; passcode: 2070b)
TAs: See information on OWL for names, email addresses and office hours.
Students must have a reliable internet connection and computer that are compatible with online learning system requirements.
3 COURSE MATERIALS
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 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 and knowledge of the replication crisis and how it may shape the discipline in years to come.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
|
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 |
Exams; Reading annotations |
|
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; Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reading annotations |
|
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; Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reading annotations |
|
Debate and reflect upon social psychological concepts and their application to everyday experience |
Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reading annotations; Reflection assignments |
|
Application of Methodologies. Explain the scientific study of social psychology to a non-academic/non-psychologist |
Online readings; Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reading annotations; Reflection assignments |
|
Integrate knowledge gained from the empirical tradition of social psychology with knowledge gained from the “folk” psychological perspective
|
Video lectures; Online readings; Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reflection assignments |
|
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge. Identify and think critically about weakness in social psychology research methods |
Video lectures; Online readings; Reflection assignments |
Exams; Reading annotations; Reflection assignments |
5 EVALUATION
Reading annotations 10%
Topic reflections 12%
Midterm Exam 36%
Final Exam 42%
The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4 and are necessary for meeting these learning objectives.
Reading Annotations (10%)
*** This assessment has flexible deadlines.
It is exempt from the academic considerations policy. ***
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. 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 Perusall’s large language model. More information on Perusall, the grading rubric, how many and what types of comments you need to make and how automated grading works is available on OWL.
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 Friday at 5:00pm 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 55 hours to complete the reading (this effectively gives you until Sunday at 11:55pm). 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, the assignment deadline is flexible, and your lowest 2 marks will be dropped, I will not accept any accommodations or excuses for late work.
Topic Reflections (12%)
*** This assessment has flexible deadlines.
It is exempt from the academic considerations policy. ***
Each week, starting in week 3, you will complete an exercise designed to introduce you to the week’s topic. These exercises will include an online adaptation of a published research study related to the topic in question. These will be designed to give you a hands-on feel for what the week’s topic is. Following this, you will receive a link to a short video (about 5-7 minutes) explaining the experiment/study, the idea it tests, and its historic results. Finally, you will be asked to complete a short reflection statement on the experiment itself, in which you consider what the experiment measured from your own perspective (e.g., did you agree with the original researchers about what was going on, do you think that the data from the class will replicate the original findings). As part of this reflection, you will answer a short set of multiple-choice opinion items and write a persuasive paragraph in which you respond to a targeted question about the topic (250 words max). Results from the study, along with multiple choice reflections will be aggregated and presented to the class in a mini-lecture that summarizes the outcome and relates it back to the week’s topic.
Links for these exercises will be available on Mondays at 9am. Ideally, you should complete the topic reflection before you begin the reading/lecture for the week. Therefore, the due date for these assignments will be Thursday at 11:55pm. However, you will have a 72-hour grace period for this assignment, meaning that you can submit your results/reflection until Sunday at 11:55pm. At the end of the grace period, the experiment and reflection links will close and the short video about the experiment will be made available on OWL. Any reflections not completed by the expiration of the grace period will receive a score of 0. Note that because participation in the weekly reflection is worth < 2% per week, the assignment deadline is flexible, and your lowest 1 mark will be dropped, I will not accept any accommodations or excuses for late work.
Exams (78%)
There will be two exams in the course. These exams will be online, synchronous and scheduled by the registrar. The midterm (36%) will cover the course material from weeks 1-5. The final (42%) will be cumulative (weeks 1-12).
*** Final Exams are always exempt from the academic considerations policy. ***
*** The Midterm Exam is the designated course component that is exempt from the academic considerations policy. ***
Both exams will follow a similar format. They will include multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, and select-all-that-apply items. Exam items will assess a range of learning outcomes 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 be scheduled by the registrar for the week listed in the course schedule below. The final exam will be scheduled by the registrar during the April exam period. If you are an accommodated student, your time will be adjusted according to the time listed in your official accommodation. Because the final is cumulative, a make-up exam will NOT be offered for the midterm. A make-up will be offered for the final exam. It will take place online in May and the exact time/date will be announced on OWL. Note that the format and/or items on the make-up exam may differ from the main final exam (although the make-up exam will remain a cumulative exam). Please ensure that any travel plans you make during the semester allow you to complete the make-up exam in case you need to miss the main exam time.
The midterm exam will be conducted open book and will not be individually proctored. However, it is expected that you work independently. The answers on the exam must be entirely your own work. If there is evidence that you worked with another student on the exam or that the work is not entirely your own, you will receive a score of 0. You may not use any large language models (e.g., ChatGPT or similar) on the exam, as this constitutes work that is not your own. 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 an exam only once. Evidence of working with others, sharing test items, etc., will be formally pursued as academic misconduct. If cheating is detected on the midterm, the final exam will become a closed-book, proctored (Proctortrack) exam.
POLICY ON MISSING COURSEWORK
Reading Annotations: Assignments are due at 5:00pm on Friday evening of the week they are due (see schedule below). The grace period for completing your annotations is until Sunday at 11:55pm. Please ensure that you give yourself enough time to complete your submission by this time. There is no need to email the course staff about late readings, as the submission portal will remain available until the grace period expires. If your annotations have not been completed by this time, they will receive a score of 0. Because the annotations are worth < 1% each, there is a grace period between the due date and annotation portal closure, and the lowest 2 scores are dropped, I will not accept any excuses for missed annotations.
Topic Reflections: Reflections are due at 5:00pm on Thursday evening of the week they are due (see schedule below). The grace period for completing your annotations is until Sunday at 11:55pm. Please ensure that you give yourself enough time to complete your submission by this time. There is no need to email the course staff about late submissions, as the submission portal will remain available until the grace period expires. If your reflection has not been completed by this time, it will receive a score of 0. Because the reflections are worth < 2% each, there is a grace period between the due date and annotation portal closure, and the lowest 1 score is dropped, I will not accept any excuses for missed reflections.
Exams: If you need to miss an exam due to illness or other issue, you MUST request relief from academic counselling. Without an approved consideration from academic counselling, you will receive a score of 0 on the exam. There will be one opportunity to make up the final exam. The make-up final exam will be held on a date and time in May that will be announced on OWL. Note that the make-up exam may include new test questions. The instructor may also opt to make this a closed-book, oral exam conducted via Zoom.
You will NOT have an opportunity to make up the midterm exam. Instead, if you have an approved consideration for the midterm, you will receive a midterm score based on the items on the final exam that cover the same content as the midterm. Your proportion correct on these items will be used to calculate a midterm score for you. Your final exam score will then be calculated based on the proportion of items you get correct that cover content from the second part of the course.
The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level to 2099-level courses
72% 2100-2999-level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines, which are as follows (see: https://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
In the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.
Policy on Grade Rounding
Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered.
6 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
Weekly Reading Annotation & Reflection Assignments
On Monday of each week, a new lesson, including associated reading and reflection will be released on OWL, starting in Week 2. The reflections will be due on Thursday at 11:55pm and the annotations will be due on Friday at 5:00pm.
Midterm Exam TBA (Week 6)
Final Exam TBA (April Exam Period)
7 CLASS SCHEDULE
|
Class |
Topic |
Reading/Reflection |
|
1 6 Jan |
Course Introduction The Replication Crisis in Social Psychology |
https://nobaproject.com/modules/an-introduction-to-the-science-of-social-psychology https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-replication-crisis-in-psychology |
|
2 13 Jan |
The Scientific Method Critical Thinking |
Week 2 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) |
|
3 20 Jan |
Social Cognition |
Week 3 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 3 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
4 27 Jan |
Emotion |
Week 4 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 4 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
5 3 Feb |
The Self and Others |
Week 5 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 5 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
6 10 Feb |
Midterm (Online, Synchronous) Time TBA Exam tests content from weeks 1-5 |
No new readings/reflections |
|
7 17 Feb |
Reading week |
No coursework |
|
8 24 Feb |
Social Influence & Conformity |
Week 8 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 8 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
9 3 Mar |
Attitudes & Attitude Change |
Week 9 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 9 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
10 10 Mar |
Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination |
Week 10 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 10 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
11 17 Mar |
Group Processes |
Week 11 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 11 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
12 24 Mar |
Relationships |
Week 12 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 12 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
13 31 Mar |
Competition & Cooperation |
Week 13 Perusall annotations due (Friday, 5pm) Week 13 Reflection due (Thursday, 11:55pm) |
|
Exam Period |
Final Exam (Online, Synchronous) Exam tests content from weeks 1-12 |
Time: TBA |
8 Academic Integrity
Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.
Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
Statement on Use of Electronic Devices
Electronic devices are allowed during ordinary class periods. Electronic devices (all types) may not be used during examinations, excepting the limited use of the computer on which you take the exam.
Plagiarism Detection Software
All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. 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.
Use of AI
The use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce written work is not permitted unless permission is granted by the instructor for specific circumstances. Any work submitted must be the work of the student in its entirety unless otherwise disclosed. When used, AI tools should be used ethically and responsibly, and students must cite or credit the tools used in line with the expectation to use AI as a tool to learn, not to produce content.
Multiple Choice Exams
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.
Exam Proctoring Software
Tests and examinations for online courses may be conducted using a remote proctoring service. More information about this remote proctoring service, including technical requirements, is available on Western’s Remote Proctoring website at: https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca.
9 Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education
View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link.
Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western.
If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information. Email: aew@uwo.ca Phone: 519 661-2147
10 Absence & Academic Consideration
View Western’s policy on academic consideration for medical illnesses this link
Find your academic counsellor here: https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/faculty_academic_counselling.html
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain academic considerations. Students must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence.
Medical Absences
Submit a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner to Academic Counselling in your Faculty of registration to be eligible for Academic Consideration.
Nonmedical Absences
Submit appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in your Faculty of registration to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Religious Consideration
Students seeking accommodation for religious purposes are advised to contact Academic Counselling at least three weeks prior to the religious event and as soon as possible after the start of the term.
11 Other Information
- Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca
- Student Development Services: www.sdc.uwo.ca
- Psychology Undergraduate Program: https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/index.html
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ 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.
If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).
Copyright Statement
Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos 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 any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
12 Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton. Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our society.
