Sociology 10722/20722: Introduction to Social Psychology

Spring 2006

101 DeBartolo

Lectures: T, Th 11:00-12:15

Professor Dan Myers

Office: 821 Flanner Hall, 631-6463

Office Hours: M 4:00-5:00 or by appt.

Web Page for this course: http://www.nd.edu/~dmyers/courses/10722sp05/

Teaching Assistant: Liz Martinez (lizmartinez@nd.edu) Graders: Amanda Pasch (ahill5@nd.edu) Maria Diaz (mdiaz5@nd.edu) Office hours are by appointment. Office: 841 Flanner Hall, 631-3008.

You are assigned to a TA/Grader by last name: Martinez: Last Names A-Ga Pasch: Last Names Ge-M Diaz: Last Names N-Z Email is the best way to reach any of us.

Purpose of the Course:

Social psychology studies how individuals and groups are influenced by other individuals and groups. In this broad introduction to social behavior, we will learn about what makes people do the things they do: What decides who someone will fall in love with? Where do aggressive, violent, and criminal behaviors come from? Why are some people more charitable than others? Why do some people obey authority and conform while others always have to buck the trend? Why are some people lazier when they work in groups? What is the source of people's stereotypes and prejudices? How can we overcome them? What causes conflict between groups? And finally, what makes us become who we are?

Required Text:

Michener, H. Andrew, DeLamater, John D., and Myers, Daniel J. 2004. Social Psychology (5th ed.). Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Course Requirements:

1. Exams Midterm I: 20%, Midterm II: 20%, Final: 40%. Final exam is comprehensive.

2. Short Papers 15% (3 papers, 5% each)

3. Annotated Bibliography 5%

4. Research Participation Credit

Grade Scale: A: 93-100%, A-: 90-92, B+: 87-89, B: 83-86, B-: 80-82,

C+: 77-79, C: 73-76, C-: 70-72, D: 60-69, F: Below 60%

Course Outline

Week of Jan. 16 Introduction, Theories, and Research Methods

MDM: Ch. 1 & 2

Week of Jan. 23 Becoming Who We Are: Socialization

MDM: Ch. 3

Week of Jan. 30 Presenting Ourselves: The Self and Managing Impressions

MDM: Ch. 4 & 9

Week of Feb. 6 Understanding Others: Perception and Cognition

MDM: Ch. 5

** Paper 1 Due on Tuesday, Feb 7

Week of Feb. 13 Attitudes

MDM: Ch. 6

Week of Feb. 20 Symbolic Communication

MDM: Ch. 7

NO CLASS ON FEB. 23 For Midterm I

********* First Midterm Exam, Must be complete by 11:00pm Monday, Feb 27 *********

Week of Feb. 27 Persuasion and Influence

MDM: Ch. 8

Week of Mar. 6 Altruism and Aggression

MDM: Ch. 10 & 11

** Paper 2 Due on Tuesday, Mar. 7

*************** MIDSEMESTER BREAK *****************

Week of Mar. 20 Interpersonal Attraction

MDM: Ch. 12

Week of Mar. 27 Groups I: Conformity and Interaction

MDM: Ch. 13

Week of Apr. 3 Groups II: Working in Groups

MDM: Ch. 14

** Paper 3 Due on Tuesday, Apr. 4th.

Week of Apr. 10 Groups III: Intergroup Conflict

MDM: Ch. 15

NO CLASS ON Apr. 13 For Midterm II

****** Second Midterm Exam, Must be complete by 11:00pm Monday, Apr. 17 ******

Week of Apr. 17 Life Course and Gender Roles

MDM: Ch. 16

Week of Apr. 24 Deviance and Social Control

MDM: Ch. 18

** Annotated Bibliography Entries Due on Tuesday, Apr. 25

Week of May 1 Collective Behavior and Social Movements

MDM: Ch. 19

FINAL EXAMINATION: Must be complete by Tuesday, May 9, 12:30pm.

Policies

Office Hours: Please take advantage of office hours to come in and discuss questions about class material or problems you are having with the course. If you wish to meet with one of us but cannot during the regular times please stop one of us before or after one of the lectures to arrange a suitable time. If you plan to visit me during my office hours, please let me know ahead of time so I can be sure to be there. As the department chair, I am often called into unexpected meetings and cannot always guarantee that I will be sitting in my office during office hours unless I have confirmed an appointment with you.

Attendance: Although I expect you to attend all classes, I will not take attendance in lectures. Failing to attend class regularly will be detrimental because I will not simply repeat material from the text in my lectures.

Reading: Reading assignments are an essential component of this course. Failing to do all the reading will detrimental because you will be held responsible for material in the reading that is not covered in class. Reading assignments should be completed prior to the week for which they are assigned. My lectures will assume that you have already completed the assigned reading.

Academic Misconduct: Any suspected instance of cheating or plagiarism will be referred to the Honesty Committee. The course penalty for academic misconduct is a zero credit for the assignment and whatever disciplinary action is levied by the Honesty Committee/University. No opportunities to re-do assignments will be given. Two instances of academic misconduct will result in automatic failure of the course. I urge you to carefully read the standards for academic conduct in your student handbooks (du Lac).

Papers and Annotated Bibliography: More information will be distributed about the content and form of these assignments next week. Assignments are due at the start of the class on their due dates. This policy exists to keep you from missing class while putting the finishing touches on your paper. Plan ahead and complete your paper early because any paper received after the start of class will incur an automatic 10% penalty. Any paper received later than 24 hours after the due date will receive zero credit.

Exams: Failure to take an exam by the prescribed deadline will result in a grade of zero for the exam, except under extreme circumstances such as serious illness or a death in the family. The policies related to make-up exams are outlined in your Notre Dame student handbooks.

Exams will be given on-line via Web CT/Vista. To take an exam, go to http://vista.nd.edu/ and sign in using your afs id and password. I will demonstrate the specifics of the procedure during the class and post a practice exam prior to the first exam. Make sure you log on an attempt the practice exam so you know you will not have an technical difficulties when the time comes to take the real exam.

Exams are timed, open-book exams. You must not take the exam in collaboration with anyone else—it is an individual assessment. You may, however, repeat the exam as many times as you wish. The exam is structured to give you a random selection of 40 questions from a test bank each time you take it, therefore, it will be different each time. Your grade for the exam will be the grade you earned on the final attempt. You will have one hour for each attempt (40 questions). Exams will become available to you on the Thursday before the deadline at 8:00am. You will have until 11:00pm the following Monday to take the exam as many times as you wish. Graders and the instructors will stop answering questions about course material and will not hold review sessions during the period the exam is available.

The final exam will proceed the same way that the midterms do, except the deadline for completion will be the time when our assigned final exam period ends (Tuesday May 9, 12:30pm).

Required Research Credit

Sociological and psychological theories are developed through scientific studies of human behavior. In order for you to gain an appreciation of the critical role that research plays in the social sciences, you are required to earn 2 hours of research credit. Credit can be earned via two methods: (i) volunteering to participate in a research experiment conducted by faculty and graduate students in the sociology department or (ii) reading published research articles on a particular topic (approved by the instructor) and submitting a written review of them.

Experimental Participation:

This semester, we will be asking you to participate in several studies. First, there will be an in-class survey of about 30 minutes. Second, we will ask you to do a survey on the web which will take about 30 minutes. Third, you will participate in a laboratory study being conducted by a social psychologist in the psychology department.

If you wish to participate in this set of studies, You will indicate so by signing up on a sheet that will be circulated in class. If you decide later to participate, you can sign up on the sheet by contacting the instructor. For laboratory experiment, a research assistant will call you to schedule you for an experimental session at a time convenient for you. The research assistant will tell where your particular session will be held and give you additional information about the study in which you will be participating.

The studies in which you will participate has been approved by the University Committee on the Protection of Human Subjects. This is an independent committee responsible for evaluating the ethics & safety of all research conducted at Notre Dame. You will be asked to read and sign a consent form at the beginning of every experiment. Experimenters must provide sufficient truthful information about the experiment before it begins so that you are capable of giving "informed consent."

Written Research Reviews:

If you choose this option to satisfy your research requirement, please see the instructor for details concerning the length of the paper, how it will be evaluated, and how research credit points will be determined.