Faculty of Social Sciences
Communication & Social Psychology
63-008-18
Dr. Kim P. Hershorn
Type of Course: Mandatory Year: First
Academic Year: 2015-16 Semester: 2nd
Credit Hours: 1 annual
Lecturer Details:
Time: Tues. 2nd Semester 14:00-16:00; room TBA
Office Hours: 11:00-12:00 or by appointment
Office: Building: 109, #1
Email: kim.hershorn@biu.ac.il
Media guru, Marshall McLuhan said that communications media are so
pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic,
psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave
no part of us untouched, unaffected, or unaltered. But like fish in water,
we are mostly unaware of the environment we are so immersed in. How
do we become conscious actors so that we can shape our selves, our
lives, our culture and our world according to our deepest values?
A. Course Objectives
This course aims to foster critical thinking about constructions of identity and reality; and
awareness of how we see and interact with our cultural environment, ourselves, others and life in
general.
Salient themes in communications studies will be used to investigate key concepts in social
psychology. The course concludes with an introduction to the solutions-based approach of positive
psychology.
Students are challenged to become conscious “agents”, affecting their own lives and the world.
Although we are always influenced by external factors (the social norms of the cultures in which we
are immersed), we can learn to discern between internal and external factors that motivate us—so
we can live what matters most.
B. Course Requirements
Attendance & Active Participation are important. If you miss more than 3 classes without a
verified, valid reason, your exam and final paper may not be graded. You will also be expected to
actively participate in class discussions and activities.
Required Reading: The reading list below + PowerPoint presentations with video clips & images
will be posted on our Moodle site. Please check regularly. Some for updated readings for that week
as they may change as I find new, exciting research!
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Paper: 8-10 pages double spaced, Times New Roman 12pt. To be submitted hard copy at the exam.
Use APA style for your paper and reference list:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1/.
Final Exam: Some short answer and integrative essay questions. Synthesize readings, lectures and
class discussions. (Closed book)
C. Final Grade Apportionment:
Attendance and Participation: 10%.
Paper: 50%
Final exam: 40%.
* To pass the course, a minimal grade of 60% is required in each.
D. The Course Program and Readings
Sessions 1-2. Intro: The Self & The Cultural Environment
Cherry, Kendra. What is Social Psychology? About Education. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/socialpsych.htm
--. Social Psychology, The Basics. About Education. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/socpsycbasics.htm
--. What is a Social Psychologist? About Education. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologycareerprofiles/a/social-psychologists.htm
--. Research Areas. About Education. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/p/socialresearch.htm
--. What is Self-Concept? About Education. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/sindex/f/self-concept.htm
Carey, B. (2007 May 22) This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It). The New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/health/psychology/22narr.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Session 3. Conformity
Smith, E.R. & Diane M. Mackie. (2007) Chpt. 9: Conformity to Social Norms 307–314; Chapter
10: The norm of obedience: Submitting to authority, 369–379. Social psychology: Third Edition.
London: Psychology Press.
302 SMI s3 (1142518)
Dewer, G. (2013 Jan 6). The Curse of the Herd: What does it Mean to Grow up in a Society That
Permits no Strays? Psychology Today. http://www.psychologytoday.com/em/115049
Shpancer, N. (2010 Dec 5) You are a Conformist (that is, you are human): Recognize that
Conformity is Inevitable and Avoid its Pitfalls. Psychology Today.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/em/51416
Session 4. Agency & Emotional Intelligence
What is agency? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_%28sociology%29
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Grewal, D. & Salovey, P. (2005) Feeling Smart: The Science of Emotional Intelligence. American
Scientist. 93, 330-339.
http://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/dmessinger/c_c/rsrcs/rdgs/emot/salovey.emot_intell.amersci.05.
pdf
Sessions 5-6. The Self & the Other
Smith & Mackie. (2007) Chpt 5: Perceiving Groups (Stereotyping), 141-175 & Chpt 6 Me, You,
and Them: Effects of Social Categorization, 197–203.
Diamond, S.A. (2013) Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: What is the "Shadow"? Understanding
the "dark side" of our psyche. Psychology Today. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/em/93394
Parenti, Michael. The Make-Believe Media: Media Images Influence How We Appraise a Host of
Social Realities. In Mass Media 95/96. Ed. Joan Gorham. Connecticut: Dushkin. 194-196.
Also in The Humanist, 50(6), 18-20, 1990 – Ejournal (437473)
Media Education Foundation. (2013 April 13) Edward Said On Orientalism. (video clip)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=fvc8eyd_Z_g
Session 7. Making Consumer Culture 1: Media Ownership, Citizens & Consumers
Alexander, J. (2014 10 29) Viewpoint: How the consumer dream went wrong. BBC News.
Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29786733
Peck, J and Phillips, R. (2008) Citizen versus Consumer. Citizen Renaissance. Retrieved from:
http://www.citizenrenaissance.com/the-book/part-one-three-seismic-shifts/chapter-two-thewellbeing-imperative/citizen-versus-consumer/
Zrahiya, Zvi. (2011 11 15) Israel's media is riddled with alien interests. Ha’aretz. Retrieved from:
http://www.haaretz.com/business/israel-s-media-is-riddled-with-alien-interests-1.395639
Medad, I. (2011 11 23) Media Comment: Concentrated media power – in whose hands? Jerusalem
Post. Retrieved from: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Media-Comment-Concentratedmedia-power-in-whose-hands
The Media Power & Plurality Project Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI),
University of Westminister. (2014 May 2). Mediaplurality14: Tom Gibbons – What is ‘sufficient’
plurality? Retrieved from http://www.mediaplurality.com/2014/05/02/mediaplurality14-tomgibbons-what-is-sufficient-plurality/
Thomas, L. (2012 June 20) Google, BBC and Facebook should face media ownership review, rules
watchdog. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161888/Google-BBCFacebook-face-media-ownership-review-rules-watchdog.html#ixzz3ClTm5zNU
Session 8-9. Making Consumer Culture 2: Shaping Attitudes
Smith & Mackie, Chpt. 7: Attitudes and Attitude Change 235–258
Kilbourne, Jean. (1999) In Your Face…All Over the Place: Advertising is our Environment. Can’t
buy my love: how advertising changes the way we think and feel. New York: Touchstone, 57-75
N/A
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PBS documentary. (2014 Feb 18) Generation Like. (video clip)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/
Sessions 10. Prosocial Behavior, Solutions-Based Journalism & The Internet
Knickerbocker, LR. Prosocial Behavior. Retreived from:
http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper52.html
McGoldrick, J. & A. (2005) Peace Journalism: A Global Dialog for Democracy and Democratic
Media. Democratizing global media: one world, many struggles. Eds. Robert A. Hackett and
Yuezhi Zhao. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 269-288.
306.2 DEM 2005 (1170171)
Zaki, J. and JP Mitchell. (2013). Intuitive Prosocialty. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
22: 466
Ejournal (1184292)
Hill, S. (2013) The Menace of Cyberspace. Digital Revolutions: Activism in the Internet Age.
Oxford: New Internationalist
N/A
Sessions 11-12. Happiness & Well-being: New Trends in Positive Psychology
Lambert, C. (2007) The Science of Happiness: Psychology Explores Humans at their Best. Harvard
Magazine. Retrieved from http://harvardmag.com/pdf/2007/01-pdfs/0107-26.pdf
Eichstaedt, J. The World Well-Being Project. (2014 12 26) What Social Media Communicates
about the Well-being of Society. Retrieved from:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/social-media-and-social-well-being/
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