PSYCH 201: Intro to Social Psychology Fall 2013 Instructor: Melanie Tannenbaum, M.A. melaniebtannenbaum@gmail.com Office: Psychology 405 Office Hours: Monday 11:00 AM -­‐ 12:00 PM Course Supervisor: Dr. Caroline Tancredy tancredy@illinois.edu Office: Psychology 229 Course Times: Section I: TR 11:00-­‐12:20 Section J: TR 12:30-­‐1:50 Course Location: Psychology Building Room 32 Course Overview & Philosophy
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. This course is designed to be a general survey of the entire field of social psychology – it will give you a “first taste” for many of the sub-­‐areas. We will meet in class twice each week, and each week we will cover approximately one broad topic area. Supplemental readings will be posted on Compass2g every Sunday; you should read them before the Thursday class period. At the end of class on Thursday, you will take a weekly quiz to assess your understanding of that week’s topic area. Psychology, especially social psychology, is about much more than memorization. It is about applying your knowledge to the world around you and understanding why things happen the way that they do. It is my hope that this class will not only be about psychology; it will also be a class about history, literature, pop culture, current events, social relationships, advertising, the media, and much more. I do not care if you can memorize years, citations, or exact numbers. I would rather see you applying what you have learned to the world around you, whether that means an advertising campaign, group behavior at a frat party, or what you saw last week on Game of Thrones. Course Grading
Midterm Exam 35% Final Exam 35% Quizzes 20% Participation 10% Tentative Grade Cut-­Offs A+ 97% C+ 79% A 94% C 75% A-­‐ 92% C-­‐ 72% B+ 89% D+ 69% B 85% D 65% B-­‐ 82% D-­‐ 62% Once your grade is calculated, there will be no rounding up. For example, if you have a 91.99, you cannot have your grade rounded up to a 92. You cannot earn an extra point after the final exam scores have been calculated and all of the extra credit opportunities have been offered. Please do not e-­mail me and ask me to break this rule. Required Materials
Textbook: Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R.E. (2012). Social Psychology (3rd Edition). ISBN 978-­‐0-­‐393-­‐91323-­‐1 iClicker Course Website: https://compass2g.illinois.edu Course Schedule Date August 27 & 29 September 3 & 5 September 10 & 12 September 17 & 19 September 24 & 26 October 1 & 3 October 8 & 10 October 15 & 17 Topic Area Introduction & Methods The Social Self Social Cognition Explaining Behavior Emotion Attitudes, Behavior, and Rationalization Persuasion Review Session/TED Talk Day Ch. 1 & 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Notes Playlist #1 Due 10/3 . Last Day to Drop Without “W”: 10/18 MIDTERM: October 15, 7:00 PM, Animal Sciences Laboratory Rm. 150 October 22 & 24 October 29 & 31 November 5 & 7 November 12 & 14 November 19 November 26 & 28 December 3 & 5 December 10 Social Influence 9 Relationships & Attraction 10 Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination 11 Groups 12 Aggression 13 . NO CLASS Altruism and Cooperation 14 NO CLASS . FINAL EXAM: Date & Time TBA (Will be sometime between 12/13 & 12/20) No Class 11/21 Happy Thanksgiving! Playlist #2 Due 12/5 Participation Participation will be assessed through iClickers. I will ask several questions each class that you will answer using your iClicker. As long as you respond to at least 1 question each class, you will receive participation credit (even if you respond incorrectly). However, even though you’ll still get credit, let’s not be That Guy or That Girl who answers “E” to the True/False questions, mmmkay? If you do not have your iClicker with you, you will not be able to receive participation credit. If you forget your iClicker or it runs out of batteries, don’t worry – I know that these things sometimes happen. Tell me after class and I will make sure you are not penalized, as long as this only happens occasionally. Your participation grade will be based on the percent of classes you attend; you can miss 10% of our lectures with no penalty. So, if you complete 90% of the activities, you will receive the full 10 points. If you complete 80%, you will receive 9 points, etc. Quizzes There will be a quiz every Thursday. The quizzes will vary each week, but will be based on the lecture material, with bonus points available based on relevant supplemental readings (which will be posted on Compass2g the Sunday before class). Quizzes will be graded out of 10 points, with 2 bonus points available each week, for a total possible score of 12/10 (or 120) on each quiz. However, if your final quiz average is above 100%, it will be rounded down to 100. I will only count your 10 highest quiz grades and there will be at least 15 quizzes available (including your two Playlist assignments), giving you plenty of opportunities to earn a high average. Please note that not taking a quiz results in an automatic 0. If there are extenuating circumstances involving your ability to complete 10 quizzes, please speak to me as early as possible. Exams (Midterm & Final) For exams, you will be responsible for ALL of the material in the textbook and lectures. All questions on the exams will be multiple choice. All exams will be held OUTSIDE of your normally scheduled class time. The midterm exam will be held on October 15th from 7:00 – 9:00 PM in Animal Sciences Laboratory 150. The midterm conflict exam will be held on October 14th from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. The final exam date will be announced as soon as it is scheduled. When making your travel plans, assume that the final exam is on the last day of finals week (12/20) until you hear otherwise. The final exam will not be cumulative. Rules and guidelines for taking a conflict exam: 1. If you have a valid conflict for an exam time (e.g., an exam for another class), you must submit a conflict exam application at least 7 days before the scheduled exam date. 2. If you are ill or cannot attend the exam on the exam day, you must provide adequate documentation for your absence (e.g., a certified excuse from the Emergency Dean). 3. If you have not submitted a conflict exam application or valid documented excuse for missing the exam, you will be allowed to take the conflict exam with a penalty (-­‐15%). 4. VALID EXCUSES DO NOT INCLUDE travel plans unrelated to university activity, oversleeping, forgetting when/where the exam was scheduled, or being sick but not obtaining proper documentation. Extra Credit You can earn extra credit in one of two ways: 1. You can participate in Psych experiments through the subject pool. Each hour of participation will be worth 1% extra credit. The maximum extra credit that you can earn is 3%. To sign up for studies, register for an account at http://uiuc.sona-­‐systems.com/ by clicking on “Request an account.” Once you are registered in the system, you will be able to search through available experiments. 2. You can complete a written assignment not involving research participation. The assignment will involve a 3-­‐page paper; your instructor will assign the topic. If you wish to do this alternate assignment, you must inform your instructor by September 30th. Social Media
Social media offers a wide range of new, creative ways to make the classroom more interactive and fun. As a media outlets especially for this course: result, I’ve created two social Psych 201 Pinterest Board: http://pinterest.com/mbt187/psych-­‐201/ I pin pictures, videos, etc. that pertain to various course topics on this board. If you would like permission to pin to this board, please let me know! This is intended to be a shared space, as long as your participation remains respectful and appropriate. Psych 201 Twitter: https://twitter.com/UIUCPsych201 If you would like to live tweet anything you learn during lecture using your own Twitter account, please use the hashtag “#PSYC201.” I will retweet these onto the main timeline after class. If you would like to tweet directly onto the account, you can log in using the username “UIUCPsych201” and the password “fall2013.” I trust you to keep your posts appropriate; please respect your classmates and me by not abusing this trust. I also encourage you to read through the archives of the following blogs, which focus on or frequently cover social psychological research. Blogs that are authored by or have featured UIUC graduate students/faculty members are noted with asterisks (*). Beautiful Minds: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-­‐minds/ BPS Research Digest: http://bps-­‐research-­‐digest.blogspot.com/ Illusion Chasers: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-­‐chasers/ * The Invisible Gorilla: http://theinvisiblegorilla.com/blog/ * IonPsych: http://www.ionpsych.com/ Literally Psyched: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-­‐psyched/ Mind Hacks: http://mindhacks.com/ Moments of Genius: http://bigthink.com/blogs/insights-­‐of-­‐genius Neurobonkers: http://bigthink.com/blogs/neurobonkers The Neurocritic: http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/ The Neuroskeptic: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/ Not Exactly Rocket Science: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/blog/not-­‐exactly-­‐rocket-­‐science/ Peer Reviewed By My Neurons: http://peerreviewedbymyneurons.wordpress.com/ * Personality Interest Group at UIUC: http://pigee.wordpress.com/ * Psych Your Mind: http://psych-­‐your-­‐mind.blogspot.com/ * PsySociety: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/ (This is me!) Random Assignment: http://bigthink.com/blogs/random-­‐assignment The Scicurious Brain: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-­‐brain/ Scientific American MIND Guest Blog: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-­‐guest-­‐blog/ Seriously, Science? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/ Streams of Consciousness: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-­‐of-­‐consciousness/ The Thoughtful Animal: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-­‐animal/ * Under The Influence: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/under-­‐the-­‐influence Policies and Rules 1. You must bring your iClicker with you to every class. Using another student’s iClicker for them in class is considered cheating. I’m really good with names. I will likely learn yours quickly. So if I notice you are not in class but your iClicker report says that you were, I will know what’s up. You must register your iClicker on the Compass2g website. You should regularly check the Compass2g grade book to make sure you are receiving credit. 2. University rules regarding academic integrity, examinations, and other official policies will be strictly enforced. You can find detailed information on the University’s academic integrity policies at http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code/index.html 3. We will be busy in every class session, and we don’t need any electronic distractions. Please silence your cell phone before you enter the classroom, or else I might pick it up and start talking to your parents (I assume these are the only people who would make an actual phone call instead of texting you). You may bring a laptop, but please refrain from using it during class to update Facebook, check e-­‐mails, etc. You may also want to keep in mind that it is really easy for your classmates to read your computer screen from other seats in the classroom. If you’re using this time to get some shopping done, your classmates and I reserve the right to comment on whatever you’re buying.  Accommodations Students with physical or learning disabilities who may require special arrangements must be registered with the Division of Rehabilitation Education Services (sensoryandtesting@uiuc.edu) and should inform their instructor within the first two weeks of the semester. Students that will require assistance in the event of an emergency should identify themselves to the instructor. Your instructor will make arrangements to assist you in moving to a Safe Area during an emergency. Safe Areas are located on each floor of the Psychology Building next to the freight elevator in the southwest corner, and they are marked on the emergency wayfaring maps found throughout the building. Honor/James Scholar Students may receive credit for Honors or James Scholar by completing an additional assignment. The assignment is graded on a pass/fail basis by Dr. Caroline Tancredy, the Psych 201 program supervisor. The topic of the essay is also assigned by Dr. Tancredy. The assignment requirements will be introduced at an informational meeting held on Wednesday, September 25th from 5:00-­6:30 PM in Room 508 of the Psychology building. If you are unable to attend this meeting, you must schedule an independent meeting with Dr. Tancredy. Please contact her directly at tancredy@illinois.edu.