SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology 360
Spring 2007
Location:
Meeting Times:
Modern Languages 311
Tuesdays 5:30 – 8:15 pm
Instructor:
Office Hours:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Homepage:
Instructor:
Victor A. Shamas, Ph.D.
By Appointment
621-7447 (message phone only)
vas@email.arizona.edu
http://vas.web.arizona.edu
Victor A. Shamas, Ph.D.
520-621-7447 (message phone only)
e-mail: vas@email.arizona.edu
Required:
Social Psychology (9th Edition)
by David G. Myers (McGraw-Hill)
Course Overview
Social psychology is the study of how individuals think about, influence, and relate to one another.
This course will explore each of these aspects of social interaction:
Unit 1: Social Thinking
The first unit of the course looks at the ways in which people view themselves and others. We will
examine the role that specific beliefs and attitudes can play in influencing social behavior, and then
we will explore the clinical implications of research on social thinking.
Unit 2: Social Influence
In this unit, we will consider the major forces that influence human behavior, beginning with
gender, culture, and genetics. We will learn about the power of social conformity, the principles of
persuasion, the consequences of participation in groups, and the way that all of these social
influences work together in the setting of a courtroom.
Unit 3: Social Relations
This unit examines the different ways in which people relate to each other. We will focus on the
research findings related to prejudice, aggression, friendship, love, altruism, conflict and
peacemaking.
Course Structure
This is a lecture/discussion course in which your grade is based entirely on three multiple-choice
exams and a term paper. Although class attendance will not be taken, you will find attendance to be
extremely beneficial because many of the exam questions will deal directly with concepts and
information covered in class. Here is how the course will be organized:
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Study Guide. You can find this Microsoft Word file on the instructor’s homepage
(http://vas.web.arizona.edu). The study guide divides the course material into three units
and each unit into 18 lessons. Every lesson includes a set of objectives and key terms. This
is the information you will need to know on the exams.
Lectures. Each lecture in this course will cover the material related to a specific chapter in
the textbook or an online reading. Questions and discussion are strongly encouraged. You
should make sure to do the readings before coming to class and to get all of your questions
answered by the time you leave class. The readings corresponding to each lecture are shown
in the Course Schedule section below.
Exams. You will be taking three multiple-choice exams in this course, one at the end of
each unit. These exams are described in greater detail in the Grading Policy section below.
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on three multiple-choice exams, which will be held on the following dates:
Midterm 1: Tuesday, February 20
Midterm 2: Tuesday, March 27
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 1
Attendance and punctuality are absolutely required at all three exams. If you miss an exam or
arrive more than 15 minutes late, you will receive an automatic score of zero. There are no
makeup exams except in the event of an extreme and verifiable emergency.
The exams are multiple-choice and each question has four choices. The midterms have 30 questions
each and the final has 60 questions. Because the tests are computer-graded, you will need to bring a
Number 2 pencil to the exams and to make sure that you fill in the accompanying scantron form
according to the instructions that will be provided. Each question is worth one point. On the final,
approximately 40 questions will cover new material (Unit 3) and the other 20 will be review from
Units 1 and 2.
All of the exams are closed-book and closed-notes tests. The two midterms are scheduled on
evenings when we are also covering new material. Both midterms will take place at the end of
lecture. This way, you can leave when you are done taking the exams.
There are a total of 120 points for this course, which are distributed as follows:
Midterm 1:
30 points
Midterm 2:
30 points
Final exam:
60 points
TOTAL
120 points
Your grade will be based on the grade cutoffs shown below:
Grade
Score___
A
100-120
B
80-99
C
60-79
D
40-59
F
below 40
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Please note: There is no extra credit in this course and no grade of “incomplete.”
Required Materials
The textbook for this course is Social Psychology (Ninth Edition) by David G. Myers, published in 2008
(welcome to the future!) by McGraw-Hill. All readings listed in the course outline are taken from
this book.
Course Schedule
Each of the lectures in this course pertains to an assigned reading and to the corresponding lessons
in the study guide. Please complete the assigned readings and work through the corresponding
lessons before class. For instance, prior to class on January 16, you should read Chapter 1 of your
textbook and work through Lesson I-1 in your study guide. Please note that most chapters in the
textbook correspond to at least 3-5 lessons in the study guide.
WEEK 1
1/16- Course Introduction
CH.1: Introducing Social
Psychology
WEEK 9
3/13- SPRING BREAK
WEEK 10
3/20- CH.15: Social Psychology in Court
REVIEW
WEEK 2
1/23- CH.2: The Self in a Social World
WEEK 3
1/30- CH.3: Social Beliefs & Judgments
WEEK 11
3/27- CH.9: Prejudice
MIDTERM 2
WEEK 4
2/6- CH.4: Behavior & Attitudes
WEEK 12
4/3- CH.10: Aggression
WEEK 5
2/13- CH.14: Social Psychology in the
Clinic
REVIEW
WEEK 13
4/10- CH.11: Attraction & Intimacy
WEEK 14
4/17- CH.12: Helping
WEEK 6
2/20- MIDTERM 1
CH.5: Genes, Culture & Gender
WEEK 15
4/24- CH.13: Conflict & Peacemaking
REVIEW
WEEK 7
2/27- CH.6: Conformity & Obedience
WEEK 16
5/1- FINAL
WEEK 8
3/6- CH.7: Persuasion
CH.8: Group Influence
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