Social Cognition
Psych 3800
Winter Session 2016
3.0 Credits
January 4, 2016 – January 23,2016
Distance Learning
Instructor
Professor Melissa Ferguson
mjf44@cornell.edu
230 Uris Hall
TA
TBD
Course description and structure:
Social cognition is one of the predominant research perspectives in contemporary
social psychology. It utilizes both cognitive and social psychological theories and
methodologies to understand classic social phenomena, such as first impressions,
romantic relationships, emotions and moods, stereotyping and prejudice, and goal
pursuit and self-control. In this class, you will be introduced to the recent history of
social cognition, including major themes and fundamental assumptions, as well as
to the ways in which classic and important social psychological phenomena are
addressed from a social cognitive perspective.
The class is organized into two sections. The first section concerns the core themes
and assumptions in social cognition research. The second section addresses the
ways in which a social cognitive perspective can be applied to classic social
psychological phenomena.
Learning goals:
Understand the social cognitive approach in psychology
Know the core themes and assumptions in social cognition research
Know some ways in which a social cognitive perspective can be applied to
classic social psychological phenomena
Appreciate how social cognition research can be applied to everyday life issues,
events, concerns, interactions, etc.
Course website:
You can access the course website by going to http://blackboard.cornell.edu/, and
then follow directions for finding a specific course. (You will have to enter your
netID and password.) The syllabus, course announcements, lectures, video content,
empirical articles, and task assignments will be posted there.
Course requirements:
Daily content. Each day of class will consist of watching and reacting to video
content and occasionally participating in (asynchronous) discussions about the
material. Much of the video content will consist of recordings of me lecturing, some
will be short video clips or TED talks, and some may be short movie clips. The
material each day will be based partly on the assigned readings, and partly on new
material.
Readings. There are two types of required readings. The first type consists of
chapters from the textbook for the class (Social Cognition, by Kunda). You can
purchase this text from the bookstore or access it free online through the library.
The other type consists of various empirical articles, all of which are free and will be
posted on the Blackboard site in the “Articles” folder (or you can access them
through the library).
Text: Kunda, Z. (1999). Social Cognition.
(referred to below as “K”)
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Articles: Located in the “Articles” folder on Blackboard; see final page of this
syllabus for list of readings (referred to below as “A”)
Quizzes and Exam. There will be one take-home, “open book” final exam at the
end of the course, and a series of short quizzes throughout the course. The quizzes
and exam will be administered through the course Blackboard site. Given that the
course is self-paced, you may take the quizzes and exam at a time that is convenient
for you (but within a specified span of time). You may use your textbook and notes
during the exams, but you may NOT work with anyone (in person, online, etc.).
You’ll be asked to confirm that you are submitting your OWN responses. The
exams and quizzes are TIMED. After the allotted time elapses, your responses will
be automatically submitted and you will not be able to continue. Manage your time
accordingly, just as you would during an in-class exam. You will NOT be able to
stop once you’ve begun the quiz or exam and you will only be allowed to take the
quiz/test once. This means that akin to if you were taking the test during class, you
need to plan to have an uninterrupted period of time to take the exam. Your grade
will be available as soon as your answers are graded. More information will be
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provided about each prelim/final, as well as tips for how to study, as we progress
through the course.
Example Portfolio. One important aspect of learning this material is developing
your ability to relate it to the real world. To this end, for each of the 3 weeks, you
will be asked to identify and document 4 examples of social-cognitive phenomena
out in the real world. These can be based on your own personal experience (e.g.,
conversations with others, your observations of other people, of yourself, etc.), or
taken from the media (news programs, pundits, magazines, etc.) or the arts (e.g.,
films, paintings, music, etc.). For each example, you must identify and describe the
example, and then explain how it relates to a social cognitive theme or topic or
process. Your explanation of each example must be between half a page and 1 full
page (typed, double-spaced, 1-inch margins). At the end of each week, you will
turn in your weekly portfolio. I will provide more information about this
assignment once the course begins.
Online Discussions. In addition to testing students’ knowledge of the course
material in the traditional manner (via exams), it is also important to assess how
well students can think about relevant issues in an online fashion, and express their
reactions, thoughts, and objections to the material in an open, interactive forum.
Thus, once a week students will post a discussion question about an assigned
readings or TED talk on controversial social cognitive research, and also respond or
comment on another student’s posting. For each of these discussions, you will be
asked to:
1.) Read the assigned article or watch the TED talk
2.) Submit a discussion question online
3.) Reply to at least one of the other student’s questions
I will provide more information on the reading/videos, and how you should
submit your discussion question and response/comment to another person’s
question. Each of the 3 discussions are worth 3% (3 points) of your grade
(discussion question=1.5 pt., response to another student’s question=1.5 pt.).
Course Grading: Total possible course points = 100
Quizzes (5)
Example portfolio (3)
Online Discussions (3)
Final exam
35 points total
21 points total
9 points
35 points
Late assignment policy:
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Keeping up with assignments is essential for getting the most out of this course as a
student, and keeping track of late assignments is very time-consuming for the
instructor and TA. Therefore, to encourage timely submission of assignments, late
assignments will NOT be accepted. That is, if you turn in an assignment late, you
will not receive credit for it. This applies for all assignments including discussion
questions and all other assignments. Only in cases of severe illness or other
extreme circumstances will provisions be made for turning in an assignment late. If
you should find yourself in such a situation it is necessary to contact me
immediately to make arrangements. Arrangements must be made in advance of
the due date.
Students with Disabilities:
Please send me your Student Disability Services (SDS) accommodation as soon as
possible so that I have adequate time to arrange your approved academic
modifications. If you need an immediate accommodation for equal access, please
contact me immediately and/or SDS at sds_cu@cornell.edu. If the need arises for
additional accommodations during the winter course, please contact SDS.
Avoiding academic offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating):
Cornell policy on academic integrity states “A Cornell student's submission of work
or academic credit indicates that the work is the student's own. All outside
assistance should be acknowledged, and the student's academic position truthfully
reported at all times. In addition, Cornell students have a right to expect academic
integrity from each of their peers.” Keep in mind that there are software options to
for instructors and TAs to automatically check whether a written piece of work has
been copied from a source online.
Please go to http://www.policy.cornell.edu/Code_of_Academic_Integrity.cfm to
download the policy.
Frequently Asked Questions about Distance Learning
• How does the online course differ from the on-campus version? The format and
content of this course is highly similar to the on-campus version of the course.
However, it has been modified to accommodate a distance-learning environment.
Although all contact will be electronic, you will have ample opportunity to interact
with me (Prof. Ferguson, mjf44@cornell.edu) and the teaching assistant (TBA). An
important feature of this online seminar is its hands-on activities that illustrate key
concepts and allow you to apply your knowledge first hand.
• How many hours will this course require? This course is normally taught over a
3-month period. We will be covering the same material (both depth and breadth) in
a much shorter period of time. This course requires a high level of commitment on
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the part of each student. Specifically, this course will require that students view
lecture/video materials and complete task assignments online for approximately 23 hours per day (5 days per week) or about 13-14 hours per week IN ADDITION to
the readings.
• What is the schedule for meetings and exams? The course is largely self-paced.
You are free to design YOUR OWN schedule. You could, for example, follow the
suggested 5-day per week schedule that is outlined below. Alternatively, you could
modify the schedule depending on what works best for you. For example, you
could work more hours each day but work fewer days per week, etc. Again, the
specific schedule is up to you, and this flexibility is one of the perks of distance
learning. The one exception to this will be turning in the weekly assignments,
including the quizzes. More information will be given about these as well.
**Note that the quizzes have not been scheduled yet and will depend in part on the
students’ schedules and availability that we will determine right before the class
begins. These are the only assignments that have weekly deadlines. All of the rest
of the course work (including the readings) may be scheduled at your own
convenience!
SAMPLE Class Calendar (You may create your own schedule!):
Section I: Core themes and assumptions
Week 1
MON
¼
Introduction / History / Concepts
K Ch. 1 & 2
TUES
1/5
5 principles of mental representations
A1 (Higgins et al.)
WED
1/6
4th principle – Accessibility
A2 (Srull & Wyer)
THURS 1/7
Dual process models
K Ch. 3
FRI
Implicit social cognition
K Ch. 7 & A3 (Sklar et al.)
1/8
Section II: A social-cognitive approach to the major constructs in social psychology
Week 2
K Ch. 9 (pp. 395, 415-450)
& A5 (Towles-Schwen)
A6 (Dijksterhuis) &
K Ch. 10
MON
1/11
First Impressions & Attitudes
TUES
1/12
Self-esteem & Self-knowledge
WED
1/13
Stereotyping & Prejudice I
K Ch. 8
Stereotyping & Prejudice II
A7 (Weisbuch et al.)
THURS 1/14
5
FRI
1/15
Emotions, Moods, Affect
A8 (Schwarz & Clore) &
A9 (Wheatley & Haidt)
6
Week 3
MON
1/18
Goal Pursuit
TUES
1/19
Mental Control
WED
1/20
Close Relationships
K Ch. 6, pp. 212-246
A10 (Ackerman et al.) &
A11 (Job et al.)
A12 (McNulty et al.) &
A13 (Ireland et al.)
THURS 1/21
Culture
K Ch. 11
FRI
1/22
Culture and Wrap Up
K Ch. 11 cont.
SAT
1/23
FINAL EXAM
Readings - (via “Articles folder” on BB website)
A1. Higgins, E. T., King, G. A., & Mavin, G. H. (1982). Individual construct
accessibility and subjective impressions and recall. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 43, 35-47.
A2. Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S. (1980). Category accessibility and social perception:
Some implications for the study of person memory and interpersonal judgments.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38(6), 841-856.
A3. Sklar, A.Y., Levy, N., Goldstein, A., Mandel, R., Maril A., & Hassin, R. R.
(2012) Reading and Doing Arithmetic Nonconsciously. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 109(48), 19614-19619.
A4. Greenwald, A. G., Spangenberg, E. R., Pratkanis, A. R., & Eskenazi, J. (1991).
Double-blind tests of subliminal self-help audiotapes. Psychological Science, 2, 119-122.
A5. Towles-Schwen, T., & Fazio, R. H. (2006). Automatically-activated racial attitudes
as predictors of the success of interracial roommate relationships. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 698-705.
A6. Dijksterhuis, A. (2004). I like myself but I don’t know why: Enhancing implicit selfesteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 86, 345-355.
A7. Weisbuch, M., Pauker, K., & Ambady, N. (2009). The subtle transmission of race
bias via televised nonverbal behavior. Science, 326, 1711-1714.
A8. Schwarz, N. & Clore, G. L. (1983). Mood, misattribution, and judgments of wellbeing: Informative and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 45, 513-523.
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A9. Wheatley, T., & Haidt, J. (2005). Hypnotically induced disgust makes moral
judgments more severe. Psychological Science, 16, 780-784.
A10. Ackerman, J. M., Goldstein, N. J., Shapiro, J. R., & Bargh, J. A. (2009). You wear
me out: The vicarious depletion of self-control. Psychological Science, 20(3), 326-332.
A11. Job, V., Dweck, C. S., & Walton, G. M. (2010). Ego depletion—Is it all in your
head? Implicit theories about willpower affect self-regulation. Psychological Science,
21(11), 1686-93.
A12. McNulty, J. K., Olson, M. A., Meltzer, A. L., & Shaffer, M. J. (2013). Though they
may be unaware, newlyweds implicitly know whether their marriage will be
satisfying. Science, 342, 1119-1120.
A13. Ireland, M. E., Slatcher, R. B., Eastwick, P. W., Scissors, L. E., Finkel, E. J., &
Pennebaker, J. W. (2011). Language style matching predicts relationship initiation and
stability. Psychological Science, 22, 39-44.
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