Psyc700 Social Psychology Dr. Janet B. RuscherFall 2004 PS 3049/2007 x3309http://www.tulane.edu/~jruscher/dept/Psyc700.fall04.pdf [email protected] DescriptionAs the graduate core course in social psychology, Psyc700 provides a broad overview of thesocial bases of behavior, that is, the individual in social context. Topics include group phenomenasuch as social facilitation, stereotyping and prejudice, attitudes and persuasion, stress and coping,and intimate relationships. The course is required for graduate students in the school psychologyand industrial/organizational psychology programs, as well as for psychological science studentsspecializing in social psychology. Senior undergraduate students in the honors program may takethe course with instructor permission.The purpose of this course is to familiarize you with both classic and contemporary socialpsychological theory and research. Each week, you typically will read three empirical articles(published in the last 1-3 years), and examine how they relate to classic and modern socialpsychology as presented in Social Beings. I hope that this exemplar approach will provide depth toyour theoretical insights about social psychology, as well as exposing you to a rich number ofparadigms that you later might incorporate into your own empirical work.Required Text:Fiske, S. T. (2004). Social beings: A core motives approach to social psychology. NY: WileyEvaluationExams. Two noncumulative essay examinations each contribute 25% to the final grade. Themidterm examination on October 18 comprises material from the first part of the semester(Methods, Person Perception, Social Cognition, the Self, and Attitudes). The endterm examinationon November 29 comprises material from the second part of the semester (Relationships, ProsocialBehavior and Aggression, Stereotyping, Small Groups, and Social Influence). Note that anythingcovered in the course is ‘fair game’ for an examination, including the text, articles, conceptsdiscussed in seminar, and my occasional board scribblings.Article Critiques. Uniformly assigned articles (marked with an asterisk*) are intended toa.) provide detailed exemplars of majors areas in social psychology, b.) encourage students tointegrate readings prior to class meetings, c.) allow the instructor to provide frequent feedback onstudent comprehension, and d.) provide focal points for discussion. Critiques should integrate theempirical articles with relevant material in the text. No specific length is required, but 2/3 of asingle-spaced typed page typically suffices. Critiques of uniformly assigned articles contribute 10%to the final grade. Critiques are due by 4pm each Thursday prior to the class reserved for thecorrespondiing topic. Given the purpose of the critiques (i.e., a stimulating semi-organizeddiscussion), late critiques will not be accepted. These articles may be accessed by electronicreserve http://eres.tulane.edu Your password is FiskeSBIn addition to the articles assigned to the entire class, students will be assigned ansupplemental article each week that they should integrate into their critiques and into classdiscussion. To stimulate thinking about integrations between social psychology and other fields,many of the articles were selected to appeal potentially to students in other primary areas oftraining. Although no special grade is assigned to your use of these readings, suffice it to say thatI make notes regarding participation after each class, so your unique contributions from thismaterial will be remembered. Tulane’s library has hard-copy or electronic subscriptions to thesupplemental articles, so you are responsible for finding these articles on your own. These articlesare marked on the syllabus with a pound sign (#).Class Participation. Although I periodically will present information, class meetings centeraround discussion of the empirical articles. You do not need to talk a blue streak, but should try tomake a few good points. Class participation contributes 10% to the final grade.Term Paper. To provide students with feedback on their writing as well as experience withrevision, a term paper will be required. Although the topic may relate to a discipline outside socialpsychology, the topic must reflect a social psychological perspective (i.e., rely primarily on thetheories and empirical findings of social psychology for its argument). Topics must be approved byOctober 22. The first version of the paper should be submitted by noon on November 12, and willcontribute 15% to the final grade. Although detailed feedback will be provided on this firstversion, like any work submitted to peers or senior colleagues, it should reflect what you wouldconsider a final product. The revision will be due at noon on 12/10, and will contribute the remaining15% of the final grade.Dates, Topics, and Readings8/30 Course Overview or “Why am I here?”9/6 holiday9/13 Methodology (Ch. 2): Classic Experimentation and Beyond*Cacioppo, J. T., Bernston, G. G., Lorig, T. S., Norris, C. J., Rickett, E., & Nusbaum, H.(2003). Just because you're imaging the brain doesn't mean you can stop using your head: A primerand set of first principles.! Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 650-661.*Scollon, C. N., Kim-Prieto, C., & Diener, E. (2003). Experience Sampling: Promises andpitfalls, strengths and weaknesses.! Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 5-34.9/20 Person Perception (Ch. 3): The Correspondence Bias; Interpreting Nonverbal Behavior*Frank, M. G., & Ekman, P. (2004). Appearing truthful generalizes across differentdeception situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 486-495.*Reeder, G. D., Vonk, R., Ronk, M. J., Ham, J., & Lawrence, M. (2004). Dispositionalattribution: Multiple inferences about motive-related traits. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 86, 530–544#Geeraert, N., Yzerbyt, V. Y., Corneille, O., & Wigboldus, D. (2004). The return ofdispositionalism: On the linguistic consequences of dispositional suppression. Journal ofExperimental Social Psychology, 40, 264-272.#O’Sullivan, M. (2003). The Fundamental Attribution Error in detecting deception: The boy-who-cried-wolf effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1316-1327.#Peng, K., & Knowles, E. D. (2003). Culture, education, and the attribution of physicalcausality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1272-1284. (X)#Tobin, S. J., & Weary, G. (2003). An on-line look at