Living in a Social World
Psy 324: Advanced Social Psychology
Spring, 1999

Dr. Richard Sherman
110-D Benton Hall
Ext. 9-2407
email: shermarc@muohio.edu
Office Hours: 11-12 M; 3:30-5 T; 10-11 F or by appointment.
course url: http://www.muohio.edu/psybersite/world

"There is nothing so practical
as a good theory." Kurt Lewin

weekly schedule
team evaluation guidelines
reading interpretation/discussion guidelines
web tutorial guidelines

Course Description: This course builds upon the material covered in Psy 221, Introduction to Social Psychology. We will examine social psychological principles, concepts, theories, and research with an emphasis on how these can be used to understand problems of living in a complex world. Note: the prerequisite for this course is Psy 221 or permission of instructor. Also helpful, though not required, is Psy 293/294 or an equivalent research methods course.

The course is "advanced" in several ways. First, as mentioned, it will assume previous exposure to the topics so that we can go somewhat more deeply into them. Second, the course will involve a good deal of student participation and responsibility in the learning process, for example in class discussions, demonstrations, and projects. Third, we will rely heavily on new learning technologies throughout the course, particularly the World Wide Web.  Advanced knowledge of computers is not a prerequisite for the course, but a willingness to carry out web assignments and to acquire new computer skills is essential.

Texts:

Tesser, A. (1995). Advanced Social Psychology.
Acker, M. (1997).   Perspectives:  Social Psychology.  Also required is the Courselinks Passport which should be packaged with the Perspectives book.

Course Organization: Our class meetings will involve discussions of text material and social psychological principles by teams of students, presentation and discussion of student analyses of news events and media humor, review of student projects and results of assignments, etc. The six main components of the course, with their weighting for your overall course grade, are:

1. Social Psychology and Humor Project (Team, 5%)
    For guidelines, click here.

2. Social Psychology in the News Project (Team, 10%)
    For guidelines, click here.

3. Reading Interpretation/Discussion (Team, 15%)
    For guidelines, click here.

4. Term Project -- Development of Social Psychology Tutorial (Team, 30%)
    For guidelines, click here.

5. Exams (Individual, 20%) -- Take-home, essay.

6. Web Assignments (Individual, 20%) -- Assignments that involve searching  the web and evaluating information from a social psychological point of view.

    Team projects will receive an overall evaluation, but team members may receive different grades depending on their individual contributions. A separate handout will give details of this procedure. Team projects will be presented and discussed in class, and will be published on the World Wide Web.
   

    Please note that the Term Project is a major portion of your grade and will require considerable effort throughout the semester.   It will be accomplished in steps, so you will  receive feedback and guidance as you proceed.

    Overall grades in the course will be determined according to percent of total possible points earned, based on the following cutoffs:

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