Topic outline
Topic 1
We meet the first time, get to know each other a little bit, and go over the course syllabus and requirements.
Topic 2
This week, an introduction to social psychology is made. Theoretical approaches and methods in social psychology is covered.
Topic 3
How do we form impressions of others? What information do we look at and how do we integrate that information? How do we make attributions to explain people's behaviors and events? Person Perception covers these topics.
Topic 4
This week we look at social cognition: how we think about and understand our social world. The topics include inference, schemas, and cognitive heuristics.
Topic 5
The Self is one of the heavily researched topics in Social Psychology. The self is presented with respect to self-concept, sources of self-knowledge, self-regulation and self-related motivations, social comparison and self-presentation.
Topic 6
The topic of attitudes involves two parts, it starts with a discussion of attitude theories and continues with the factors tha influence attitude change. Finally, an overview of attitude-behavior consistency is presented.
Topic 7
This topic of prejudice involves 3 sections: a definition of prejudice and description of the forms we face in daily life (sexism, racism etc.), the causes and theoretical explanations, and ways for reducing it.
Topic 8
How are we influenced by others? When and why do we conform? Or comply with other people's requests? And what happens when a legitimate authority asks us to obey?
Topic 10
How do the presence of others influence us? Why and how do groups perform better or worse than its potential? What kind of decision biases are groups prone to? Who is a good leader (and when?)