This course is designed as a complete course of study of theory and research in social psychology. The purpose of this course is to explain how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual presence, imagined, or implied other people. Topics to be studied are social cognition, social perception and processing of information, attitudes and beliefs, stereotypes and discrimination, social influences on group behavior, romantic relationships, aggressive behavior, help in the applied social psychology. This seminar provides a broad overview of social psychology, both classic and current. The field is far too broad for meaningful comprehensive coverage, so selected topics will be addressed in a two-tiered format. First, foundational material will address such basic topics as the processes of attitude change; social influences on conformity, compliance, and obedience; the self and the pursuit of self-esteem; person perception and attribution; stereotyping and prejudice; attraction and mate selection; and group influences on performance etc.

This course will introduce you to the concepts and ideas in the area of social psychology. Social Psychology aims to discover the different ways in which people interact with other individuals, groups, and the larger society as a whole, as well as why people act in certain ways. As with sociology course, social psychology looks at the inner workings of groups of people. However, social psychology focuses primarily on the single individual’s psychology as part of the group or society, rather than the culture or group interaction (though both of these areas have some relevance in social psychology).