Psychology 517

Advanced Social Psychology

Tuesday/Thursday 09:45-11:00 213 Armsby

Contact Information

Instructor: Janet K. Swim, Ph.D.
Office: 515 Moore Building
Office Hours:  Wed. 2:00 to 3:30
Office Phone:  863-1730 (do not call me at home)
Email: JKS4@PSU.EDU
Home page:     http://psych.la.psu.edu/jswim/

The Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities.  If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please tell the instructor as soon as possible.

Date this page was last edited:  September 6, 2006

1. Course description and goals

    The purpose of the present course is to provide students with a foundation of knowledge about social psychology.  The foundation is based upon both a historical perspective as well as an overview of current research and theory in social psychology.  Thus, students will read a sampling of classic articles and  review current research and theory in Social Psychology.  

The goals of the course are to:

	provide students with an overview of major research areas in social psychology
	familiarize students with the history of social psychology
	introduce students to examples of classic and current research studies and programs of research in social psychology
	practice presenting research material to an audience
	explore in depth a topic of the students choosing.

2.  Assignments

Test -- 20%

     At the end of class you will be tested on your knowledge of basic concepts in social psychology and classic studies in social psychology. A list of concepts and classic articles can be found on angel. You will be given a subset of these concepts be asked to describe in 2 to 3 sentences what the concept is. Similarly, you will be given a subset of the articles and be asked to describe in 2 to 3 sentences what the article is about and why it is important to the field.

Class involvement -- 20%

    A subjective assessment of your class involvement will also be made.   This goes beyond demonstrating that you have read the material.  It encompasses your attendance and attention during class and your responsiveness and thoughts about comments made by other students in class.

	Presentation of classic articles-- 20% You will be asked to summarize a set of classic articles for class and describe what you think is notable about the studies. You will do this three times during the semester. The articles are listed in the syllabus and copies can be found in a fie cabinet in the faculty mailroom on the fourth floor in Moore building.
	Research Presentation -- 20%

    There are 10 days for students to present a resent research article illustrating a current research article.  You will be selecting the article by going to the last 5 years of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, or Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.  Please pick three possible articles and show them to me at least a week before your presentation.  I will help you select from within these three. 

  The 25 minute presentation should explain the theoretical context for the study, the authors' hypotheses, how the hypotheses were tested, and the results and conclusions.  This will require reducing the material in the articles to the essential important points in the study. So do not get bogged down in details of the studies and results.   During the last 5 minutes of your presentation, you should also propose a study that you would do to follow up the study. The instructor and students in the class will use a form to grade and give feedback to the presenter based upon the presentation style and content and the quality of the discussion of the material.  The form can be found on Angel. Use this form to guide you in your presentation.

Literature Review Paper -- 20%

    Pick one classic area of research and follow it through to the present.  You may find that there have been several strands of research that have resulted from the first study.  Either summarize the different lines of research that have been covered or pick one strand and go into more depth on it.  You may find review papers on the topic area and it is recommended that you use these papers to guide you in your review. Once you find one review paper, do not assume that you have found a sufficient summary of the field.  There may easily be several reviews on a specific topic.  This can include reviews that occurred at different times, different types of reviews (meta-analyses and qualitative reviews), and reviews by people who come to different conclusions about a topic area. The literature review paper should be approximately 10 pages long.   That is, the review paper should NOT be as long as a paper you would find, for instance, in Psychological Bulletin.  Instead, it should summarize what you perceive to be the important types of research, conclusions, and debates that have occurred in a particular area.  You can think about this review being similar to what you might write for a section of a graduate level introduction to social psychology text book.

Below are some example of paper students have done in the past.

Does self-complexity improve psychology well-being?

How Stereotypers Do Not Stereotype:  A Review of Literature on Suppression, Motivation, and Correction of Stereotyping

The Investment Model Revisited: Commitment and Abusive Relationships

Mutual constitution of culture and psychology:  Self-enhancement in the U.S. and Self-criticism in Japan.

Effect of Priming in Social Judgment

    You will be required to give a 25 minute presentation of your literature review paper.  Like the grades for the presentation of the research articles, the instructor and students in the class will grade and give feedback to the presenter based upon the presentation style and content and the quality of the discussion of the material.

3.  Grades

Your grade will be based upon the distribution as noted above. 

Violations of academic integrity (e.g. cheating or plagiarism) can result in flunking of the academic or disciplinary action.  According to University policy, "Academic dishonesty encompasses a wide range of activities, whether intentional or unintentional, that include, but are not limited to  all forms of fraud,  plagiarism,  any failure to cite explicitly all materials and sources used in one’s work, cheating,         lying,  deception, directly harming the work of others."  For further information please see the colleges web page on academic integrity.  http://www.la.psu.edu/assocdea/academicinteg.htm.  

4. Schedule

H&S = Hewstone & Stroebe text book.
JAbSP = Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
JASP = Journal of Applied Social Psychology
JESP = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
JPSP = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Most articles can be obtained through Psychinfo on the web. If not, I will post them on Angel.

Primary topic area	Background	Classic articles: In 2 to 3 sentences, what is this article about? For papers that are commentaries, in 3 to 5 sentences, what are the main arguments that are made? Why do you think this is a classic article.	Current issue to be discussed in class
9-5 Introduction
9-7 Historical overview	1. H& S Chapter 1 2. Berscheid, E. (1992). A glance back at a quarter century of social psychology. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 63, 525-533.
9-12 Conducting social psychological research	1. H&S Chapter 4.	P1 1. External validity Mook, D.G. (1983).  In Defense of External Invalidity.  American Psychologist, 38, 379-387. Sears, D.O. (1986). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on psychology’s view of human nature. JPSP, 51, 515-530. P2. 2. Ethics Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 67(4), 371-378. Baumrind, D. (1964). Some thoughts on ethics of research: After reading Milgram's "behavioral study of obedience." American Psychologist, 19(6), 421-423. Milgram, S. (1964). Issues in the study of obedience: A reply to Baumrind. American Psychologist, 19(11), 848-852.	What is the difference between a moderator and a mediator? How can mediation be tested with correlations and in experiments? Baron, R.M. & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The Moderator-Mediator variable distinction in Social Psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., & Fong, G. T. (2005). Establishing a causal chain: Why experiments are often more effective than mediational analyses in examining psychological processes. Journal of personality and social psychology, 89(6), 845-851.
9-14 Small Groups and Social Influence	1.   H&S. Chapter 13 and 14.	P3 1. How do groups influence performance? a. Triplit, N. (1897). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507-533. http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/Triplett/ c. Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social facilitation. Science, 149, 269-274. P4. 2. How do groups influence attitudes, beliefs, & behaviors?      a.  Moore, H. T. (1921). The Comparative Influence of Majority and Expert Opinion.  American Journal of Psychology, 32, 16-20. b. Asch, S.E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure, Scientific American, 193, 31-35.      c. Schachter, S.  (1951).  Deviation, Rejection, and communication.   Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 190-208.     d. Stanford Prison Experiment:  http://www.prisonexp.org./ P5 3.  What makes groups (in)effective?      a. Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created "social climates." Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271-299. b.  Janis, I. L. (1971). Groupthink. Psychology Today, 5, 43-46, 74-76.
9-19	P1: Presentation of a current research article on Small Groups and Social Influence		De Dreu, C. K. W. (2005). A PACT against conflict escalation in negotiation and dispute resolution. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(3), 149-152. Brown, V. R., & Paulus, P. B. (2002). Making group brainstorming more effective: Recommendations from an associative memory perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(6), 208-212
9-21  Attitudes	1.  H&S, Chapter 8 2. Eagly, A. H. (1992). Uneven progress: Social Psychology and the study of attitudes. JPSP, 63, 693-710.	P6. 1.  Attitudes predicting behaviors.      a. LaPiere, R.T. (1936). Type-rationalizations of group antipathy.   Social Forces, 232-237. b. Wicker, A. W. (1969). Attitudes versus actions: The relationship of verbal and overt behavioral responses to attitude objects. Journal of Social Issues, 25(4), 41-78.P8 3.  How can we persuade others?  P7 2.  Behaviors predicting attitudes.    a. Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203-210. c. Aronson, E. & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 177-181. d. Bem, D. (1965). An experimental analysis of self-persuasion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1, 199-218. P8 3. Changing attitudes a. Janis, I. L., & Feshbach, S. (1953). Effects of Fear arousing communications. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 78-92. b. Rogers, R. W. (1975). A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change. The Journal of Psychology, 91, 93-114.      c.  Katz, D. (1960).  The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 163-204. d. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19.
9-26	P2: Presentation of a current article on attitudes.		What are the advantages of the tests like the IAT? What are Arbitrary metrics? What are the complaints and defense of implicit tests? Blanton, H., & Jaccard, J. (2006). Arbitrary metrics in psychology. American Psychologist, 61(1), 27-41. Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Sriram, N. (2006). Consequential validity of the implicit association test: Comment on Blanton and Jaccard (2006). American Psychologist, 61(1), 56-61. Blanton, H., & Jaccard, J. (2006). Postscript: Perspectives on the reply by Greenwald, Rudman, Nosek, and Zayas (2006). Psychological review, 113(1), 166-169.
9-28 Attribution, person perception, Social Cognition,	1. H&S, Chapter 5 & 7 2.  Fiske (1992).  Thinking is for doing:  Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laser photo.  JPSP, 63, 877-889.	P9 1. How do we explain other people's behaviors a. Jones, E.E. & Harris, V.A. (1967).  The attribution of attitudes.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 3, 1-24.       b. Storms, M.D. (1973). Videotape and the attribution process: Reversing actors’ and observers’ points of view. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 166-175. P10 1.  Can we make unbiased decisions? a. Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131.     d. Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231-259. e. Funder, D. C. (1987). Errors and mistakes: Evaluating the accuracy of social judgment. Psychological bulletin, 101(1), 75-90.
10-3	P3: Current paper on attribution/social cognition		Reyna, V. F. (2004). How people make decisions that involve risk: A dual-processes approach. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(2), 60-66. Frensch, P. A., & Rünger, D. (2003). Implicit learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(1), 13-18
10-5	Stereotypes	P1. 1. What is the content of our stereotypes/ prejudice?  a.  Katz, D., & Braly, K. (1933). Racial stereotypes of one hundred college students. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28, 280-290. b. Eagly, A.H., Mladinic, A. (1989). Gender stereotypes and attitudes toward women and men. Personality and social psychology Bulletin.   15 (4): 543-558. P2 2. How do expectations influence our perceptions? a. Kelly, H. (1950). The warm-cold variable in first impressions. Journal of Personality, 18, 431-439. c. Rosenhan, D. L.(1992). On being sane in insane places. In J. M. Morse (Ed.), Qualitative Health Research (pp.202-224). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.     d.  Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. (1971). Test results are what you think they are. Psychology Today, 5, 18-22, 106-107. P3 3. How do category based expectations influence our perceptions?      a. Allport, G. W. & Postman, L. J. (1945). The basic psychology of rumor. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 8 (Series III), 61-81. b. Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(3), 285-290.
10-10	P4: Current paper on stereotypes		Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(6), 878-902.
10-12 Prejudice and Intergroup relations	H&S Chapter 15	P4 1. Where does prejudice come from a. Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American, 223, 96-102. b. Social identity Brewer, M.B., (1991) The social self – On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology. 17(5): 475-482. P5 2.  Do we hide our prejudices?    b. Sigal, H. & Page, R. (1971). Current stereotypes: A little fading, a little faking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18(2), 247-255. c. Kinder, D. R., & Sears, D. O. (1981). Prejudice and Politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(3), 414-431 d.  Snyder, M. L., Kleck, R. E., Strenta, A., & Mentzer, S. J. Avoidance of the handicapped:  An attributional ambiguity analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(12), 2297-2306. P6 3. How do our stereotypes affect other's behaviors? a. Merten, R.K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy.  Antioch Review, 8, 193-210. b. Word, C. O., Zanna, M. P., Cooper, J. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 109-120. c. Snyder, M., Tanke, E.D., & Bersheid, E. (1977). Social perception and interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 656-666. d. Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1966). Teachers' expectancies: Determinants of pupils' IQ gains. Psychological Reports, 19, 115-118. P7 4. How do we improve intergroup experiences/decrease prejudice?      a.   Sherif, M. (1956). Experiments in group conflict. Scientific American, 195, 54-58.      b. Rokeach, M. (2003). Long-range experimental modification of values, attitudes, and behavior. In S. Plous, Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination (pp. 474-480). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.      c.  Aronson, E., & Bridgeman, D. (1979). Jigsaw groups and the desegregated classroom: In pursuit of common goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5(4), 438-446. P8 5.  What is it like to be a target of prejudice and stereotypes?  a. Clark, K. B., Chein, I., & Cook, S. W. (2004). The effects of segregation and the consequences of desegregation A (september 1952) social science statement in the brown v. board of education of topeka supreme court case. American Psychologist, 59(6), 495-501.    c.  Cross, W.E. (1971).  Negro-To Black conversion experience.  Black World, 20, 13-27. d. Kleck, R. E., & Strenta, A. (1980). Perceptions of the impact of negatively valued physical characteristics on social interaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(5), 861-873. e. Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype Threat and the intellectual test-performance of African-Americans. Journal of personality and Social Psychology, 69 (5): 797-811.
10-17	P5: Current paper on prejudice and intergroup relations		How can we include SES in our research? SES paper from APA
10-19	H & S, Chapter 6 Emotions, motivations, and our brains.	P9 1. How do motivations influence our perceptions? a. Bruner, J. S., & Goodman, C. C. (1947). Value and need as organizing factors in perception. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 42, 33-44.      b. Hastorf, A. H., & Cantril, H. (1954). They saw a game: A case study. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 49, 129-134. P10 2.  How do we assess emotions in ourselves and others?      a. Schacter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social, and psychological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379-399.  b. Ekman, P., et al. (1987).  Universals and Cultural Differences in the Judgments of Facial Expressions of Emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(4), 712-717. P1 Goals and Motivation a. Langor, E.J. (1975). Illusion of Control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 32 (2): 311-328. b. Lepper, M.R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R.E (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsice reward – Test of Overjustification hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28 (1): 129-137.
10-24	P6: Current paper on emotions, goals, motivation, and/or our brains.		What can we learn from Neuroscience? Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, 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 primer and set of first principles. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(4), 650-661. Davidson, R. J. (2003). Seven sins in the study of emotion: Correctives from affective neuroscience. Brain and cognition, 52(1), 129-132.
10-26 Interpersonal relationships	H&S Chapter 12.	P2 1.  Who are we attracted to?     a.  Byrne, D. (1961).  Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.  Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62, 713-715.      b. Berscheid, E., Dion, K., Walster, E., & Walster, W.G. (1971).   Physical attractiveness and dating choice:  A test of the matching hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 173-189. c.  Dutton, D. G.,  & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510-517. P3 2. Types of relationships Hazan, C. & Shaver, P. (1987) Romantic Love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 511-524. P3 3.  Gender Roles. a. Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(2), 155-162. P3 4. Politics of studying relationships Shaffer, L.S. (1977).  The golden fleece:   Anti-intellectualism and social science.  American Psychologist, 32, 814-823
10-31	P7: presentation on interpersonal relationships		Reis, H. T., & Collins, W. A. (2004). Relationships, human behavior, and psychological science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(6), 233-237. Diamond, L. M. (2004). Emerging perspectives on distinctions between romantic love and sexual desire. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(3), 116-119.
11-2 Self	Baumeister, R.F. Chapter 3.  In Tesser (ed).	P4 1.  What is the self?   a.  James, W. (1892/1968).  The self.  In C. Gordon & K.J. Gergen (Eds). The Self in Social Interaction (pp. 41-49). New York:  John Wiliey & Sons, Inc. b.  Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986).  Possible selfs. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954-969. c. Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological review, 98(2), 224-253. P5 2.  How do we present ourselves to others?      a. Cialdini, R. B., et al. (1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366-375.      b.  Snyder, M. (1974). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 526-537. c. Berglas, S., & Jones, E. E. (1978).  Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(4), 405-417.
11-7	P8: Presentation on the self		Dunning, D., Johnson, K., Ehrlinger, J., & Kruger, J. (2003). Why people fail to recognize their own incompetence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(3), 83-87 Ross, M., & Wilson, A. E. (2003). Autobiographical memory and conceptions of self: Getting better all the time. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(2), 66-69.
11-9 Applied research, Health Psych;