Overview

You will explore how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of people are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others (such as the effects of social-cultural systems). You will explore the power of situation and group to evaluate why the same person acts differently in different situations (such as in social loafing, social facilitation and Deindividuation). Also, you will study how we think about, influence, and relate to one another considering within and between groups' behaviors (such a Prejudice and discrimination). Each week at the first step you will learn about Key theories and how those have been developed through classic studies in social psychology. To develop your critical thinking skills you will be introduced to several real-life examples that can be explained based on the social psychological concepts. In the next step, you will be introduced to the more recent research studies that have expanded the primary theories and applied them in different fields of day-to-day life. To gain a deeper insight into the social psychological concepts, each week as part of the class activities you will work on a variety of case studies to challenge your understanding and acquisition of skills to contextualize the concepts learned in a creative and innovative way.

This module will cover the following topics:

_Social Identity _Culture: Independent and Interdependent Self in two social systems of Collectivism and Individualism, Tightness and Looseness. _ Persuasion and Attitude change: Behavioural approach and Cognitive approach. _Effect of Presence of other people: Social Facilitation, Social Loafing, and Deindividuation. _Within and between Group Behaviour: Group Polarization, Persuasive Argument, and Social Comparison, Groupthink. _Antisocial Behaviour: Prejudice, stereotyping, and Discrimination. Targets of Prejudice such as Race and Ethnicity, Belief System, Gender, and LGBTQ+. _Roots of Anti-social behavior: Frustration-Aggression principles, Scapegoat theory, Aggression and Subculture of violence, Social Inequalities, and Division. _Language and communication: Social interaction, Channels of communication including Verbal, Non-Verbal, and Computer-Mediated communication considering different factors such as Culture, Gender and Ethnicity. _Investigate how social psychology can be applied to real world issues including Sustainability

Assessment Strategy

Threshold (40%-49% / D- to D+) Has shown knowledge of key areas and principles but there is a weakness in understanding the subject area. Work shows limited evidence of background study and research. Answer is only poorly focussed on question and with some irrelevant material and poor structure. Some arguments are presented but lack coherence.

Satisfactory (50%–59% / C- to C+) Has shown knowledge of the key areas and principles and the main elements of the subject area are understood. Work shows limited evidence of background study and research. Answer is focussed on question but also with some irrelevant material and weakness in structure. Arguments are presented but lack coherence.

Good (60%-69% / B- to B+) Has shown a strong knowledge and understands most of the subject area. Work shows evidence of background study and research. Answer is focussed, has a good structure, and contains coherent arguments.

Excellent (70%-100% / A- to A*) Has shown a comprehensive knowledge and detailed understanding of the subject area. Work shows extensive background study and research. Answer is highly focussed, well-structured and contains logically presented and defended arguments.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate an understanding of how social interaction and cultural context shapes and influences human behaviour

• Demonstrate and evaluate how social psychological principles can be applied to real-world issues

• Describe the dynamics of behaviour within and between groups