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  Dynamics of Social Behavior 

Psychology 365    

Spring, 2008

Dr. Glenn Reeder

Office Hours: 409 DeGarmo Hall MWF   10-10:50

Telephone: 438-7140

E-mail: gdreeder@ilstu.edu

Website: http://www.psychology.ilstu.edu/gdreeder

Overview

            In a classic essay on the history of social psychology, Gordon Allport (1968) defined social psychology as a discipline that uses scientific methods to "understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others".  To put it simply, social psychologists are interested in how the individual is influenced by other people.  If you are sitting alone in a room working on a jigsaw puzzle, there are aspects of your behavior that are relevant to many areas of psychology.  For example you may be trying to distinguish certain colors from others (perception), remembering particular strategies that you have used in the past (learning and memory), or becoming depressed by your lack of progress (personality).  But should another person suddenly enter the room, your thoughts, feelings, and behavior may be systematically altered.  You might form an impression of the intruder, reflect on your level of ability, or possibly ask for help (if the puzzle is particularly exasperating).  These unique reactions fall within the domain of social psychology. 

            This semester in Dynamics of Social Behavior we will be focusing on social influence as it plays out in attitude change, the self-concept, social cognition, and close relationships. The first section of the course will explore attitude formation and change.  The second section will examine how our self-concept is formed and how it influences our behavior.  The next section will explore aspects of social cognition, including interpersonal perception.  The last section will examine close relationships.

Details

The Contract

            The course will be challenging. You may find that the readings and group project amount to a heavy load.  Many of the concepts to be covered in lecture and in your readings are complex, and some students find the exams to be quite difficult.  There is also a group project that leads to an oral and written presentation of research results. Please take a moment of time to consider whether you will have time in your busy schedule for these activities.  If you decide to take my course, I expect that you will attend class regularly and participate in discussion.  I also expect that you will read all of the course material and study it carefully.  Finally, I expect that you will spend a fair amount of time thinking about the topics we cover.  If you do these things, you will learn some valuable information about yourself and others.  You will also do better on exams.

Togetherness

            A course in social psychology ought to involve some social activities. To meet this goal, we will divide up into groups of 3-5 persons and do small research projects.  We can do some of the planning for these projects in class. But you will need to meet with your group members outside of class as well. The results of each project will be presented to the rest of the class by the group members and a written report will accompany it.  All the members of a group will receive the same grade on this project.  The possible topics will be discussed in class. Detailed advice about the group project appears near the end of this syllabus.

Extra-Credit Opportunities

             IAT reaction paper.  (1 point extra credit) Visit the website of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) at: https://implicit.harvard.eduYou may need to try more than one computer terminal before you find one that works with the website. Find the section dealing with measuring your attitudes (race, gender, or age). Complete one of these measures. Write a one page reaction paper (due on the Monday of the second week of class). Was the result surprising? Do you think the IAT has any validity? Why? How might it be used?

            Persuasion demonstrations.  This opportunity is a way to get to know people in the class and allow them to get to know you. You also start off the class by earning some valuable points to improve your grade! The basic idea is to design a persuasive message or social influence strategy and then present it to the class. In other words, design an ad. Explain why you think it will work by referring to social psychological theory on attitude change or influence. Or pick out an example of persuasion in the media and then "bring it to life" for the class.  First describe the type of persuasion (or theory of attitude change) that is involved in your example.  Then act out a skit, or show videos of TV commercials (check Youtube.com) , or display magazine ads showing how that persuasion process might affect us.  You might also pick a particular product and talk about why you think it has been marketed particularly well (or badly). You may participate alone or in a group of up to three persons.  Of course, more detail should be included by larger groups.  Everyone in a group will receive the same number of extra credit points.  They should run 3 to 10 minutes apiece. My advice is to read ahead and pick an approach to persuasion that can guide your demonstration. You can earn extra credit (3-4 points) by making such a presentation to the class any time before the first exam.         

More Stuff

            If you are a psychology major, you can stay in touch with the Psychology Department at ISU by the listserve messages that are sent to you at your ISU email address. If you are not using your ISU email address, you can arrange to forward your email: https://secure.ilstu.edu/ulid/forward/  Any student in need of a special accommodation should contact 438-5853 (voice) or 438-8620 (TDD).

            Finally, cheating on exams or plagiarism when writing the paper is not permitted and will result in a grade of F for the course and referral to the student judicial office for disciplinary action.

Required texts:

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: HarperCollins.

Erber, R., & Erber, M. W. (2001). Intimate relationships: Issues, theories, and research. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Required Readings and Accompanying Study Guides Available on E-Reserve:

The readings below and accompanying study guides will be available on E-Reserve at Milner Library: Go to the ISU Milner Library home page, click “find course reserves”, find my name under the list of instructors, click “search”, and the list of readings should appear on the screen for you to download to your computer.

Download ALL of the required readings and study guides during the first week of class. Do not wait until the last few days before the exam to get the readings. The library servers frequently are down (out of order) and technical problems can arise at the last minute. The exams will not be rescheduled due to problems in downloading the readings. So please, get those readings and study guides now. If you have trouble, call the Milner Library reserve reading desk (Jeff Ridinger at 438-3905 or 438-3453 if Jeff is not available). Download only these six readings (as well as the four study guides):

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2005). Chapter on self-knowledge from Social Psychology (5th edition). Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson Education, Inc.

Cooper, J., Mirabile, R., & Scher, S. J. (2005). Actions and attitudes: The theory of cognitive dissonance. In T. C. Brock & M. C. Green, (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives (pp. 63-79).  Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Fabrigar, L. R., Krosnick, J., & MacDougall, B. L.  (2005). Attitude measurement: Techniques for measuring the unobservable. In T. C. Brock & M. C. Green, (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives (pp. 17-40).  Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Fazio, R. H., & Roskos-Ewoldson, D. R. (2005). Acting as we feel: When and how attitudes guide behavior. In T. C. Brock & M. C. Green, (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives (pp. 41-62).  Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Gilbert, D. T. (1995).  Attribution and interpersonal perception.  In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 99-147). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., Strathman, A. J., & Priester, J. R. (2005). To think or not to think: Exploring two routes to persuasion. In T. C. Brock & M. C. Green, (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives (pp. 81-116).  Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Importance of Course Work:  Each of the course requirements will receive the following weight in determining your grade:

1.  Test #1 counts...................................    50 points

2.  Test #2 counts...................................    50 points

3.  Test #3 counts...................................    50 points

4.  The Group Project counts................     50 points

5.  Test #4 counts...................................    50 points

______________________________________________________                                   

    Total Points........................................ 250 points

The course grade breakdown, in points will be as follows:

           225 and above = A

           200 and above = B

           162 and above = C

           125 and above = D

           124 and below = F

Checking your grades: You can check your grades for this course by accessing the internet. Go to my website: http://www.psychology.ilstu.edu/gdreederClick on PSY 365, then click on Check your PSY 365 grades, then enter your usual ISU ULID and password. You will then be able to see your exam scores. Extra credit points will NOT be posted until the end of the semester.

Course Topics

I.  Attitudes and Persuasion

Chapters From Reading Packet:

• Fabrigar et al.
• Fazio and Roskos-Ewoldsen
• Cooper et al.
• Petty et al. 

From Cialdini:
     Chapters 1 & 2
Test #1 Monday, February 11

II. Self

From Reading Packet:

Chapter by Aronson et al.

From Erber and Erber:

Chapter 5

From Cialdini:

Chapter 3

Test #2  Wednesday, March 19

III. Person Perception, Attraction, and Social Cognition

From Reading Packet:

Chapter on attribution by Gilbert

From Erber & Erber:

Chapters 3 and 4

From Cialdini:

Chapter 5

Test #3 Wednesday, April 9

IV. Close Relationships

From Erber and Erber:

Chapters 6-11

From Cialdini:

Chapters 4 & 6

Presentation of Group Project (last 3 weeks of course)
Group Project Paper due Friday, April 18

Test #4 Tuesday, May 6 at 1:00 pm

Group Project: Advice on Making a Research  Presentation and Writing the Paper

Psychology 365: Dynamics of Social Behavior

    For many people, facing an audience (or even a blank page) can be a terrifying experience.  So to help you overcome some of that terror and accompanying inertia, I have prepared a few guidelines. I strongly recommend that you consult with the instructor at three crucial points in your research: (1) when selecting your research idea and study design, (2) when constructing your questionnaire (or method), and (3) when selecting a strategy of data analysis and presentation (in tables or figures). Your group will make an oral presentation to the class and prepare a written report of your research. Your grade for the group project will be based both on that presentation and the paper. You will have approximately 25 minutes of class time for the presentation (save some of that for questions). The paper should be between 10-15 pages long (not including tables ,figures, references, and appendices).

General  Advice

1. The Introduction is usually the most challenging section of your research report. Everyone in your group should contribute their knowledge here. Provide a descriptive title for your research on the overhead. Whether presenting your group project orally or in writing, start off with the general issue, discuss it in broad terms, and maybe in everyday terms.  Provide a brief history of research in the area, but try not to recite one study after another, as if they are unrelated. Rather than presenting a “laundry list” of studies, you should identify some themes in the research and then focus on the following: What are the major theoretical issues?  What still remains to be learned?  Be critical.  Then based on that discussion, build a logical rationale for your own study.  Undoubtedly your study is based on past research. But specify how and why your study is based on certain prior findings. Why is your study needed?  Be specific in stating how it might extend our knowledge in this area.  What specific ideas or theories are being tested, and why are they important? At the end of your Introduction, summarize your predictions on the overhead or PowerPoint. Keep your predictions short and simple. Remember, your classmates are taking notes!

2. In order to successfully accomplish # 1 above, try to focus on current research that bears on your research topic.  As background for researching your topic, your group should read at least five (and preferably many more) articles from social psychological sources. There is no magic number of sources to consult, but “more” is generally better and you need to make sure that you are aware of the major findings and theories in your chosen area of research. When choosing articles, be sure to distinguish between review/theoretical articles and empirical papers. A review/theoretical article summarizes the literature in an area and may propose a new theory (but no new data are reported). In contrast, an empirical article reports original data from one or more new studies. You should read some of both kinds of articles and refer to each using the appropriate name. I encourage you to rely on electronic data bases (PsycINFO) to locate books and journal articles, but please be aware that sources that are entirely internet-based (dissertations and other documents without peer review) are often unreliable for scientific research. Please do not include such sources. It may help to find a very recent article on your topic and then use the references in that article to work backwards toward an historical understanding of the topic.  Some of the better social psychological journals are Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Social Cognition, Psychological Bulletin, and other journals sponsored by APA, APS, or high quality publishers such as Academic Press.

3. In the Method, describe your research participants, materials, and how the research was conducted.  Place examples of major stimuli or dependent measures on the overhead projector (use a large font—18 or above) or in PowerPoint. The goal is to provide just enough detail so the listener could replicate your study.

4. Enter your data into a spreadsheet (such as SPSS). Here is a bit of advice on inferential statistics (Think crash course!). First, determine what your independent variables (IVs) are. These are the variables you manipulate or use as predictors. Then determine what your dependent variables (DVs) are. These are the outcome variables that are presumably affected by your IV. Second, determine if each variable is continuous or categorical. A continuous variable falls on a linear scale such as height, weight, age, self-esteem, GPA, or anything you measure on a 5 or 7 point scale. Examples of categorical variables include gender, eye color, religion, or attachment style.  Also, if you manipulate an IV like test performance (providing low vs. high performance feedback) or do a median split on a continuous variable like self-esteem (high vs. low self-esteem), you would usually treat the levels of that variable as categorical.

• If both IV and DV are continuous, you can compute a correlation (compute r). 

• If the IV is categorical and the DV is continuous, you can use a t test (for a two level categorical IV) or an analysis of variance (if there are 3 or more levels of the IV).  The particular test used also depends on whether your manipulation of the IV was within-subjects or between-subjects. Finally, if you have more than one IV, you would do a factorial analysis of variance (e.g., a 2 X 2 ANOVA).

• If both the IV and the DV are categorical, you can compute a chi square.

• If the IV is continuous and the DV is categorical then you have to wait until graduate school to learn how to handle that!

When you present your results to the class, focus on one or just a few dependent measures. Present descriptive statistics (such as means) in Tables or Figures in large font).  Present the results of any manipulation checks first. Summarize your hypotheses and point out how the data support or do not support them. Summarize your main finding(s) in a few words so your classmates can jot down the main point—they will be tested on it!!). In an oral presentation, if you have conducted inferential statistical tests (e.g., t tests, correlation), briefly report the conclusions Describe the statistical test you used and whether the differences were statistically significant, but do NOT display a copy of the inferential statistics printout. There is no need for such detail in an oral presentation. If you want, you can put that printout of the inferential statistics in an Appendix of your paper.  In the body of your paper, give the stats for the inferential statistics in the text (e.g., t (32) = 2.78, p = .03). Be aware that the descriptive statistics are the “meat and potatoes” of your research findings, whereas the inferential statistics are the “garnish”. So when you present those descriptive stats, Go Slow and let the audience really understand what you found. Restrict the use of the term “statistically significant” to cases where you have analyzed your data with inferential statistics and p values are less than .05. If you have not conducted inferential statistical tests, merely describe the patterns in your data with descriptive statistics (show the means and describe differences as “appearing” small or large).

When displaying data, it is clearer to use higher numbers to represent more of a variable. So recode variables to avoid making statements such as “Higher scores in the Table indicate lower self-esteem”.

5. In the Discussion, briefly summarize your findings and indicate if your predictions were supported. What do you think it all means? Why did your results turn out as they did? Think about your procedures and materials and consider again how your participants might have perceived them. Compare your results to past research on this topic. Point out if your research extends past research in any way. In the process, critically analyze and evaluate what other researchers have done.  You should NOT spend much time on the obvious: limitations in sample size, gender and age composition of participants. Rather, you should critically evaluate your procedures and suggest new ones that might work better. Be specific and offer details here if you can. Include a Reference section in your written paper. 

6. A social scientist strives to be careful, skeptical, and humble.  When talking about how research results bear on a theory or hypothesis, use the word "support" instead of "prove".  Social scientists see evidence as supporting a theory rather than ever really proving it.

7. Please try to follow APA style when doing the written report (But you don’t need to be religious about this). The paper should be typed and it must be entirely in your own words.  Type the paper on a word processor.  Number the pages to increase the organization.  Then revise it, checking the organization, logic, spelling, and grammar.  Finally, hand in a polished product.

8. I will use a Scoring Grid (see below) to provide a grade for your group presentation and paper.

Sample Scoring Grid for Group Presentation

The purpose of the grading grid is to let you know about the relative strengths and weaknesses of your oral presentation.

Title of Presentation:______________________________________________________

Aspect

                                                                      Poor      Fair     Ave.   Good Excel

Introduction, research history & current references                                                                            

Critical analysis & logical rationale for your study

Clear description of method                                                                                                               

Clear description of results                                                                                                                 

Creativity in data analysis and display                                                                                    

Clarity, critical analysis & insight in discussion                                                                                 

Specific recommendation for further research?                                                                                  

Overall coherence of presentation