Introduction to Social Psychology

PSY 240

Fall Semester 2006

Instructor: Professor Kipling Williams

Download Syllabus

Download Syllabus for Spring 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****website for 2007 will be up soon****

Students can take practice exams by accessing this website: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007291694x/student_view0/index.html

Textbook: Myers, D. (2005). Social psychology 8th Edition. NY: McGraw-Hill. A limited number of study guides are available from the bookstore; buy one if you think you might need it.

Recitation TAs and Meetings :

Course Objectives: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the field of social psychology. There are three major sub-goals: (1) To explain how social psychologists think about and study human behavior. (2) To introduce you to the body of knowledge and underlying principles that currently exist in the field. (3) To encourage reflection about the implications of social psychological research for the situations we encounter in everyday life.

Class Format: This class involves two lectures and a recitation each week. The 50-minute lectures will cover the topics listed on this syllabus. The text covers these same topics, but lectures and text overlap only about 50%. Consequently you will both need to attend lecture and read the text to learn all of the examinable material.

Recitations: You will also be assigned to a recitation section that will meet once each week. In recitation, you will take part in a variety of activities meant to build on and extend lecture material. Such activities will include discussions of readings, demonstrations of classic social psychological phenomena, and a major project. Recitation is designed to give you greater insight into the research process and to provide opportunities to discuss course material in smaller groups. The TAs leading recitations are advanced social psychology graduate students.

Grading: Course grades will be based on three non-cumulative midterm exams (each worth 25%), and recitation participation, assignments and projects (25%). Make-ups will only be granted with a valid medical excuse, and will be taken at a time convenient for your TA. The grades will follow the following breakdown. The percentages are based on the top score achieved in the class.

No Extra Credit: There are no extra credit opportunities. Please do not ask.

Purdue Student Code of Honor: Know it and follow it. For your own sake, do your own work. Plagiarism is a serious offense, and is easily detectable with the advent of search engines. It does not matter if you plagiarized intentionally or unintentionally-either way it is plagiarism. Here is a useful website to understand the definition and issues surrounding plagiarism: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html

Schedule of Topics and Readings for Lecture

*Last day to cancel a course assignment without a grade, for course additions, change of level or change of pass/not-pass option

Useful Web Sites and Resources:

Social Psychology Network

Social Psychology Sites of the Week