Summer 2009: Everyday Psychology
Course Description:As active thinkers immersed in a vibrant social world, we face an amazing challenge everyday: how do we make sense of ourselves and the people around us? Each and every day, we struggle to assess our own capabilities and personalities, while simultaneously protecting our feelings of self-worth. We work hard to express our own individuality- through our play-lists, bedroom decorations, and clothing,-but we also work hard to connect and conform with others, fulfilling our need for belonging. When it comes to understanding friends, family, or even strangers, we constantly seek out clues into their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It’s an impressive task: if we see someone helping a neighbor, do we decide she is a nice person (a dispositional attribution) or do we examine the social forces influencing her actions (a situational attribution)? Our ability to ask “why,” our efforts to explain ourselves, and our attempts to understand those around us make human social psychology a fascinating subject to study.
In this course, we will take an applied approach to the study of social psychology, introducing key theoretical ideas as they pertain to real-life experience. From tennis courts to judicial courts, and from hospital rooms to classrooms, basic social-psychological principles provide insight into how people relate, think, and influence each other. We will ask questions about expectations, emotions, and motivations, exploring how these aspects of human cognition affect sports fans’ behaviors, eyewitness testimony, lawyers’ persuasiveness, and medical diagnoses. Grounding our learning in research, we will discover the methods social psychologists use to study important problems that people encounter in their work and in their personal lives. This course will be discussion-based, with readings and assignments designed to engage your mind and spark your enthusiasm for the everyday importance of social psychology.
Course Objectives
* To develop an acute understanding of the applications of psychology in critical social contexts
* To foster critical thinking skills as they relate to human thinking and social interactions
* To demonstrate the science of social psychology by introducing key empirical methodologies and important theoretical perspectives
* To enable students to read key research in social psychology and see how these findings connect to our own everyday lives
* To encourage critical awareness of how individuals and groups respond to social influence
Spring 2009: Quantitative Methods (PY 9)
Course Description:
As a student of the behavioral sciences, what research inspires you? Perhaps you are fascinated by behavioral neuroscience and the mechanisms involved in memory or emotion. Maybe you are curious about human social interactions, including romantic attraction, prejudice and discrimination, aggression, and helping. You might have an interest in public health issues and care about life expectancy and risk factors such as cigarette smoking or on-the-job stress. Maybe economic decision making is your focus, or maybe you are more interested in matters of social justice. No matter which area your interests lie, none would tell us much about the world we live in without researchers taking the time to design and implement research, gather data, and analyze those data. The behavioral sciences may ask different questions, but each area of study capitalizes on a specific way of thinking about and organizing qualitative or quantitative information. It is the quantitative method for thinking about data that will be the focus of our work this semester.
Over the course of the semester, I hope to show you that a solid grasp of fundamental statistics will sharpen your understanding of the world around you. Certainly knowing statistics will help those of you who will go to graduate school in psychology, economics, sociology, or political science, but even if you never set foot in a research lab, a working knowledge of statistics will serve you well, shaping your ability to think critically about numbers you read or hear on the news. Understanding the fundamentals of data analysis will give you a set of practical skills that can help you throughout your life. Over the course of the semester, you will gain an appreciation for how descriptive statistics allow us to take great quantities of data and summarize them in a form that is easy to interpret. You will develop the capacity to critique other researchers’ application of inferential statistics and apply them yourself to the study of differences and between groups. You will also gain a new set of skills as you become fluent in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), a leading data analysis software package. By emphasizing both a conceptual understanding and a functional understanding of basic statistics, I hope to give you a thorough and practical working knowledge of statistics.Pre-requisites: There are no course requirements to take this class, however a basic knowledge of high school algebra is helpful. If you are concerned about your mathematical background, consult “Appendix A: Arithmetic Review” of your text on page 526. Both psychology majors and non-majors may take this course.
Required Materials:
Textbook
Howell, D. C. (2008). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences, 6th edition. Belmont, CA: Thompson-Wadsworth.
Pallant, J. F. (2007). SPSS Survival Manual: A step-by-step guide to data analysis with SPSS, 3rd edition. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin
I-Clickers
Please check out a clicker for the entire semester from the Friedman Center in the Science Library (in the basement). It is your responsibility to bring this clicker to each class. It will be used to assess your understanding of the material (see iclicker questions), to take attendance, and to help make our class an interactive experience. If you forget your clicker, please see one of the TAs after class to log in your attendance.
Calculators
Please bring a calculator to class and section; you will need one for your homework assignments as well. The only functions you will need are: add, subtract, divide, multiply, and exponentials. The use of a calculator’s memory is expressly forbidden.
Course Website:
All assignments, articles, announcements, and class handouts will be posted on our course website: http://mycourses.brown.eduComplete syllabus available by request.
Fall 2008: Social Psychology (PY 210)
Course Description:
Social psychology explores the fascinating ways in which people interact with, perceive, and influence each other. We humans are fundamentally social beings: we communicate with each other, we live and work together, and we emotionally respond to one another. As such, our social contexts, be they real or imagined, profoundly shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.
I view social psychology as an incredibly useful, exciting, and important field of study that will enhance your liberal arts education. It has the potential to advance your understanding of the human experience by providing insights into your own everyday life, and its principles can readily be applied to other subject areas, such as law, social work, athletics, politics, business, art, and education, to name a few. I hope you will come to share my enthusiasm for this field.
This course will introduce you to the theoretical perspectives and empirical research that have shaped psychologists’ current understanding of social psychology. We will address topics that are highly-relevant to your daily life, such as group dynamics, romantic attraction, and altruism. I will work hard to present concepts in a lively, thought-provoking fashion. Your participation, thoughtful questions, and full engagement with the material will help make our time together all the more interesting and meaningful.
When you graduate from Brown University, you will need the ability to think critically, to make sound decisions, and to form accurate impressions of social situations. You will have the chance to become a truly global citizen: someone who respects diversity and understands its consequences; someone who can identify and resist inappropriate social influence; someone who can build lasting relationships; someone who can construct persuasive arguments; someone who can recognize his or her own “snap judgments” and refrain from discriminatory behaviors. This class will help you move towards the goal of becoming a more critically-thinking, informed, and compassionate person.
Course Information and Documents:
Complete syllabus available by request.
Previous Teaching Experience
Wheaton College, Norton, MA
Fall 2007 Visiting Instructor, "Social Psychology"
Spring 2007 Visiting Instructor, "Introductory Psychology"
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Brown University Summer School, Providence RI
June 2008 Faculty, “Gender, Relationships, and Social Influence: An Introduction to Social Psychology”
June 2007 Faculty, “Gender, Relationships, and Social Influence: An Introduction to Social Psychology”
July 2007 Faculty, “Prejudice, Discrimination, and Diversity: An Introduction to Stereotypes”
June 2006 Faculty, “Gender, Relationships, and Social Influence: An Introduction to Social Psychology”
July 2006 Faculty, “Prejudice, Discrimination, and Diversity: An Introduction to Stereotypes”
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Brown University, Providence RI
2007 Teaching Assistant, "Brain Damage and the Mind"
2006 Teaching Assistant, "Introduction to Psychology"
2006 Teaching Assistant, “Introduction to Statistics”
2005 Teaching Assistant, “Personality and Clinical Assessment”
2005 Teaching Assistant, “Laboratory in Social Cognition”
2004 Teaching Assistant, “Social Psychology”