Summer 2010, Brown University: Psychology in Everyday Life
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
Academic Year 2010, Loyola University Maryland:
Previous Teaching Experience
Brown University, Providence, RI
Fall 2008 Visiting Assistant Professor, "Social Psychology"
Spring 2009 Visiting Assistant Professor, "Quantitative Methods"
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 2009 Faculty, "Psychology in Everyday Life: An Introduction to the Science of Social Psychology"
June 2009 Faculty, "Family, Friends, and Significant Others: An Introduction to the Science of Close Relationships"
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”