Social Psychology 2300-OPSS

The aims of the course are: to introduce students to foundations of social psychology, provide them with knowledge about major research areas in this discipline, teach them how to use contemporary social psychology findings in order to better understand behaviors of the individual and of larger communities, and how to apply theoretical knowledge to analyze particular social situations in daily life. The course includes 5 thematic modules: Knowledge about social world and person perception; Attitudes and attitude change; Interpersonal relationships; Group - sociological approach ; Applied social psychology. Topics of the planned classes:
- Introduction: an outline of the subject matter and research methods in social psychology, basic theoretical approaches of social psychology, the research process - exemplified by selected studies using an experimental, correlational, or observational paradigm, merits and drawbacks of particular research methods, a brief history of social psychology
- Knowledge about social world and person perception: schemata and categories used in social perception, cognitive schemata - types, structure and functions, origin of stereotypes and prejudices (theories of stereotype change), heuristics as simplified rules of inferring, attribution theories - an overview of concepts, attribution errors and distortions, evaluation of other people (bottom-up and top-down or up-bottom processes); positive-negative asymmetry (positive inclination, negativity effect), analytic and categorical processing, justification of own behaviors - the theory of cognitive dissonance. The role of nonverbal communication, the problem of social perception, "Self" in the social world - goals, principles and techniques of self-presentation
- Attitudes and attitude change: attitude theories and investigation, the question of correspondence between attitudes and behavior, the theory of two-way persuasion, overt and covert attitudes, techniques of attitude measurement, theories and requirements of attitude change (e.g. in politics and advertising)
- Social influence: imitation, the phenomenon of conformism and compliance with authority (the classical studies by Asch and Milgram), types of social influence - informative and normative, factors enhancing/decreasing conformism, social influence techniques, the paradox of excessive choice
- Interpersonal relationships: interpersonal attractiveness (theory, determinants, practical application), social orientations (co-operation, rivalry, etc.), relationship between social orientations and the way of perceiving social world, harmfulness of rivalry-focused orientation, pro-social behaviors, types of pro-social motivation (endo- and exocentric), theories and models of pro-social actions, the phenomenon of altruism, aggression - attempts at defining, theories and determinants of aggression, the problem of aggression reduction (the concept of catharsis), the Stanford Prison Experiment by Zimbardo
- Group - sociological approach: perception of sociological groups, structure and dynamics of a small group, styles of group leadership, leadership and power, group phenomena: social facilitation and inhibition, group polarization, the syndrome of "group thinking", the influence of minority on majority, intra- and intergroup conflicts, the notion of social identity
- Applied social psychology: contribution of social psychology to health psychology, interpretation of stressful events, perceived control (the concept of reflexiveness), pessimistic vs. optimistic attribution style, application of the social influence conception in health promotion.