Eastern Illinois University
Department of Psychology
Psychology 3870 - Social Psychology
Fall, 2008
Professor: Steve Scher
Office: Physical Sciences 3143
Phone: 581-7269 (o); 239-4262 (h)
e-mail:
WWW: http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~sjscher
Office Hours:
Mondays 12:30 to 2 pm; Tuesdays 12:30 to 2 pm; Thursdays, 10-11 am
Social psychology is the study of the effects of social situations on human psychology. We will study the way in which the presence of others affects your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
There are three, inter-connected, themes that will organize all of our study:
1) A person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are not just caused by things inside of them, but are affected by the situations they are in.
2) The way a situation affects people depends on the way in which that person construes the situation, and this construal process is subjective.
3) Our construal of a situation, and the way that construal affects our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, depends on the content and operation of our cognitive structures.
Throughout the semester, we will develop these themes and see how they apply to the way people understand and approach the social world.
Reading: All assigned reading for this class will come from: Worchel, S., Cooper, J., Goethals, G.R., and Olson, J.M. (2000). Social Psychology, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Grades: Your grade in this class will be based on a total of 400 points. Points will come from three exams (100 points each), three homework assignments (25 points each), and four in-class assignments (7 points each). NOTE: This actually adds up to 403 points. The extra three points are extra credit!
Students earning 360 points or more in the class will get an A.
Students earning 320 or more points will get at least a B
Students earning 280 or more points will get at least a C.
Students earning 240 or more points will get at least a D.
Students earning fewer than 240 points will fail the class.
For each exam, you will be responsible for all material (readings and lectures) we have covered since the previous exam; however, exams will not be cumulative. They will only cover the material since the previous exam. The format of the exams will be predominantly short essay (half-page or less). You will always have some choice about which questions to answer. I reserve the right to occasionally include a few questions of a different format (e.g., matching, true/false, multiple choice). However, you should be prepared for all or almost all essays on the exams.
Exam One will be held on October 9. Exam Two will be on November 13. Exam Three will be on our regularly scheduled final exam date.
Homework assignments will be due on October 16, November 4, and December 11 (the last day of class). All homeworks must be turned in by the end of class time. Note that you must turn in hard copies of homeworks. I do not accept emailed homework assignments.
In class assignments will occur periodically throughout the semester.
Dates of exams, and due dates of homeworks are subject to change. All changes will be announced in class.
Missing Exams: I want you to be able to do your best in this class. But, I also have to be fair to all of the other students. I believe it is important for everyone to have an equal chance to get a good grade on the test, but I also don’t want anyone to have an unfair advantage. Therefore, this is my policy for missing exams: If you contact me at least a week before an exam, we will schedule an early time for you to take the exam.
Unfortunately, things sometimes happen that make you miss an exam, but you can‘t get in touch with me before the exam. If this happens, you should get in touch with me as soon as things are under control. In order to make sure that you did not skip the exam just to get an advantage over your classmates, I will usually need to see some sort of evidence about what happened before I will give you a makeup exam.
Late or Makeup Homeworks will only be accepted in rare circumstances. It is usually not possible to makeup in class assignments. If you have a legitimate reason for missing an in-class assignment, please speak with me immediately.
Tentative Class Schedule
Date / Topic / Reading8/26 / Introduction/What is Social Psychology? / Course Outline
8/28 – 9/2 / Construal and the Power of the Situation / pp. 1-13
9/4 – 9/9 / Research Methods / pp. 13-32
9/11 – 9/25 / The Power of the Situation
9/30 – 10/7 / Ethics
10/9 / Exam One
10/14 / NO CLASS
10/16 / Homework One Due
10/16 – 11/4 / Knowledge Structures / pp. 34-36 and pp. 46-60.
11/4 / Homework Two Due
11/6 – 11/15 / Attribution Theory / pp. 36-42
11/13 / Exam Two
12/2 – 12/4 / The Social Psychology of the Self / pp. 66 – 77 and 80 - 107
12/9 – 12/11 / Prejudice / Ch. 7
12/11 / Homework Three Due