Psychology 2400
Social Psychology - Service-Learning
Fall 2013
Lectures: T/TH 1:35 – 3:05pm
School of Education, Room 112
Instructor: Dr. Sadie Leder
Office: 336C Roberts Hall
Email:
Phone: (336) 841-9430
Office hours: TBA and by appointment
Required Text:
Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus H. R. (2010). Social Psychology (8th edition). New York: Wadsworth, Publishing. (ISBN: 0-495-81240-4)
Course Webpage: (http://blackboard.highpoint.edu)
It is important to check the course website regularly in order to get important announcements, lecture notes, and grades. This is also where you can access class assignments and homework.
Course Description:
Social psychology examines how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by various aspects of our social contexts, including the people and situations that we encounter in our environments. The goal of this course is for students to gain both an applied and theoretical understanding of social psychological concepts, including altruism, social influence, aggression, prejudice, perception, attitudes, interpersonal attraction, and group decision-making. Emphasis will be placed on gaining an understanding of the major theories, research methods, and findings in social psychology.
We will also focus on the development of critical thinking skills and the application of social psychological principles to our everyday lives. In particular, this service-learning course will ask students to consider the role that social context plays in the motivation of both pro-social & and negative behavior, the treatment of stigmatized vs. privileged group members, as well as grapple with the moral question of how they are not only influenced by their environments, but shape them in return. Students will immerse themselves in service that asks them to step outside their typical surroundings. Through observation and interaction with individuals who may be of different political, racial, socioeconomic, or regional affiliation, they should develop a deeper understanding of the course material and character development that extends far beyond the scope of this semester-long experience.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course you should be able to: (1) demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, and empirical findings within the study of social psychology; (2) employ critical and creative thinking to explain the powerful influence that people have on each other’s attitudes, feelings, and behaviors, (3) articulate how hands-on participation in service-learning facilitates an interdisciplinary understanding of the relationship between social psychology and other programs of study, (4) identify moral and social issues, as well as work to apply research in social psychology to these important topics both inside and outside of the classroom, (5) undertake upper-level college coursework that builds from the basic principles of social psychology, and (6) understand how the tools of social psychology help each of us better serve our community .
Service Learning Procedures:
The service work is a critical component for allowing students to understand how the lessons presented in class are related to real life outcomes. To get a true sense of psychology as a science, it is important for students to immerse themselves in the experience and become familiar with how our thoughts and behaviors are a manifestation of a number of personal and social elements. Accordingly, all students in this course are required to spend 25 hours in service to the organization with which they are paired. Before beginning their service hours, students will be introduced to a representative of the organization, receive an orientation to service learning as a teaching pedagogy, agree to the Service Learning Code of Professional and Ethical Behavior, and sign a Partnership Agreement. All students must begin their service learning experience by Thursday, Sept 5th, as it is necessary for the required Weekly Service Learning Reflections.
This experience should provide a more meaningful understanding of the course material, allowing for more personal and informative in-class discussions, a deeper degree of contemplation for course assignments, and a more lasting impact on their character development as they work to transition into civically engaged and responsible adults.
Service learning is not an internship or simply volunteering – it is a pedagogical model that will deepen your understanding of the course material by exposing you first-hand to the ethical issues we discuss in class. You will perform service work that aids our local community and that service work will advance your thinking about ethics and education.
The following Venn Diagram illustrates the three central components of a service learning pedagogy and how it is different from other activities. The Diagram is a synthesis of two sources:
http://www.csus.edu/cec/director_msg.stm
and
http://mgmoses.com/Jumpstart/SectionII/Chap1%20Overview%20SL/Defining_SL.html
Our community partner this semester is:
The Salvation Army’s Boys & Girls Club
http://www.salvationarmycarolinas.org/commands/highpoint/bgc
121 Southwest Cloverleaf Twice
High Point, NC 27263
881-5444
Course Requirements:
Exams. There will be three exams. Exams will be a combination of multiple-choice and short answer/short essay questions. These exams will cover ALL lecture and text material covered prior to the exam date. Exams (including the final exam) will NOT be cumulative. Please note that these exams are challenging and will require you to learn quite a bit of information as well as to apply this information in novel contexts. Exams are scheduled to take 90 minutes, and all students must begin the exam at the scheduled class time. No student will be permitted to start the exam after the first person has finished and handed their exam in, and NO exam will be accepted for late credit.
Make-up Exams: Make-up exams are granted only for legitimate reasons as per University sanctions. Except for in the case of an emergency, students should notify the instructor prior to missing an exam to schedule a make-up. The instructor reserves the right to decide when a make-up exam is appropriate and may administer the make-up exam in a different format from the original exam.
Weekly Reflections. Each week I would like for you to complete an online journaling activity. Essentially, you will use our blackboard course website to complete weekly “thought papers.” In these assignments, I would like for you to reflect on how your service-learning experience relates to the material presented in class. The goal is to get students to critically consider how social psychology theories relate to and impact not only their own lives, but those of the people around them. Your service-learning experience should provide you with the opportunity ponder a number of ethical questions related to how one’s situation or environment may shape their opportunities and experiences. Some questions will relate specifically to a particular topic covered in the course, like stereotypes and prejudice or helping behaviors, while others are applicable to the overarching, broader topic of social psychology. I would love to see you critically examine both the ethical and psychological relevance of your experience.
At the end of the semester, students will be asked to review each of their weekly entries in preparation for one final meta-reflection. At this point, students will be asked to put into their own words what they have gained from the opportunity to participate in both class lectures and service-learning experiences. All entries will be private, so they will only be viewed by you and the instructor. Entries should be at least a half a typed page, double-spaced for full credit (minimum 250 words). Entries that are short or late will be penalized. Entries over 3 days late may not be accepted for credit.
Group presentation. During the regularly scheduled final exam period for our class, we will meet for presentations. For this assignment, groups of 3-5 students will be formed by the professor. The students will make formal presentations describing the kind of service work performed and the role such service and the partnering organizations played in furthering their understanding of social psychology. Whether examining the influence of social pressures on conformity and obedience or the context of the situation in the demonstration of helping behaviors, group members will select one topic that they can collaborate on. Groups will be required to meet with the professor outside of class to review the selected topic and proposed presentation. Students will jointly give a 30-45 minute presentation on how their service experience related to what they have learned this semester in class. A student's grade for the project will be based on evaluations of the quality of the information prepared and presented (as judged by the instructor) and evaluations of a student’s contribution to the final project (as judged by the student's team members). Each student will receive an individual grade for the project based. Additional grading guidelines include: (1) the quality of the description of service work completed and its value, (2) the understanding of social psychological principles, (3) the depth of reflection on the relationship between who we are and what we do as it is shaped by situational influences, and (4) creativity and professionalism of the presentation. Students should dress up as if they were going to a business interview. The presentation should be well-practiced. Those who do not present as part of their group project will lose all points associated with that portion of the assignment.
Homework: Students will complete assignments that explore psychological principles and demonstrate how the topics discussed in class influence life outside of the classroom. Specific instructions and due dates for each exercise will be given when the exercise is assigned. Late exercises will be penalized, and assignments more than 3 days late may not be accepted for credit.
Attendance: Your attendance for each class is mandatory. I will circulate an attendance sheet during each class, and it is your responsibility to sign the sheet before you leave. Signing another individual’s name, regardless of intent, is a violation of the University Honor Code and will be treated as such. Students who miss 2 consecutive classes or who miss more than 3 total classes will have their names submitted to the University as part of the Academic Alert/Class Attendance Probation Program. In this class, two tardies will equal one absence. Please note that High Point University does not excuse any student for being absent. Students are requested to send me an email prior to being absent in class.
Extra Credit: I will also provide opportunities to earn extra credit points in this course. If you miss any of the extra credit activities, there is no way to make them up.
Your final grade for this course will be calculated using the following formula:
Exam #1 20%
Exam #2 20% -
Exam #3 20%
Group Presentation 20%
Weekly Reflections 10%
Homework 8%
Class Participation 2%
Total 100%
Grading scale for this course is as follows:
Grade / Percentage / Grade / PercentageA / 100-93 / C / 76-73
A- / 92-90 / C- / 72-70
B+ / 89-87 / D+ / 69-67
B / 86-83 / D / 66-63
B- / 82-80 / D- / 60-62
C+ / 79-77 / F / Below 60
Class Preparation and Conduct:
In order to get the most out of this course, you will need to read assigned material prior to coming to class. The class presentations are designed to present important topics, clarify difficult concepts, and expand on key issues from the text. However, due to time limitations, not everything from the text will be discussed in class. Therefore, if you have not read the text, you may find class presentations fast-paced and hard to follow. If you begin to feel lost, please come to see me as soon as possible.
As class time is so valuable, disrespectful behavior will not be permitted. Activities like sleeping, emailing, and texting are not only disruptive to your acquisition of knowledge, but they disturb/distract your classmates. At the beginning of each class, cell phones and similar devices should be turned off and computer use should be limited to class relevant activities (NOT email, IM, or social networking). If I feel that your behavior is disrespectful or disruptive to the class, I reserve the right to ask you to stop what you are doing, hand over the device for the remainder of class, and/or possibly leave the class. Disruptive behavior (including texting) will be reflected negatively in your class participation grade.
Policies on Cheating:
Any acts of cheating, plagiarism, or collusion are inconsistent with the maintenance of academic integrity and direct violations of the University Honor Code. All members of the University community are honor bound to refrain from such behaviors and honor bound to confront any violation of the University Honor Code. Consequently, cheating, plagiarism, and collusion will not be tolerated in this course and the instructor will impose or seek to impose all relevant sanctions which are deemed appropriate by the instructor and/or the University Honor Code. You are responsible for understanding what behaviors constitute cheating, plagiarism, or collusion.
Service Learning Agreements:
All students in the course will be required to abide by the policies set forth by the HPU Service
Learning Program in its Code of Professional and Ethical Behavior and Partnership Agreement.
Students will sign the documents near the start of the semester. Failure to abide by these policies
will be treated as a breach of the University’s Honor Code and students may be referred to the
Honor Council for punishment. Students are expected to take the initiative to complete their
service hours, and they are responsible for the penalties to their grades if they do not complete
the hours.
Disability Support Program:
Students who require classroom accommodations due to a diagnosed disability must submit the appropriate documentation to Disability Support in the Office of Academic Development, 4th Floor Smith Library. Requests for accommodations should be made at the beginning of a course. Accommodations are not retroactive. Contact Rita Sullivant, Coordinator of Disability Support, , 336-841-9061 for additional information.
Course Evaluations:
All students are expected to complete course evaluations in the week preceding final exams. These evaluations, which are delivered online, are an important part of High Point University’s assessment program. Your cooperation in completing them is greatly appreciated. As the end of the semester draws near, you will receive information from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment about how to complete online evaluations.