Each assignment counts 25% of the course grade:

1. A  mid-semester take-home essay exam will be distributed Oct. 30 and due Nov. 6. You will be asked to answer 4 of 6 questions, limiting your answers to 2 double-spaced pages for each.

2. A take-home essay final exam of the same format will be distributed Jan. 14 and will be due at noon on Jan 18, in my office.

3. For each class session, there will be main readings for the class as a whole. Your assignment is to do the reading and then turn in comments on the reading by the day on which the topic is covered. The comments (1 page maximum) should always include (1) a few sentences summarizing the reading, (2) the most interesting or important idea you found in the reading or had about the topic, (3) an example of something you have experienced that is relevant to the topic, and (4) an idea for a study.

4. In addition, on 5 of the weeks after the first (beginning Oct. 2) you will select one of the presentation readings to prepare for the class. You should prepare a one-page or less paper summarizing that reading for the class, and give a short presentation in class to overview the reading and relate it to the main reading.
 
 
 

Outline and Readings

Sept. 18     Organizational Meeting

Sept. 25     Golden Oldies: The Classic Experiments

Main Readings:

     Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 19, 31-35. 
     Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377-383. 
     Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203-210. 
     Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378. 
     Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state.Psychological Review, 69, 379-399. 

Background:

     Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Brewer, M. B. (1998). Experimentation in social psychology. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 99-142). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
     Orne, M. T. (1962). On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. American Psychologist, 17, 776-783. 
     Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. E. (1992). The person and the situation. New York: McGraw-Hill. (Chapter 2: The power of the situation) 
     Wegner, D. M., & Gilbert, D. T. (2000). Social psychology--the science of human experience. In H. Bless & J. P. Forgas (Eds.), The message within: Subjective experience in social cognition and behavior (pp. 1-9). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
 

Oct. 2     Our Favorite Likes and Dislikes: Attitudes and Attitude Change 

Main Readings:

     Wicklund, R. A., & Brehm, J. W. (1976). Perspectives on cognitive dissonance. Hillsdale: Erlbaum. (Chs. 1-4) 
     Gilbert, D. T. (1990). How mental systems believe.  American Psychologist, 46, 107-119.

Presentations:

     Steele, C. M., & Liu, T. J. (1983). Dissonance processes as self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 5-19.
     Lieberman, M. D., Ochsner, K. N., Gilbert, D. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2001). Do amnesics exhibit cognitive dissonance reduction? The role of explicit memory and attention in attitude change. Psychological Science, 
     Green, M.C., & Brock, T.C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 701-721.
     Cacioppo, J. T., Priester, J. R., & Berntson, G. G. (1993). Rudimentary determinants of attitudes, II: Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 5-17. 

Background:

     Eagly, A. H. & Chaiken, S. (1998). Attitude structure and function. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 269-322). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
     Petty, R. E. (1995). Attitude change. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 195-255). New York: McGraw-Hill. 
 

Oct. 9    The Body Speaks: The Social Emotions

Main Readings:

     Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151-175.
     Ekman, P. (1984). Expression and the nature of emotion. In K. Scherer & P. Ekman (Eds)., Approaches to emotion (pp. 319-343). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. 

Presentations:

     Keltner, D. (1995). Signs of appeasement: Evidence for the distinct displays of embarrassment, amusement, and shame. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 441-454. 
     Ellis, H. D., & Lewis, M. B. (2001). Capgras delusion: A window on face recognition. Trends in Cognitive Science, 5, 149-156.
     Dimberg, U., Thunberg, M. & Elmehed, K. (2000). Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions. Psychological Science, 11, 86-89.
     Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.

Background:

     Haidt, J. (in press).The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment.Psychological Review. 
     Damasio, A. (1995). Descarte's error. New York: Basic Books.
 

Main Readings:

     Bem, D. (1972). Self-perception theory. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 6). New York: Academic Press.
     Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.Psychological Review, 84, 231-259. 
     Gibbons, F. X. (1990). Self-attention and behavior: A review and theoretical update. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psyhology (Vol. 23, pp. 249-303). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 

Presentations:

     Gallup, G. G., Jr. (1977). Self-recognition in primates: A comparative approach to the bidirectional properties of consciousness. American Psychologist, 32, 329-338. 
     Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: A test of the "overjustification" hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129-137. 
     Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 195-202. 
     Baldwin, M. W., Carrel, S. E. , & Lopez, D. F. (1990). My advisor and the Pope are watching me from the back of my mind. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26, 435-454. 

Background:

     Humphrey, N., & Dennett, D. C. (1989). Speaking for our selves. Raritan:A Quarterly Review, 9, 68-98.
     Wegner, D. M., & Bargh, J. A. (1998). Control and automaticity in social life. In D. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (4th ed, Vol. 1, pp. 446-496). New York: McGraw-Hill.
     Feinberg, T. E. (2001). Altered egos: How the brain creates the self. New York: Oxford University Press.
 

Main Readings:

     Swann, W. B., Jr. (1983). Self-verification: Bringing social reality into harmony with the self. In J. Suls & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 2, pp. 33-66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
     Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.

Presentations:

     Bushman, B. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: Does self-love or self-hate to violence? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 219-229. 
     Arndt, J., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1997). Subliminal exposure to death-related stimuli increases defense of the cultural worldview. Psychological Science, 8, 379-385. 
     Crocker, J., Voelkl, K., Testa, M., & Major, B. (1991). Social stigma: The affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 218-228. 
     Steele, C. M. & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811. 

Background:

     Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The self. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 680-740). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
     Crocker, J., Major, B., & Steele, C. (1998). Social stigma. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.),Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 504-553). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
 

Main Readings:

     Gilbert, D. T. (1995). Attribution and interpersonal perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Constructing social psychology (pp. 98-147). New York: McGraw-Hill. 
     Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 174-214). New York: Academic Press. 
     Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty. Science, 185, 1124-1131.

Presentations:

     Taylor, S. E., & Fiske, S. T. (1975). Point of view and perceptions of causality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 439-445. 
     Gilovich, T., Medvec, V.H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions and appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 211-222. 
     Ross, M., & Sicoly, F. (1979). Egocentric biases in availability and attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 322-336. 
     Winter, L., and J. S. Uleman. (1984). When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47, 237-252. 

Background:

     Jones, E. E., Kanouse, D. E., Kelley, H. H., Nisbett, R. E., Valins, S., and Weiner, B. (Eds.) (1972).Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.
     Gilbert, D. T., & Malone, P. S. (1995). The correspondence bias. Psychological Bulletin 117, 21-38. 
     Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
     Wegner, D. M., & Wheatley, T. P. (1999). Apparent mental causation: Sources of the experience of will. American Psychologist, 54, 480-492.
 

Nov. 6    How People Think About People: Social Cognition and Stereotyping

Main Readings:

     Macrae, C. N. & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000). Social cognition: Thinking categorically about others. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 93-120.
     Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes.Psychological Review, 102, 4-27.

Presentations:

     Higgins, E. T., Rholes, W. S., & Jones, C. R. (1977). Category accessibility and impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 141-154.
     Bargh, J., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230-244. 
     Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G V. , Milne, A. B. , & Jetten, J. . (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808-817. 
     Payne, B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 181-192.

Background:

     Fiske, S. T. (1998). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 357-414). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
     Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (2000). The mind in the middle: A practical guide to priming and automaticity research. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology ( pp. 253-285). New York: Cambridge University Press.
 

Main Reading:

     Clark, M. S., & Pataki, S. P. (1995). Interpersonal processes influencing attraction and relationships. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 283-331). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Presentations:

     Fiske, A. L., Haslam, N., & Fiske, S. T. (1991). Confusing one person with another: What errors reveal about the elementary forms of social relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 656-674. 
     Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & Griffin, D. W. (1996). The benefits of positive illusions: Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 79-98. 
     Hollingshead, A. B (1998). Communication, learning, and retrieval in transactive memory systems. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 423-442.
     Wegner, D. M., Lane, J. D., & Dimitri, S. (1994). The allure of secret relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 287-300. 

Background:

     Berscheid, E. & Reis, H. T. (1998). Attraction and close relationships. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.),Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 193-281). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
     Rusbult, C. E. & Van Lange, P. A. M. (1996). Interdependence processes. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 564-596). New York: Guilford Press.
 

Main Readings:

     Batson, C. D. (1995). Prosocial motivation: Why do people help others? In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 333-381). New York: McGraw-Hill.
     Gangestad. S. W., & Simpson, J. A. (2000). The evolution of human mating: Trade-offs and strategic pluralism. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.gangestad.html

Presentations:

     Buss, D. M. & Shackelford, T. K. (1997). From vigilance to violence: Mate retention tactics in married couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 346-361. 
     Daly, M., Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
     Shaw, L. L., Batson, C. D., & Todd, R. M. (1994). Empathy avoidance: Forestalling feeling for another in order to escape the motivational consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 879-887. 
     Harris, C. R. (2000). Psychophysiological responses to imagined infidelity: The specific innate modular view of jealousy reconsidered. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 1082-1091

Background:

     Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: A contextual evolutionary analysis of human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232.
     Batson, C. D. (1998). Altruism and prosocial behavior. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.),Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 282-316). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
     Wilson, E. O. (1980). Sociobiology: The abridged edition. London: Belknap Press.
 

Nov. 27    Love, War, and Fairness: Justice and Social Exchange

Main Readings:

     Lerner, M. J., Miller, D. T., & Holmes, J. G. (1976). Deserving and the emergence of forms of justice. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 9, pp. 133-162). New York: Academic Press.
     Hofstadter, D. (1985). Metamagical themas. New York: Basic Books (Chapter 29: The prisoner's dilemma computer tournaments and the evolution of cooperation).

Presentations:

     Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A., & Wotman, S. R. (1990). Victim and perpetrator accounts of interpersonal conflict: Autobiographical narratives about anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 994-1005. 
     Biernat, M. & Wortman, C. B. (1991). Sharing of home responsibilities between professionally employed women and their husbands. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 844-860. 
     Cohen, D., Nisbett, R. E., Bowdle, B. F., & Schwarz, N. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: An "experimental ethnography." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 945-960. 
     Lerner, M. J., & Simmons, C. H. (1966). Observers' reactions to the "innocent victim": Compassion or rejection? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 203-210. 

Background:

     Thibaut, J., & Kelley, H. H. (1986). The social psychology of groups. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. (Originally published, 1959).
     Tyler, T. R. & Smith, H. J. (1998). Social justice and social movements. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 595-629). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
 

Main Readings:

     Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social facilitation. Science, 149, 269-274. 
     Maass, A., West, S. G., & Cialdini, R. B. (1987). Minority influence and conversion. In C. Hendrick (Ed.),Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 8, pp. 55-89). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Presentations:

     Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 822-832. 
     Stasser, G., Kerr, N. L., & Davis, J. H. (1989). Influence processes and consensus models in decision- making groups. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), Psychology of group influence (2nd ed., pp. 279-326). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. 
     Tetlock, P. E., Peterson, R. S., McGuire, C., Chang, S., & Feld, P. (1992). Assessing political group dynamics: A test of the groupthink model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 403-425. 
     Gersick, C. J., & Hackman, J. R. (1990). Habitual routines in task-performing groups. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 47, 65-97.

Background:

     Levine, J. M., & Moreland, R. L. (1990). Progress in small group research. In L. W. Porter & M. R. Rosenzweig (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology. (Vol. 41, pp. 585-634). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, Inc. 
     Milgram, S., & Toch, H. (1968). Collective behavior: Crowds and social movements. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 507-610). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 
 

Main Readings:

     Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193-210. 
     Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Confession, inhibition, and disease. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 22, pp. 211-244). Orlando, FL: Academic Press. 
     Langer, E. J. (1989). Minding matters: The consequences of mindlessness-mindfulness. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 22, pp 137-174). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 

Presentations:

     Leary, M. R., & Jones, R. L. (1993). The social psychology of tanning and sunscreen use: Self- presentational motives as a predictor of health risk. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 1390-1406. 
     Steele, C. M., & Josephs, R. A. (1990). Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45, 921-933. 
     Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1252-1265.
     Rothman, A. J., Salovey, P., Antone, C., Keough, K., & Martin, C. D. (1993). The influence of message framing on intentions to perform health behaviors. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 408-432.

Background:

     Ross, M. & Olson, J.M. (1981). An expectancy-attribution model of the effects of placebos. Psychological Review, 88, 408-437. 
     Wegner, D. M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34-52.