Home Study Social Psychology Course
"Social psychology gives a fascinating insight into the mind of humans within a social setting."
Social psychology can also involve interactions in other groups as well (e.g. social, clubs, societies, associations, churches, families, etc); though the main focus of this lesson should be interactions in a work situation.
Work groups are different in that they are compulsory groups, and the individual does not have much opportunity to choose whether to participate or not in the group.
Individuals differ from each other in many ways -physically, mentally, and psychologically -but just as individuals differ so within a group. They differ according to the physical work which the group is performing as a whole, or according to the mentality and psychological make up of the members. A group can be called a collection of people, but no two collections of people are the same. The differences between some groups may be very large (e.g. the difference between a temporary group and a permanent highly organised group.
One example of social psychological research is that concerning the murder of Kitty Genovese. She was stabbed to death in the middle of a busy residential area of New York. Thirty-eight witnesses saw the attack and none of them did anything to intervene, not even to phone the police. Why? The common sense answer might be that they thought someone else had or would intervene, or that the witnesses didn’t care.
Darley and Latane (1968) carried out research into why the witnesses did nothing. They arranged for students to discuss personal problems over an intercom. Only one actual student was involved the others were confederates (i.e. working with the researchers, pretending to be students). During the conversations, a confederate would appear to have an epileptic seizure. If the real student thought that five other people were also listening to this person have a seizure, it took them three times as long to react as if they thought there were only two people in the discussion. This suggests that in emergency situations, if we think lots of other people are involved, we may be less likely to do anything – we think someone else will. This is called bystander apathy.
Duration: 100 Hours (you study at your own pace).
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course is divided into ten lessons as follows:
1. Social cognition
2. The self
3. Attribution and perception of others
4. Attitudes and attitude change
5. Prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes
6. Interpersonal attraction
7. Helping behaviour
8. Aggression
9. Groups
10. Cultural influences
SCOPE OF THE LESSONS
Lesson 1. Social Cognition
- Introduction to social psychology
- What is social psychology
- Impression formation
- Behaviour
- Appearance
- Expectations
- The primary affect
- Attribution
- Scemas and social perception
- Central traits
- Stereotypes
- Social inference and decision making
- Case Study: social psychology and law
Lesson 2. The Self
- Introduction
- Self concept
- Present and ideal selves
- Cognitive dissonance
- Experiments into cognitive dissonance
- Reducing cognitive dissonance
- Self efficacy
- How does the self develop
- Self and social feedback
- Socialisation
- Types of socialisation
- How are we socialised
Lesson 3. Attribution and Perception of Others
- Attribution theory
- Attribution and Concensus, consistency, distinctiveness
- Attribution errors
- Culture and attributional style
- Criticisms of the theory
- Practical uses of attribution theory
Lesson 4. Attitudes and Attitude Change
- Defining attitude
- Characteristics of attitudes
- ABC of attitudes
- Affective elements of attitude
- Behavioural elements of attitude
- Self attribution
- Specificity
- Constraints
- Cognitive elements of attitude
- Attitude formation
- Factors affecting attitude change
Lesson 5. Prejudice, Discrimination and Stereotypes
- Introduction
- What is prejudice
- Functions of prejudice
- How we measure prejudice
- In groups and out groups
- Reducing prejudice
- Stereotypes
- Functions of stereotypes
- Dangers of using stereotypes
- Changing stereotypes
- Discrimination
Lesson 6. Interpersonal Attraction
- Introduction
- Theories of attraction
- The social exchange theory
- The reinforcement affect model
- Factors affecting interpersonal attraction
- Physical appearance
- Biological underpinnings
- Similarity
- Familiarity
- Positive regard
- Mis attribution of emotions
- Proximity
- Attachment styles
- Cultural similarities
- An evolutionary perspective
- The cost of sex
Lesson 7. Helping Behaviour
- Bystander intervention
- Diffusion of responsibility
- Social facilitation
- Compliance
- Obedience
- Conformity
- Why do people conform
- Factors affecting conformity
- Desire for affiliation
- Reinforcement and punishment
- Obedience to authority
- Why does social influence work
Lesson 8. Aggression
- Introduction
- Types of aggression
- Theoretical approaches to aggression: Freudian, Drive theories, Social learning theories, Biological and evolutionary theories
- Aggrssion against outsiders
- Aggression in a species
- Aggression in humans
- Environmental influences on human aggression
- Imitation or modelling
- Familiarity
- Reinforcement
- Aggression and Culture
- Other factors
Lesson 9. Groups
- What is a group
- Kinds of groups; recreational, social, work, family, sportingFeatures of groups
- Factors relating to groups: productivity, social loafing, insufficient coordination, social facilitation
- Group decision making: group think, group polarisation, minority influence
- Deindividualisation
Lesson 10. Cultural Influences
- Defining culture
- Culture and social exchange
- Individualistc vs reciprocal societies
- Cross cultural psychology vs cultural psychology
- Culture bound syndromes
- Trance and possession disorder
What qualification will I achieve for completing this course?
This is an individual module course. The individual module courses are 100 hour long usually and can be taken on their own or as part of a larger program of study.
If you wish to take an individual module course as a stand alone course, you can elect to sit an optional exam at the end of it.
If you successfully pass the exam and all assignments, you will receive a Statement of Attainment. You can take examinations at a time and location to suit you. If you enrol, you will be sent further information on how to arrange examinations at the end of the course.
If you do not wish to take the exam, you will receive a Course Completion letter when you have passed all assignments.
There is an assignment at the end of each lesson. So for example, if an individual module course contains ten lessons, you will need to complete ten assignments. Assignments can be sent to us via email, post or fax.
Other qualifications, such as certificates, diplomas etc may require examinations to be taken as part of the overall assessment process.
You can find further information on the examinations process by clicking on the “Enrolment” link above.
You can find further information on other courses by clicking on the “Courses” link above.
AIMS
To determine how physical characteristics and non-verbal behaviour affect our formation of impressions of others, and how that information is processed;To understand the sociological perspective of the self and how we relate to others;To discuss attribution theory, the internal and external causes, and its role in self-perception and the perception of others;To understand the emergence of attitudes, changes in attitude, and the effect of attitudes upon behaviour and use as predictors of behaviour;To discuss the emergence of prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination from the perspective of social psychology and attitudes;To understand the influence of physicality, similarity, familiarity and proximity on interpersonal relationships;To understand helping behaviour through the influences of conformity, compliance, obedience and diffusion of responsibility;To define social psychological theories of aggression and to apply those theories;To understand the nature of group behaviour and to demonstrate awareness of group cognition;To understand the effect of culture on behaviour of individuals and groups
WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE
- Define ‘social cognition’;
- Determine the possible impression a jury might have of defendants and the social basis of those impressions;
- List the three general biases that may affect the jury’s “attributions and explanations” and briefly describe each one;
- Different types of schema;
- Explain why people are motivated to justify their own actions belief and feelings;
- Explain ‘cognitive dissonance’;
- Explain how can the desire for self-consistency influences our self-perception;
- Determine the purposes served by dissonance -reducing behaviour;
- Identify factors that form self-concept;
- Describe attribution theory;
- Describe how discounting principles relate to our perception of others;
- Identify the fundamental attribution error;
- Discuss how we use attribution to protect our self esteem;
- Discuss how consistency, consensus and distinctiveness help to form our explanations of another
- person’s behaviour;
- Explain how attitudes develop;
- Discuss how attitudes affect behaviour;
- Explain what makes people prejudiced;
- Explain how physicality influences our behaviour;
- Discuss the principle of similarity;
- Explain how familiarity and proximity influence the development of friendship;
- Explain why people conform;
- Discuss Millgram’s experiment on obedience;
- Explain why is a lone person more likely to help than a person in a group;
- Discuss how conformity, compliance, obedience and diffusion of responsibility influence helping behaviour;
- List the causes of aggression;
- Explain the concept of group polarization;
- Discuss how group decision-making influences conformity;
- Examine the influence of culture and society on each other.
You might also be interested in having a look at some of our other psychology courses -
If you would like to see our range of psychology books, please visit - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14
For more information on the range of careers available in psychology, have a look at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14
We have some interesting articles on psychology and counseling at - http://www.acs.edu.au/psychol/
More Information on ACS Distance Education and our courses
Who are our tutors?
Our tutors are all highly experienced and professional, knowledgeable in their field of study. We have staff from around the world, enabling us to gain a wide variety of perspectives. We have a school in the UK and in Australia. If you would like to have a look at our tutors, then click on the “The School” in the boxes above and choose “The Staff” option.
Sample Course Notes
Our courses are all written by highly qualified tutors and writers, who also teach on the courses, so know them well. We strive to update our courses and improve them with new information, methods and knowledge on an ongoing basis. If you would like to see examples of some of our courses, then choose the “Enrolment” option above, and then click on “Sample Course Notes”.
What learning method should I choose?
We offer three learning methods – e-learning, correspondence and online. If you are not sure which is the right choose for you, then click on the “Enrolment” box above, then “Learning Methods.”
How Long will it take to complete the course?
This obviously varies from student to student. Some students will have more time for study than others. Some students may work quicker than others, so it is an individual thing. We estimate that most students will take, for example, 4 – 6 months to complete a 100 hour individual module, but we allow up to 12 months for you to complete it.
Longer courses will obviously take longer. You can find more information on the length of time required and so on the “Enrolment” box, then selecting “Terms and Conditions of Enrolment.”
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If you would like to read comments from our previous students, then choose the “Enrolment” option above, then “Student Testimonials”.
I don’t think this is the right course for me.
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Distance Learning Social Psychology Course
"Social psychology gives a fascinating insight into the mind of humans within a social setting."
Learn more about social psychology – how and why humans behave the way they do in social settings.
Understand conformity, compliance and other forms of group related behaviour from football hooliganism to working in a team.
Study social psychology in your own home at your own pace.
Learn supported by our expert tutors!
Man is a social animal, and as such, it is very important to understand the psychology of how we interact with each other, or act as a group rather than as an individual.
Social psychology is concerned with studying the way people interact within groups. Given that most people work with other people, social interaction is natural at work. Some of this is informal, such as conversations with colleagues. Other contacts are more formal, such as the interaction of a working group carrying out a specific task in an organisation.
