Course guide of Social Psychology (2641114)

Given that teaching is conducted entirely in English, a B2 level of English proficiency (CEFR, https://europass.europa.eu/en/common-european-framework-reference-language-skills) is recommended. A lower level may seriously compromise students' ability to follow the course and achieve satisfactory academic results.

Descriptors: The psycho-social approach, social cognition, attitudes: formation and change

Contents:

- Definition and object of Social Psychology. History of Social Psychology

- Main Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

- Social Cognition

- Social Perception

- Attribution Processes

- Stereotypes

- Social Motivation

- Attitudes, Persuasion and Change

* To understand the main psycho-social theories about basic processes.

* To understand models, methods and concepts about basic psycho-social processes.

* To understand social cognition basic processes.

* To understand attitudes basic processes, their formation and change.

TOPIC 1. DEFINITION AND OBJECT OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 1. Definition of Social Psychology. 2. Social Psychology vs. reductionism, metaphysics and common sense 3. History of Social Psychology 4. Individual and society: socialization processes

TOPIC 2. MAIN THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES 1. Main theoretical orientations 2. Methods, designs and techniques. 3. Validity in psycho social research 4. Ethics in psycho-social research

TOPIC 3. SOCIAL COGNITION AND STEREOTYPES 1. Introduction. What is social cognition? 2. Social information processing 3. The way we organize and store information about others 4. Knowledge activation and social inference 5. Stereotypes

TOPIC 4. PERCEPTION OF PEOPLE AND ATTRIBUTION PROCESSES 1. Aims of social perception 2. Impression formation. 3. Factors that influence social perception 4. Heider: the naive psychology of action 5. Jones and Davies: Correspondent Inference Theory 6. The attribution model of H. H. Kelley 7. Attribution errors, biases and functions

TOPIC 5. SOCIAL MOTIVATION 1. Definition of motivation 2. Approximation and avoidance 3. Basic social motivations

TOPIC 6. ATTITUDES 1. Definition. Attitude and its evaluative responses 2. How do attitudes arise? 3. Relationships between attitude and behaviour 4. Functions of attitudes

TOPIC 7. PERSUASION AND CHANGE IN ATTITUDES 1. Theoretical models in the study of persuasion 2. Key factors in the persuasive process 3. Resistance and persistence 4. Cognitive theories about attitudes change. 5. Cognitive Dissonance Theory

TOPIC 1. DEFINITION AND OBJECT OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Practical activities: Introduction to Social Psychology. Through different exercises, students will explore some of the psycho-social processes they will learn about throughout the course work.

TOPIC 2. MAIN THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES Practical activities: Psycho-social research. Different activities will be carried out so students analyse and identify the different methods and techniques used in psycho social research, as well as knowledge of the main ethical principles and standards which research in this area is governed by.

TOPIC 3. SOCIAL COGNITION AND STEREOTYPES Practical activities: Schemes, biases and cognitive heuristics. Completion of a series of exercise which show how some of the main schemes, biases and cognitive heuristics work.

TOPIC 4. SOCIAL PERCEPTION AND ATTRIBUTION PROCESSES Practical activities: Social interaction and impression formation. Carrying out different activities to analyse people’s perceptions and impression formation. Practical activities: Social explanations and attributions. Completion of activities which illustrate the spontaneous tendency to make causal explanations, as well as the factors that encourage these kinds of explanations.

TOPIC 5. SOCIAL MOTIVATION Practical activities: Social motivation: Doing different activities to analyse impression management, as well as different motivations.

TOPIC 6. ATTITUDES Practical activities: Social attitudes: attitude-behaviour formation and relationship. Completion of activities regarding the concept of attitude and the theories which address the relationship between attitudes and behaviour.

TOPIC 7. PERSUASION AND CHANGE OF ATTITUDES Practical activities: Social attitudes: Change in attitudes Analysis and identification of the different factors which increase the persuasive power of messages which try to change our attitudes (social, educational campaigns...)

Branscombe, N. R., Baron, R. A. (2017) Social psychology, 4th ed.Harlow, England : Pearson

Crisp, R. J., Turner, R. N., Meleady, R. (2024). Essential Social Psychology. SAGE Publications

Sutton, R., Douglas, K. (2020). Social psychology, 2nd ed. New York : Palgrave

TOPIC 1.

Jones, E.E. (1998). Major developments in five decades of social psychology. En D.
T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske y G. Lindzey (Eds.). The handbook of social psychology (4th
ed., vol. 1, pp. 3-57). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

TOPIC 2.

Aronson, E., Ellsworth, P., Carlsmith, J. M., y Gonzales, M. H. (1990). Methods of
Research in Social Psychology (2ª ed.). Nueva York: McGraw-Hill.

TOPIC 3.

Wyer, R S., y Srull, T.K. (Eds.)(1994). Handbook of Social Cognition (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

TOPIC 4.

TOPIC 5.

Carver, C. S. (2006). Approach, avoidance, and the self-regulation of affect and
action. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 105-110.
Fiske, S.T. (2014). Social beings. A core motives approach to social psychology (3ª
ed.) New Jersey: Wiley.
Higgins, E. T. (1998). Promotion and Prevention: Regulatory Focus as a
motivational principle. En M. P. Zanna (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social
Psychology (Vol. 30. pp. 1-46). Nueva York: Academic Press.
Schlenker, B. R. & Weigold, M. F. (1992). Interpersonal processes involving
impression regulation and management. Annual Review of Psychology, 43,
133-168
Taylor, S. E. & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological
perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Nueva
York: Springer Verlag.

TOPIC 6.

Eagly, A.H. y Chaiken, S. (1998). Attitude structure and function. En D. Gilbert,, S.
Fiske y G. Lindzey, (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology, (4th ed., Vol. 1., pp.
269-322). Nueva York: McGraw-Hill.
Fishbein, M. y Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: an
introduction to theory and research. Reading: Addison Wesley.

Sheeran, P. (2002). Intention-Behavior relations: A conceptual and empirical
review. En W. Stroebe y M. Hewstone (Eds.), European Review of Social
Psychology, Vol. 12 (pp.1- 36). Chichester, Inglaterra: Wiley.

TOPIC 7.

Aronson, E. (1999) Dissonance, hypocrisy, and the self-concept. En E. Harmon-
Jones y J. Mills (Ed.), Cognitive dissonance: progress on a pivotal theory in social
psychology (pp. 103-126). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Cooper, J. y Fazio, R.H. (1984) A new look at dissonance theory. En L. Berkowitz
(Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 229-266). San Diego, CA:
Academic Press.
Eagly, A.H. y Chaiken, S. (1984). Cognitive theories of persuasion. Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology, 17, 267-359.

Olson, J.M. y Stone, J. (2005). The Influence of behaviour on attitudes. En D.
Albarracín, B.T. Johnson, y M.P. Zanna (Eds.), The Handbook of Attitudes
(pp.223-271). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Petty, R.E. y Cacioppo, J.T. (1996). Attitudes and persuasion: Classic and
contemporary approaches. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Petty, R.E., Wegener, D.T. y Fabrigar, L.R. (1997). Attitude and attitude change.
Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 609-647. Word, W. (2000). Attitude change:
Persuasion and social influence. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 539-570.

PRADO (https://prado.ugr.es/)
Sociedad Científica Española de Psicología Social (https://sceps.es/)
Colegio Oficial de Psicología (https://www.cop.es/index.php)
Social Psychology Textbooks (www.socialpsychology.org/texts.htm)
Social Psychology Network (https://www.socialpsychology.org/)
Essential Social Psychology (https://sk.sagepub.com/book/mono/essential-social-psychology-5e/toc)

• MD01. Lección magistral/expositiva 
• MD07. Seminarios 
• MD09. Análisis de fuentes y documentos 
• MD10. Realización de trabajos en grupo 
• MD11. Realización de trabajos individuales 
• MD13. Tutorías individual/colectiva, Participación (foros del curso, exposiciones públicas), Autoevaluaciones, Presentación y defensa de informes grupales o individuales 

Exam (60%). It can be multiple choice, short open-ended questions, or a mix of both. The emphasis in this subject will be on ideas, theories, and research rather than names, dates, and statistics.
Students must pass this exam (3 out of 6) in order to add the rest of the grades; if not, their grade will be up to 4.9.
Completion of individual or group practice assignments (35%)
Participation in other activities related to the course content (5%)

Evaluation Criteria:

Seminars and practicals. Students are expected to actively participate in class activities and exercises, as well as in group meetings. This means: 1) doing the assigned preparation work and showing familiarity with the topic, as well as getting ready for group sessions; 2) contributing intellectually to the discussion, asking questions and giving constructive feedback to classmates; 3) maintaining a respectful environment towards others and one that supports collective learning; 4) having the courage to discuss or present new ideas without worrying about whether they are "correct" or not. Individual work. Students will have to complete different individual assignments throughout the course, basically consisting of applying the course content to everyday life situations.

Group work: students will carry out some group work, generally consisting of a small research project on the subject content. Attendance at the large group class will not be counted in the final grade for the subject, but attendance at small group sessions will be considered (students will be informed beforehand).

The exam will be the same type as in the regular session.
In this session, students who choose the continuous assessment mode can keep their grade from completing individual or group assignments and actively participating in class (40%), and take an exam that will count for 60% of the final grade. If they don’t want to, the exam, in which they can earn 100% of the grade, will cover the same material as the single-assessment exam.

According to the UGR Evaluation and Grading Regulations (Article 8), students who need it have the possibility to request a single final exam. This option is available for students who cannot follow the continuous assessment method due to work, health issues, disability, or any other properly justified reason that prevents them from following the continuous assessment system. To apply for it, the student must request it from the Department Head within the first two weeks of the course, who will then notify the course instructors, explaining and providing evidence of the reasons that prevent the student from following the continuous assessment system.

However, for exceptional, unforeseen, and justified reasons (work-related issues, health condition, disability, mobility programs, representation, or any other similar circumstance), it will be possible to request the final single evaluation outside the mentioned deadlines, following the same administrative procedure. The final single evaluation can be requested through the following link: https://sede.ugr.es/procs/Gestion-Academica-Solicitud-de-evaluacion-unica-final/. In this case, the evaluation exam may consist of two types of questions (which the theory professor will determine):

a) Multiple-choice questions related to each of the topics that make up the theoretical program of the subject. Each question on this test will have a closed answer with several options, only one of which will be correct. Mistakes will be penalized. b) Short development questions in a limited space. Exam preparation can be done according to the guidelines of the subject's theory teacher, using the manuals listed in the 'main bibliography' section of this guide. With this test, students can obtain 100% of the subject's grade.

Student participation in research framed within projects or research groups that have authorization from the UGR Ethics Committee for data collection will be taken into account in the final grade. Participation is completely voluntary. For participating in each research project, students will receive a minimum of 0.1 points. Up to a maximum of 0.5 points can be earned for participation in research. It is possible to achieve the highest grade in the subject (10) without conducting or collaborating in any study. You can also get the same score as for participating in research by doing the alternative activities proposed throughout the course, such as completing a series of readings, attending conferences, etc. The score obtained from participating in research will be counted within the grade for practical work. Attendance at small group sessions (practicals) will count toward the grade for the practical part for those who do not opt for the single final assessment mode.

Teaching methods and assessment will be adapted for students with specific needs (NEAE), in accordance with Article 11 of the Regulations on the Evaluation and Grading of Students at the University of Granada, published in the Official Bulletin of the University of Granada, No. 112, November 9, 2016.

Link to the web form to anonymously report harassment situations on the UGR Equality Unit website:
https://viics.ugr.es/areas/igualdad-diversidad/prevencion-y-atencion

Useful information for students with disabilities and/or Specific Educational Support Needs (NEAE): Management of services and support (https://ve.ugr.es/servicios/atencion-social/estudiantes-con-discapacidad).

In the case of using AI tools for the development of the subject, the student must adopt an ethical and responsible use of them. The recommendations contained in the document 'Recommendations for the Use of Artificial Intelligence at UGR' published at this location should be followed: https://ceprud.ugr.es/formacion-tic/inteligencia-artificial/recomendaciones-ia#contenido0