Social Psychology (213-DL-20)
Instructors
Renee Suzanne Engeln
Renee Engeln is a Professor of Instruction in psychology and has been a full-time faculty member at Northwestern since 2006. Her research focuses on issues surrounding women’s body images, with a particular emphasis on cultural practices that create or enforce the frequently contentious relationship women have with their bodies. She received her doctorate in social psychology from Loyola University Chicago in 2004 and masters in clinical psychology from Miami University in 1999. Prof. Engeln is the author of Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women.
Meeting Info
Online: TBA
Overview of class
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to important theory, research, and methodologies in social psychology. Social psychologists examine how people interpret the social world and investigate the influence of the social environment on individuals' thoughts and behaviors. We will examine classic topics in social psychology: social cognition, social influence, conformity, group processes, helping, and prejudice. There will be a strong emphasis on methodology and the ways in which study design affects both the research questions one can answer and the conclusions one might draw. Because social psychologists sometimes investigate "everyday" behavior, students often believe that they can rely on intuition or common sense to learn about social psychology. Unfortunately, one core finding in social psychology is that common sense can be misleading at best and seriously biased at worst. Thus, this course will focus on how the scientific method helps to provide empirical answers to questions about humans and their social world.
The course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.
Registration Requirements
Prerequisites: none
Note: This course is limited to School of Professional Studies students only. Undergraduate students in other schools at Northwestern are not permitted to enroll in this course.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Identify and describe key social psychological concepts.
Apply essential social psychological concepts to everyday life and current events.
Evaluate the empirical findings supporting the most important social psychological theories.
Describe and identify common methodologies in social psychology.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of common methodologies in social psychology.
Identify questionable research practices that undermine the reliability of research findings in social psychology.
Use empirical findings in social psychology to draw conclusions about the likely causes and outcomes of social behavior in real-world settings.
Develop social interventions that are supported by empirical findings in social psychology.
Class Materials (Required)
Nisbett, R. E., Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., & Chen, S. (2018). Social psychology. W. W. Norton.
You will need the textbook and access to InQuizitive.
Some readings will be available through the Course Reserves
Class Attributes
Asynchronous:Remote class-no scheduled mtg time