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Social Psychology

Module description

Social psychology seeks to understand how people think, feel and act in relation to others and the world around them. As such, the topics of interest to social psychologist cover much of what humans do, from personal choices to helping others and interactions in groups. Because social psychology is applicable to so many domains, it is also directly relevant to everyday life – by learning about social psychology, inevitably you also learn something about yourself.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module is structured in two core activities, lectures and practicals/tutorials. The lectures will provide you with a good oversight of key topics in social psychology. Specific areas will be introduced in each lecture; we will identify why it is important,and discuss both classic studies in social psychology as well as new directions in this evolving and exciting field. Practicals/tutorials will be focused on giving you an understanding of research methodologies used in social psychology and their limitations as well as teaching you how to run basic social psychological analyses on a set of data. You will also learn to write about social psychological research. Learning will also be based on Question & Answer sessions. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand key theories in the field of social psychology and ways in which they can be applied to explain social problems
• 2. Identify the variety of methods used in social psychology, both in classic studies and new research directions
• 3. Understand how to use quantitative methods to test hypotheses and gain experience of writing a research report

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Acquire basic and essential factual and conceptual knowledge of the subject, and demonstrate understanding of this knowledge
• 5. Review and evaluate published work and identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of this work
• 6. Address well-defined problems systematically, think critically and creatively, and appreciate the complexities of the issues
• 7. Explain and apply essential principles in designing research, evaluate and analyse empirical evidence, and assess the reliability of empirical evidence using defined techniques

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Manage information, to collect appropriate information from a range of sources and undertake essential study tasks under guidance
• 9. Take responsibility for your own learning with appropriate support
• 10. Apply methods accurately and carefully to a well-defined problem and begin to appreciate the complexity of the issues

Syllabus plan

Lecture topics contain classic topics in social psychology (e.g., Social Influence, Prosocial Behaviour, The Bystander Effect, Intergroup Relations & Prejudice) as well as new directions of research and theory (e.g., Effective Altruism, Social Identity Theory & Leadership, Gender & Sexism, Human-Animal Relations).

Practicals/tutorials include, for example, Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology, Validity, Reliability & Replicability, Operationalisation, and Research Methods in Action.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Two assessments are required for this module. Where you have been referred/deferred in the examination you will have the opportunity to take a second examination in the August re-assessment period. Where you have been referred/deferred in the practical report you will be required to resubmit the report. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%; deferred marks are not capped.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

All reading for this module, both essential and recommended, will be provided. Introductory reading could be:  Baron, R. A., Branscombe, N. R., and Byrne, D. (2009). Social Psychology (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Key words search

Psychology, social