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Myers, D. G., & Twenge, J. M. (2019). Social Psychology. (13th Edition) McGraw Hill.

Connect and LearnSmart are also required. 

Course Objectives

Social psychology is the scientific study of how our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by other people and the social context. The subject matter of social psychology is very broad. This course is designed to provide a selective survey of classic and contemporary research and theory on these and other topics in social psychology. You will also be exposed to some of the methods social psychologists use to test their theories. I will try to show how social psychology can contribute to a better understanding of everyday life. 

Course Requirements

All graded activities should follow the LaGrange College Honor Code and should be your own work. Unless otherwise noted, all work receives an individual grade; thus graded items cannot be completed with the input of others.

Exams and Quizzes

There will be 4 exams during the regular term and a final exam, each covering about two chapters of course material. The exams may entail multiple choice and short answer questions. These exams will be based on lectures, in-class exercises, film clips, and outside readings and assignments including material covered in the textbook and online assignments. It is very important to attend each class and to take good notes. A good portion of the material that I will cover in class will not be found in the readings. To take the exam you must arrive before the first person leaves the room. In addition, there will be at least one quiz given at some point during the semester which may contain multiple choice and short essay questions. To see actual dates for all exams, please see the course calendar at the bottom of this page (found here).

To do well on the exams: you will need to regularly attend class, take good notes, keep up with the reading material and study both this material and the notes with the aim of fully understanding it (not just memorizing it). The exam questions will emphasize understanding and mastery of concepts and theories rather than memorization of information. Completion of the LearnSmart modules (see later section) and online study aids are also good ways to study and test understanding. However, these should not be your ONLY method of study, as stated, the exams will focus more on understanding than memorization. I will focus mainly on questions that assess whether you have a thorough understanding of these concepts and theories and whether you can apply this understanding to new situations.

Exam policy for Fall 2020: For Fall 2020, exams will change slightly to accommodate the changes due to COVID-19.

All exams will be administered through Connect using Respondus. This will allow all students to complete the exam at the same time, regardless of if they are virtually attending class at that time. To use Respondus, students will be required to purchase access (a year subscription to the service is $15 and one subscription can be used for all of your courses that require Respondus). In addition, all students will need a working webcam and a computer (please note: Chromebooks will NOT work with Respondus).

All students will still complete their exams at the same time; the in-class group will take their exam in the classroom, while the virtual group will take their exam in a private area of their choosing. 
 

Final exam: The final exam will take place on Tuesday, November 24th, at 11:30 am. The final exam will contain 2 chapters worth of new material as well as a comprehensive essay question. The prompt for the comprehensive essay will be given in advance. There will be no make-ups or early exams given for the final exam.

Absence during exam: Please notify the instructor on the day of your absence from a test by phone or e-mail. To make up an exam, a student must have an excused absence. An excused absence is determined by the instructor and may include an illness that requires the student to remain at home/in their dorm room, a death of someone close to the student, court date during class time, school-sponsored event that occurs during class time, or other events at the discretion of the instructor. To notify the instructor of an excused absence, the student must complete an electronic absence form (this can be found on Connect). If documentation is available, that should be submitted along with the form. Only one undocumented exam absence will be counted as excused per student. After that one, all exam absences must be accompanied by written documentation to count as excused. To designate a missed exam as excused (whether it has documentation or not), the student must submit an absence form no later than the day they return to class to be able to make up the exam and receive full credit; 20% will be deducted from the exam grade if the student turns in the absence form after the day of return to class. The student must then arrange to make up the exam as soon as it is convenient, but definitely within 1 week of the original exam date. If more than one student needs to make up the exam, one common time may be arranged for all makeup exams to be given. If no absence form is turned in, the exam cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that exam. If the exam has not been made up within one week of the original exam date (unless prior approval has been obtained by the instructor), the exam cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that exam. The instructor will not contact the student to determine if a missed exam is excused. If no contact is made by the student, it is assumed the missed exam is unexcused. Zeros will be given for exams when it is determined that the absence is unexcused. Please note the following examples of unexcused absences: absences due to vacations or leaving early before a scheduled break, except under extenuating circumstances, work schedules are not considered an excuse for missing an exam. 

Quizzes: There will be at least two planned quizzes given throughout the course of the semester. One quiz will cover the information contained in this syllabus and the other will cover the information from Chapter 1. No make-ups will be given for these quizzes as they are online and students can complete it at any point before the due date. The instructor reserves the right to give pop quizzes in class at any time.

Social Psychology in Action Papers

As you will surely see throughout this course, the topics we cover will often apply to experiences that you have in your own life. You will write four papers that discuss examples from your own life that are relevant to social psychological principles and research that are covered in class.

In each paper, you will cover two social psychological principles. You are free to choose the topics that you find most relevant to your own life or observations of others. There should be enough detail about your experience so that its relevance for the social psychological topic that you are using is clear. The topics that you choose must be from the relevant chapters for that paper (i.e. Action Paper #1 will use topics from Chapters 1 – 3, Action Paper #2 will use topics from chapters 4 – 6, Action Paper #3 will use topics from chapters 7 - 9, and Action Paper #4 will use topics from chapters 10 - 12). Papers should be a minimum of 2 typed double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins, written in 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Papers must be professionally written and in paragraph form. All papers will be turned in via Connect on their respective due dates. No emailed papers will be accepted. Papers that do not follow this rubric may receive a grade of “0”.

Grades will be based on:
1. …whether the experience fits the social psychological principle(s) discussed
2. … the degree to which you clearly and fully explain how the experience fits
3. … general structure and organization of your points
4. … general clarity of your writing
5. … the degree to which there is evidence you have thought deeply about the topic

LATE PAPERS: Students are welcome to turn in papers at any point prior to the due date if they finish early. Papers turned in after the due date will have 20% taken off of their grade. Papers over a day late (i.e. after 24 hours from the original due date) will not be accepted and will receive a grade of “0”. See the course schedule for actual deadlines.

Please see the additional page for more details.

Class participation

Another contribution to your overall grade will be your participation in active learning exercises such as in-class activities, in-class discussions, completion of personality scales, doing fun field experiments outside of class, tweeting about class topics, and so on. These activities are designed to help you learn concepts in an active and memorable manner. By participating in these active learning exercises, you will learn much more (and have more fun) than would be possible if this class consisted solely of lectures and multiple choice tests. These activities will often not be announced in advance.

Twitter: For the majority of the in-class assignments we will be using Twitter. Therefore, students should set up a Twitter account if they do not already have one. Students will also need to approve follow requests from the instructor for this course; if students would prefer to set up an account specifically for this course (instead of using their personal account), that is perfectly acceptable. The Twitter participation will occur in-class therefore, students must have a device which can access Twitter with them in class (e.g., smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc...). To get credit for these activities, you must fill out the survey (linked at the beginning of the syllabus) in which you provide the Twitter handle that you will be using for the course.
In addition, I will use Twitter to send out additional reminders and announcements (in addition to what I post on Connect). Students are strongly encouraged to follow me to easily receive this information. When I post information relevant to our class, I will use #PSYC3321. I encourage students that have questions or comments related to class to post using this # as well or send me a direct tweet. I will also post a list of all students' Twitter handles on Connect (for those students who have indicated they are willing to share this information) so that students may connect using Twitter. This offers an easy way to ask questions of other students, post information relevant to the class, or set up group study sessions.

Missed Participation: To make up a graded assignment that was due on the day a student was absent, a student must have an excused absence. An excused absence is determined by the instructor and may include an illness that requires the student to remain at home/in their dorm room, a death of someone close to the student, court date during class time, school-sponsored event that occurs during class time, or other events at the discretion of the instructor. To notify the instructor of an excused absence, the student must turn in an absence form (this can be found on Connect). If documentation is available, that should be submitted along with the form. Only two total undocumented absences will be counted as excused per student (an undocumented exam absence is counted in this two). After two, all missed participation must be accompanied by written documentation to count as excused. To designate a missed participation as excused (whether it has documentation or not), the student must submit an absence form by no later than the day they return to class to be able to make up the exam and receive full credit; half credit will be given if the student turns in the absence form after the day they return to class. The student must then arrange to make up the missed participation as soon as it is convenient, but definitely within 1 week of the original participation date. If no absence form is turned in, the participation cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that participation. If the participation has not been made up within one week of the original participation date (unless prior approval has been obtained by the instructor), the participation cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that participation. The instructor will not contact the student to determine if a missed participation is excused. If no contact is made by the student, it is assumed the missed participation is unexcused. Zeros will be given for participation when it is determined that the absence is unexcused. Please note the following examples of unexcused absences: absences due to vacations or leaving early before a scheduled break, except under extenuating circumstances, work schedules are not considered an excuse for missing a class. Once answers to a graded item have been distributed in any format (orally, online, returned work, etc.) the graded item may no longer be made up and the instructor will provide the student with other options to make up the missing grade. Twitter participation cannot be made up as these assignments involve reflecting on class discussion. However, students may drop two excused Twitter assignments from their grade. Absence forms are still required for a missed Twitter participation. If an assignment is assigned on a day that a student is absent but is not due until a later date, the student is still responsible for completing this assignment on time unless prior approval has been obtained by the professor. There will be opportunities throughout the semester for students to earn extra credit toward their participation grade. Students are encouraged to complete these opportunities as much as possible to help in case of more than two missed Twitter assignments, less than ideal performance on a graded participation assignment, etc.

LearnSmart modules

For each chapter, there will be an online LearnSmart module that students will need to complete. These modules are meant to be completed either concurrently while reading the associated chapter through SmartBook or after reading the entire chapter. These are NOT a substitute for reading the book. Each module is meant to assess understanding and comprehension of the material covered in that chapter. You will not lose points for answering questions wrong, however, there are a set number of learning objectives that you must complete to receive your points. These are meant to prepare you for in-class discussion as well as to serve as one possible means of studying for exams. As such, they will point out areas where you might need some work.

LearnSmart modules are due by the beginning of class on the day that each chapter will be covered (see schedule for actual due dates). Because these are online assignments and are all available for completion starting on Day One, no late submissions will be accepted. Students are encouraged to complete the assignments well in advance of the due date to avoid any conflicts or technical mishaps. You will receive a grade for each module based on the percent of the assignment that you have completed by the due date (i.e. if you complete half of the learning objectives, then you will receive a 50% for that module).

The LearnSmart modules also serve as an excellent study tool. The modules will point out areas that need to be refreshed so you can go back to previous modules and use them as study guides for upcoming exams. The software also offers many study options including quizzes.

Please note: These modules only pull information from the book. My lectures often include other relevant information that was not included in the book. Therefore, LearnSmart modules should not be your only study tool as they will not cover all of the information that may be present on an exam. 

Overall Grading

The different types of assignments that you will encounter in this class will each contribute a unique amount of weight towards your final grade in the class. The following table lists the percent of your final grade that will come from each of the designated types of assignments. Note: an average grade of D or F on exams may lead to a final grade of D or F in the course.

The course outline is a guide. The coverage of certain topics or participation in class activities may take more time or less time than was originally expected. The instructor reserves the right to alter the course outline at any time. Students will be notified in class and/or by email of any changes in the course outline. If given as an option, the student majority vote will decide changes in exam dates that may occur.

All due dates and times in this course are given in eastern time. Please note! If you travel to central time, your work is still due at the stated eastern time!

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In the case of an emergency such as severe weather or an influenza or zombie outbreak, I may be obliged to make changes to course content, assignments, or other substantive elements of the class.
 

The syllabus may be corrected or amended if errors or omissions are discovered after the syllabus is posted. Corrections will be posted to the course Connect site and/or the instructor's Twitter page.

ADA Statement:  Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, LaGrange College consistently undertakes to provide, by every reasonable effort, assistance and appropriate accommodations to qualified students with disabilities. If you have a disability, please contact Brandi Cameron, Coordinator of Learning Disability Support Services at 706-880-8269.  She is located in Smith Hall in room 121. Students with documented accommodations that they wish to utilize must speak with the instructor & present documentation by the end of the 2nd week of the semester. 

Acts of academic misconduct (e.g. cheating, plagiarism) may result in course failure and will result in referral to the Honor Council. No electronic devices may be on a student's person, out, or in use during exams or other graded activities. If that rule is violated, it will be assumed that the device is used for cheating. The matter will be referred to the Honor Council. Unless told otherwise by the instructor, assume that all graded work uses only the student's brainpower and is closed book/notes/internet and is an individual assignment. During exams and graded activities, students may only have a pencil and an eraser on the table top (aside from any materials provided by the instructor). During exams, all belongings should be closed and stowed under the table. All notes/books must be in a zipped bag and placed under the table. You must turn in your exam if you leave the room.

Honor Code:  “As a member of the student body of LaGrange College, I confirm my commitment to the ideals of civility, diversity, service, and excellence.  Recognizing the significance of personal integrity in establishing these ideals within our community, I pledge that I will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate these unethical behaviors in others.” 

All tests, papers, etc... will be destroyed during week 5 of the following semester. Any questions regarding grades or assignments must be addressed before that time.

You are required to get permission from the instructor if you wish to audio record, video record, or take pictures of a class.

Important information from the instructor will be sent to student's via their LaGrange email account or via announcements within the Connect course site. Students are responsible for all messages and materials sent via these routes. Reminders and hints may also be sent via the instructor's Twitter account. Any changes to course policy, dates, or assignments will also be sent via email or Connect.

DropGuard: The faculty, staff, and administration at LaGrange College want students to succeed in every aspect of their college experience. One of the tools we use to help us in that process is called DropGuard. The DropGuard system allows faculty and staff members to enter information when they are concerned about students – perhaps because of absences from class or other activities, or because of irregular performance, and so on. If there are several indications that things may not be going well for a student, it’s possible that the student will be contacted by their advisor or by another campus official. Students may receive email notifications from DropGuard when the instructor notes a concern. If a student finds themselves in a situation where they could use some additional assistance, please set up a meeting with a faculty member or academic advisor. Naturally, academic support services are readily available in PACE, Tutoring Center, the Writing Center, and in the Counseling Center (study skills, time management, etc.). If students have specific questions about DropGuard itself, please feel free to e-mail: studentsuccess@lagrange.edu.

If you ever encounter an issue with an online assignment, please email me and you MUST include a screenshot that documents your issue. Failure to follow this guideline may result in a denial of your request for late submission of the assignment. As a note, technical errors are bound to occur, therefore, it is HIGHLY recommended that you do not wait until the last minute to complete assignments.

Responsible Employee Reporting Obligation: All faculty and staff share in the responsibility to create a safe learning environment for all students and for the campus as a whole. As members of the campus community, all faculty and staff (other than those designated as confidential reporters) are designated as responsible employees and therefore have the duty to report any instances of sexual harassment, sexual violence and/or other forms of prohibited discrimination. If a student would prefer to share information about sexual harassment, sexual violence or discrimination with a confidential employee who does not have this reporting responsibility, a list of those individuals can be found at http://www.lagrange.edu/about/security/sexual-harassment-violence.html.

*Instructor reserves right to alter schedule due to any unforeseen circumstances*