Faculty of Higher Education Lilydale

Unit of Study Outline PSS320B Social Psychology

Study Period 1, 2013
Version date (7 February, 2013)

Swinburne University of Technology, 2012 Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this document may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the University.

The Unit team responsible for planning and production of this Unit is: Unit Chair: Dr Diane Sivasubramaniam On campus Unit Convener: Dr Diane Sivasubramaniam Online Unit Convenor: Dr Jennifer Beaudry Teaching Panel: Dr Sharon Grant, Dr Diane Sivasubramaniam, Dr Jennifer Beaudry, Dr Ben Bullock Acknowledgment to the following for their contribution in the production of this unit: Dr Ben Bullock; Dr Sharon Grant; James Collett; Suzette Goldwasser; Shelley Connell

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Unit of Study Outline

Unit of study code Unit of study name Teaching Term/Semester & Year Contact Hours (hrs/wk) or total contact hours Prerequisites PSS320B Social Psychology Study Period 1, 2013 Online delivery
PSS110 Introduction to Psychology 1 PSS120 Introduction to Psychology 2 STA102 Foundations of Statistics (Previously STA15) STA210 Analysis of Variance STA310 Multivariate Statistics One of the following two units: PSS240 Cognition and Human Performance PSS250 Developmental Psychology

Co-requisites Credit Points

N/A 12.5

Teaching Staff
Name Role Campus & Room No. ATC 1023 Phone No. Email Address Consultation Times

Dr Jennifer Beaudry James Williams Email

Convenor Tutor

(03) 9214 5028

jbeaudry@swin.edu.au jwilliams@swin.edu.au

By appointment By appointment

All emails sent to either your tutor or the unit convener of this unit need to be sent from your student email account. This will ensure your email is received in a timely manner and not automatically sent to the SPAM filter used by Swinburne. Swinburne email accounts can be forwarded to personal accounts. The Swinburne student email system, Outlook Live, is located at http://outlook.com. See http://live.swinburne.edu.au/faq.html for more information on how to use it. As part of the email criteria please clearly place in the subject heading the Unit Code and a brief topic description, also inside your email state your name (first name and last name) so that your email can be attended to as soon as possible.

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Aims This subject forms part of the undergraduate major in psychology. The aim of the subject is to expose students to the major theories, methods, and applications of social psychology. Students will gain skills, knowledge and the ability to analyse human behaviour as it occurs within the social context. Social Psychology seeks to understand, explain, and predict the ways in which people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by the perceived, imagined, or implied thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. Social psychologists examine the processes of interaction between individuals and the society in which they live. These include the ways in which the social world is perceived (e.g., social cognition, attitudes, the self), interactions between individuals (e.g., interpersonal attraction, social influence), interactions within and across group boundaries (e.g., group decisionmaking, intergroup relationship), the influence of the socio-cultural environment on individuals (e.g., cultural differences, acculturation), and applied issues (e.g., health psychology, work, relationships). In addition to the major topics of social psychology, the course includes coverage of areas which apply the theories and research methods of social psychology to social issues (e.g., health, globalisation, social justice, prejudice, discrimination). Students are encouraged to reflect upon their implicit biases, to explore ways to broaden their perspectives, and to cultivate global citizenship. By the end of this semester you will have been exposed to most of the major areas of current interest in social psychology and you should be familiar with many of the typical methodologies used by social psychologists. We expect you to demonstrate your knowledge of some of these areas in your research report and practical assignment. A final examination will cover the major theories, theorists, methods, and research findings of social psychology plus the related areas of psychology that are covered in the lectures. Learning Objectives At the completion of this unit students will have developed: 1. an understanding of the main theoretical perspectives adopted by Social Psychologists, 2. an ability to think in theoretical terms and to critically evaluate social psychologists ideas and research findings, 3. an appreciation of the importance of social and cultural influences on human behaviour, 4. an ability to engage in group discussions about socio-cultural concepts and an understanding of yourself and others from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, 5. an understanding of research methodology, including ethics, 6. analytical and problem solving skills, 7. the ability to write in a clear, scientific manner, and the critical evaluation of research within the context of Social Psychology, and 8. be able to conduct advanced statistical techniques that answer social psychological research questions.
Content

Introduction to Social Psychology: History, Methods and Ethics Social Cognition Attitudes Attribution and Social Knowledge Self and identity Social Psychology of Health Interpersonal attraction and relationships Prejudice and discrimination
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Group behaviour Social Influence Aggression Psychology and the Law

Resources and Reference Material The text for this subject is: Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2011). Social Psychology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Please note: students are required to have access to the SPSS software used in the statistics units. For guidelines on how to write prac reports, see: Findlay, B. (2012). How to write psychology laboratory reports and essays (6th ed.). Sydney: Prentice Hall. Key Generic Skills for this Unit of Study

You will be provided with feedback on your progress in attaining the following generic skills:
teamwork skills, analysis skills, problem solving skills, communications skills, ability to tackle unfamiliar problems, and ability to work independently

Learning and Teaching Structure As this is an Off-Campus unit you will need to take responsibility for your learning. Teaching staff will be available to assist when required, but it will be up to you to take the initiative and contact your convenor or appointed tutor by email, or via the online discussion forums. Students are expected to utilise all of the resources which are available online and undertake the assigned readings, activities and exercises given in the units learning materials. Students can log on to the course whenever convenient. However, the course does follow a weekly schedule. In a typical week, you will read a chapter from the text, complete activities, and participate in discussions with your peers. Following the weekly schedule provides students with an opportunity to share their ideas and interact with their fellow participants and course facilitators about the material. A weekly tutorial will be held allowing you to join your fellow classmates in a real-time chat with your tutor regarding the material for that week. The day and time of this session will be announced on Blackboard. This session is voluntary, but strongly encouraged. If you are unable to attend, you will be able to access a transcript of the session to see their discussion. Students are required to attempt all assessment pieces and the examination. In total, students should expect to commit at least 10-12 hours of time per week to this unit, more if required. (For example, on-campus students typically spend twelve and a half hours of total time - formal contact time plus independent study time - a week on a 12.5 credit point unit of study).

You should follow the dates provided in your Weekly Schedule (as contained in this document) for all assessment items and suggested course content sequencing, and check each Lesson under the Learning Materials menu on Blackboard.

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Weekly Schedule Study Period 1, 2013

# 1 25 February 2 4 March 3 Week Beginning LESSON Introduction: Social Psychology and Research Methods (Chapters 1 & 2) Attitudes (Chapter 6) The Social Self (Chapter 3) ACTIVITIES Introduction and Assignment 1; Milgrams obedience experiment. Discuss practical implicit attitude assignment; Festingers cognitive dissonance experiment. Hypothesis generation task. 18 March Census Date 4 18 March Perceiving Persons (Chapter 4) Social Cognition. Assignment 1 written report due. Review Assignment 2 handout and questionnaires. Read key references and draft introduction. Develop hypotheses and draft method. ASSESSMENT Review Assignment 1 handout; complete questionnaires for Assignment 1. Discussion of Assignment 1 in preparation for Forum. Participate in Discussion Forum for Assignment 1.

11 March

5 25 March 6

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination (Chapter 5) Conformity (Chapter 7)

1 April

Assignment 2; Putting yourself in the shoes of a minority. Aschs experiment; cults.

7 April Last Day to withdraw without academic penalty (WD) 7 8 April Group Processes (Chapter 8) Stanford prison experiment; the role of the group in individual soldiers behaviour of at Abu Ghraib in 2006. The averageness hypothesis of attractiveness; issues of love Analyse data and draft results section.

OUA Examination Services Venue Selection Open 8-28 April 8 15 April Attraction and Close Relationships (Chapter 9) Draft Discussion section

21 April Last day to withdraw to receive WDFP (see page 12) 9 Helping Others (Chapter 10) Helping others.
Review and submit Assignment 2

22 April

10 11 12

22 April Students withdrawing on or after this date will receive NLWD (see page 12) Aggression Start exam revision 29 April (Chapter 11) Aggression Health belief model and Health Continue exam revision 6 May the prevention of obesity. (Chapter 14) 13 May 20 May Law (Chapter 13)
Revision

Law case studies. Exam preparation

Continue exam revision Review your revision notes

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13

Exam Date and Time

PURPOSE

To be advised by OUA Examination Services.

Blackboard (iLearn) Site for this Unit of Study Important information concerning this unit of study is placed on the Swinburne course management system (Blackboard), accessible via http://ilearn.swin.edu.au/ It is your responsibility to access on a regular basis the Blackboard site for your unit of study. Type in your ID number and your password. Note your ID number is your student ID and your password is initially set to your date of birth in the format DDMMYY the Announcements section on Blackboard, and any emails sent by the teaching staff to your student email address via Blackboard. If you access your email through a provider other than Swinburne, it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is forwarded to your private email address. To redirect your Swinburne email, go to http://live.swinburne.edu.au/redirect.html for information on how to do this. Please note: Not all internet browsers support Blackboard. The compatible browsers are as follows: PC users: Firefox version 3.6 and above, Internet Explorer version 8 and above, Chrome. Mac users: Firefox version 3.6 and above, Safari version 5, Chrome. See http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=101285989 for more information. Student Feedback: Swinburne seeks student feedback in a number of ways, including through Student Feedback surveys, as part of the universitys approach to quality assurance and improvement. Possible improvement based on both student and staff feedback is considered by Unit Convenors, Unit Panels made up of relevant teaching staff, Program Panels, Faculty Academic Committees, and the Academic Programs Quality Committee, as appropriate. Assessment
a. Assessment Task Details:

Assessment Task

Individual/ Group Task Group discussion and individual report Individual report Individual

Related Learning Objective(s) 1-5

Weighting

Due Date

Implicit attitude assignment

10%

Week 3 Group Discussion Week 4 Individual Report

Research report Exam

1-8 1-6

40% 50%

Week 9 TBA

Please note: Assessments are due on the Friday by 11:55pm.

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b. Participation Requirements Students are encouraged to make use of all the electronic facilities and resources available on the unit website, which are online tutorials, discussion boards and emails. These methods of engaging in the unit are advised but not mandated. c. Minimum Requirements to pass this Unit of Study: In order to achieve a pass in this unit of study, you must: Submit all assessments listed in the Assessment section (a) above (i.e., Implicit Attitude Assignment, Research Report and Exam) Obtain an overall weighted mark of 50% or greater

Assessment marks serve two purposes: 1. To provide the students with feedback indicating how well they have met the assignment requirements, and 2. To enable staff to rate students' knowledge and understanding of the area assessed. Marks and their associated grades are as follows:
85% or above 75% - 84% 65% - 74% 50% - 64% 0% - 49% High Distinction (HD) Distinction (D) Credit (C) Pass (P) Fail (N)

A few words of explanation about the meaning of these categories may help to interpret your marks. Sometimes students feel that they know more about the assignment than they have been given credit for, and this may well be true. However, staff can only give marks for what actually appears in the work being assessed. 1. An N grade (fail) indicates that a student has failed to present evidence of an acceptable level of knowledge or understanding of the area in question or has seriously misunderstood the requirements of the assignment. 2. A P grade (pass) indicates that either a student shows evidence of having grasped the basics of the area in question, but has done little to elaborate on basic material or ideas, or that there is an unevenness to the student's work such that, while some parts of it may be reasonable, other aspects are poor. 3. A C grade (credit) indicates that a student has shown a creditable knowledge and understanding of the area in question, has gone some way beyond the basic minimum reading, analysis or exposition. 4. A D grade (distinction) means that a student has distinguished herself or himself in the submitted work, has shown very good performance in research and exposition and has impressed the examiner by the level of demonstrated knowledge, effort and presentation. 5. An HD grade (high distinction) shows that a student is familiar with the topic in impressive detail, has made points and has taken up aspects of the topic which are original and refreshing and generally has submitted work which is of an exceptionally high standard. An HD indicates quite a rare level of work. You will find comments attached to your returned essays. Use these to improve your work. You are welcome to discuss your work after it has been returned to you. However, leave at least 24 hours after your have received an assignment back before discussing it with your tutor.
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e. Submission of Assignments: Submission of written work is by electronic means. Instructions of how to submit the assignments can be found on the Assessments page. Please make sure that your work: conforms to APA requirements (see Findlay, B., (2009). How to write psychology reports and essays. Sydney: Prentice Hall and also the American Psychological Associations (2010) Publication Manual (6th ed.). Washington: American Psychological Association.) is typed, double-spaced (between lines) and has appropriate margins. is numbered page by page. Note that there are APA conventions for numbering psychology reports. has on its front page the title of the assignment, your name, and student id; the unit code, unit title and your tutors name. has a statement declaring that the assignment has not been copied or plagiarised. This statement can be found on the Assessments page. has been copied before submission. Make and keep a copy of your assignment in case your original is lost or misplaced. It is your responsibility to make available a copy of any work, which you claim to have submitted. has been formatted with or is easily opened by Microsoft Word - .odt, .doc, .docx are okay but not pdf files. has a correct file name, for example, Smith_John_PSS320_Assign1.doc there is no need to add your student id number as the system automatically adds this to your file name. f. Extensions and Late Submissions: Assessment due dates are published in Unit Outlines at the start of the teaching period and will not normally be extended except where students had their studies adversely affected by acute illness, misadventure or other extraordinary cause or circumstance reasonably beyond their control. Students who need to request an extension of time to the due date for a piece of assessment (excluding end of teaching period final examinations) must contact their Unit Convenor before the due date to discuss their circumstances and submit the extension form located at http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/students/current.htm If approved, the convenor will notify the student of the extended date. For more information refer to http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2007/9 Late submissions o Late submissions are penalised at a rate of 10% of the total marks per day. o Submissions more than 10 days late will receive zero marks. g. Assessment Results: For the formative assessment tasks results will be available through the MyGrades section of Blackboard. Students must retain all assessed material that contributes to the final result up until such time as the final results are published. Students must retain all assessed material that contributes to the final result up until such time as the final results are published. Policy on Re-Marking If a student has good reasons to believe that she or he has been unfairly assessed, she or he should first discuss this with the staff member who examined the work. If the issue is not thereby resolved, the convener may arrange for a re-examination of the work. The convenor will then determine the mark to be allocated in consultation with the examiner(s).
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The final mark will usually be an average of the first and second mark, unless the two markers agree on a different mark.

NOTE: No discussion of grades will occur within 24 hours of the return of the graded work to students. This is to allow the student time to thoroughly read the comments made by the marker and absorb their implications, rather than perhaps reacting "in the heat of the moment" to the grade given. Have another look at what has been said about the awarding of grades in this document. Any request for re-marking must be made within seven (7) working days after the return of the particular work in question.

h. Groupwork Guidelines: N/A i. Plagiarism: Swinburne University of Technology defines Plagiarism as the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following, without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s): (i) The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person; (ii) the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes, current or past students work, any other persons work, a website or database; (iii) the paraphrasing of anothers work; (iv) the use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models, (v) the use of realia, that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like. Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students and other people who may be able to contribute to a students academic work but that where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the students own. Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other work. j. Assessment and Appeals Policy and Procedure The information outlined in the Assessment sections above is covered in more detail in Swinburnes Assessment and Appeals Policy and Procedure. Students must be familiar with the Policy and Procedure, found at:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/registrar/ppd/docs/AssessmentandAppealsHigherEducation.pdf

The Policy and Procedure provides details about: Assessment issues such as the conduct of examinations, plagiarism policies and details explaining how to apply for a review of results and other appeals, and

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Student progress issues such as unsatisfactory academic progress and early intervention procedures, and Information for students with disabilities and special needs and procedures for applying for special consideration.

Students should make themselves familiar with all aspects of the Policy and Procedure, as failure to do so is not grounds for appeal. Students are advised to seek advice from the staff at the Swinburne Student Amenities Association SSAA (http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ssaa/) if they require assistance with advocacy for Sections 12 (At-Risk and Progress Review) and 13 (Appeals) of the Policy and Procedure. Safety Standards and Conduct Requirements: Student misconduct is an action by a student which is in breach of the policies specified by Swinburne in the student General Misconduct policy. This extends to publishing on websites even where those sites are not set up or managed by Swinburne. Swinburne accepts no responsibility for unauthorised material posted in social networking sites (such as Facebook). If you have any issues resulting from the behaviour of other students, you should immediately contact the Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA) http://www.myssaa.com.au/Advocacy/About-academic-advice-and-advocacy Relevant links: Student General Misconduct policy http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2007/29 Information Technology (IT) Systems Acceptable Use Policy http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2008/34 All students are expected to respect the rights and sensibilities of their fellow students and teaching staff. This also applies in respect of the content of video and audio work submitted for assessment. The University has rigorous anti-discrimination and harassment policies and procedures. http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/hr/equity/policies.htm

Special Needs If you have special needs you should advise your Faculty and the Unit of Study Convenor by the end of the second week of the teaching period. In addition, you are recommended to notify the Equity Office if you have not already done so. See also the Students with Disabilities and Special Needs Section of the Assessment and Appeals Policy & Procedure, at:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/registrar/ppd/docs/StudentswithaDisability.pdf

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Open Universities Australia

Withdraw from a unit If you need to withdraw from a unit the date of the notification is very important. See below for further information. From week 1 - 6 Please advise Open Universities Australia, of your intention to withdraw up until the end of week 6, the unit(s) will be removed from your record. From weeks 1 3 you will, however, incur an administration fee. Please refer to the OUA website https://www.open.edu.au/public/studentadmin-and-support/changing-your-study/withdrawing for these details. You will not incur a FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). Financial penalties are based on the date that Open Universities Australia receives your withdrawal request. From weeks 4-6 you will incur your fee help debt. Weeks 7-13 Please submit a withdrawal form http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/oua/withdrawal.pdf, to advise Swinburne University of Technology, Higher Education Lilydale, of your intention to withdraw from week 7 and no later than eight weeks after the start of the Study Period, the unit(s) will receive a WDFP Withdrawn, Fee Payable grade on your academic record. You will retain the FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). If the notification of withdrawal is received after Week 8 of the Study Period, the unit(s) will receive a NLWD Not Pass, Late Withdrawal grade on your academic record. You will retain the FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). If you do not formally withdraw and you have submitted work, it will be assessed and a grade awarded accordingly. If no work for assessment has been submitted, a Not Assessed grade will be awarded. Refunds for withdrawal after the Census Date are available under Special Circumstances for students who have paid their registration fees upfront. Please refer to the Special Circumstances section of the Refund Guidelines in the Open Universities Australia handbook or the website www.open.edu.au for further information. Further Information For further information on OUA through Swinburne University of Technology a website has been provided. The address for this site is: http://www.ld.swin.edu.au/oua/ Contacts Swinburne University of Technology, Lilydale Locked Bag 218 Lilydale VIC 3140 ouald@swin.edu.au Phone: (+613) 9215 7206 Fax: (+613) 9215 7254 Student Advisers - Open Universities Australia GPO Box 5387 Level 1, 131 Queen St., Melbourne VIC., Australia 3001 http://www.open.edu.au/contactus Phone (+61) 1300 36 36 52 Fax (+613) 8628 2955

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