A Scientific Look at Thoughts and Behaviors in the Social World

About This Course

This course is a broad overview of social psychology, the scientific study of thought and behavior in response to the social world. Using the Outcome-Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) approach as the backbone, this course will benefit you by highlighting the basic psychological principles that shape the ways you make sense of yourselves, other people, and the world. You will learn the major theories and empirical findings on topics that are central to everyday life, such as obedience, prosocial behaviors, and romantic attraction. Through the scope of social psychology, you will learn that numerous social phenomena can be traced back to a subset of socialcognitive principles that guide the human mind. You will learn how human thinking and behaviors are influenced by various social contexts, from group membership and interpersonal relationships to society and culture. Finally, you will receive progressive training on theoretical thinking, critical reasoning, and methodological designs.

More broadly, this course is in deep connections with other key courses of the program such as Introduction to Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Social Cognition, Developmental Psychology, Human Motivation, Laboratory in Social Psychology, Fundamentals of Social Science Research, and Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology. The course forms part of the foundational training on psychological knowledge, research capability, theoretical reasoning, and critical thinking.