Week 13 — Social Psychology

Welcome to your Week 13 Start Here page.

Why this matters

A nurse deciding whether to question an order and a manager running a team meeting both work inside the pull of other people.

In plain language

Other people change what you think, what you feel, and what you do, often without your noticing. Social psychology is the part of psychology that studies that pull: how people explain one another, influence one another, and relate to one another. This week you will see why you judge a stranger's mistake more harshly than your own, how your own actions can change your opinions, and why ordinary people go along with a group or follow an order they dislike. You will also meet the bystander effect, the finding that a person is less likely to help in an emergency when other people are around. The big lesson is that the situation a person is in is often more powerful than it looks.

• Already covered: Weeks 1 to 12 built the science, the mind, and the person over time.
• This week: attributions, attitudes, conformity, obedience, groups, helping, and prejudice.
• How they connect: Week 2's experiment returns in both classic studies.
• Where we're going next: Week 14, Stress, Health & Coping.

Focus

How do other people and the situation shape what you think and do?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] tell the fundamental attribution error from the self-serving bias
• [ ] explain cognitive dissonance, conformity, and obedience with their studies
• [ ] read Darley and Latané's 85%, 62%, and 31% as an experiment
• [ ] name five group effects and sort stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 13 (about 45 minutes), then the lecture and the slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Analysis Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain why your own late arrival and a stranger's get different explanations.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if a step snags.

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