Course Syllabus – PSY 703: Social Psychology



Course Syllabus – PSYC592/461: Seminar in Diversity

Spring Semester 2009, Thursdays 1:30-4:10, David King Hall 2054

Instructor: Eden King, Ph.D.

Email: eking6@gmu.edu Phone: 703-993-1620

Office: DK 3076 Office hours: Wednesdays from 10-11:30am and by appointment

Objectives

This course is a seminar designed to provide an overview of contemporary theories and empirical research related to diversity. Course content will draw heavily from social psychology to address the experiences of women, gay and lesbian individuals, and ethnic and cultural minorities in the context of school, work, and counseling settings. My goal is that each of you will develop: (1) familiarity with constructs central to understanding diversity and discrimination, (2) an understanding of the perspectives and experiences of actors and targets of prejudice, (3) an ability to utilize empirical research findings to answer diversity-related questions across the fields of psychology and in the real world, (4) insight into your own background and how it affects your social and work life, and (5) critical thinking skills regarding research, theory, methods, and diversity.

Grading*

Discussion Facilitation (10%)- not required for PSYC461 students

Class Participation (20%)- 30% for PSYC461 students

Personal Identity Paper (10%)

Day of Social Justice (15%)

Shadow/Role Play (15%)

Applied Project OR Research Proposal (30%)

*If at any time you experience discomfort completing any assignment, please let me know and we can work out an alternative experience.

Class Participation & Discussion Facilitation Responsibilities

It is essential that you be present and participative in the class discussion. To improve class discussion, you will be responsible for helping to facilitate discussion on one occasion during the semester. You should try to choose the discussion topic that most closely relates to your interest. Working individually or as a pair (your choice), you will need to be able to summarize each article, indicating its strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly, you will need to bring questions and ideas that facilitate group discussion. Facilitators should identify the core issues and organize them into a logical sequence of topics for group discussion and debate. As discussion leaders, it is your job to provide some framework that seems sensible for discussing the topic. Perhaps you might present an initial framework at the beginning of class (on the board or via overhead) to highlight common (or divergent) themes that run throughout the readings. There are no right or wrong ways to do this. However, the discussion should cover both broad theoretical concerns as well as analysis of specific experiments. The final part of each discussion should focus on identifying issues for future research, including brainstorming about possible experiments that could be done to address these issues. The goal is to provide structure and direction for fellow students during discussion. These questions may assist you in preparing and presenting the research:

1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

2) Ask questions about the readings. For instance, if there was some aspect that was particularly difficult or confusing, ask questions about it to help clarify it for everyone.

3) How can these readings be applied to real life? Do they explain why a social phenomenon or problem exists?

4) What are the implications of this research -- for social interaction, for personal relationships, for public policy? Can the findings help us in some way?

5) Provide examples of how these results are seen in everyday life, in the media, in literature, or in film.

6) Provide counter-examples of how opposing results can be seen in everyday life, in the media, in literature, or in film. Suggest reasons why these situations may differ from those of the research. Are there conditions under which you would expect one result versus the other?

7) Suggest future research that could be conducted on this topic.

8) Discuss alternative explanations for the findings. Do the explanations provided by the researchers make sense to you? Are there other explanations that seem equally compelling?

9) Whatever seems important, interesting to you. The point of these questions or comments is to get people thinking about the topic in more depth.

Please note that this responsibility does not absolve you from having questions, ideas, and opinions about the other articles for which you are not responsible!

Your class participation grade will be based on (a) voicing your reflections on the readings (e.g., by noting positive contributions and constructive criticisms), (b) getting others in the class involved (e.g., by asking questions, having stimulating discussion/debate), (c) contributing information and experiences that supplement the readings, and obviously (d) attending class and being on time.

Day of Social Justice (from Plous, 2008)

On Thursday, April 2nd, our class will observe a "Day of Social Justice." To participate in this event, your challenge will be to live each minute of that day in as inclusive, unprejudiced, and nondiscriminatory a way as possible. In other words, for a full 24-hour period you should do your best to embody ideals such as fairness, equality, and diversity. When carrying out this assignment, consider institutional as well as personal forms of injustice and privilege. That is, don't just avoid obvious acts of bias, segregation, and exclusion; think deeply about the injustices that various groups face on campus, in the local community, and in the world more generally, and try to reduce these injustices without behaving in ways that are phony or insincere. It is up to you to define what social justice is and to decide how best to realize it.

At the beginning of class on April 9th, you will turn in an analysis of what the day was like. Here are some sample questions you might address:

How did you define social justice, and what did you focus your efforts on?

If your behavior was different than normal, which person did you like more: the "Day of Social Justice you" or the "normal you"? If you preferred the "Day of Social Justice you," what are the psychological factors that prevent this "you" from coming out?

How did others respond to you? Do you think they noticed a difference in your behavior? What attributions did people make for your behavior, and why?

If you wanted to encourage others to behave as you did during the Day of Social Justice, what psychological techniques would you use? How can psychology be used to foster a more just society?

If you were to predict your behavior one month from now, do you think it will be changed in any way as a result of participating in the Day of Social Justice? If so, how? If not, why not?

Shadow/Role Play (from Moradi, 2004)

In this exercise, you will spend a day shadowing or role-playing a person who is different from you in age, ability, economic status, religion, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or motherhood. Students who conduct a shadow spend a full day with the person they select, and students who conduct a role-play transform themselves into the person they select (e.g., wear padded clothing to role-play a pregnant woman). During the fifth week of class you should submit (via email) a description of how you plan to carry out your shadow/role-play. If you plan to shadow someone, please also submit a consent statement that describes the project and is signed by the person being shadowed. The final deliverable for this project will be a brief 3-5 page paper that describes what it was like to live as the person you selected, and what privileges or lack thereof you observed in your own life. We will discuss these experiences in class on March 26th.

Personal Identity Paper

For this assignment, you will need to write a 2 - 4 page (informal) paper that represents your personal assessment of your ethnic and/or cultural heritage. Discuss your own cultural background by looking at behavior, expectations, and values you have regarding the following social systems variables: family values and behaviors both now and as you were growing up; nationality; ethnicity; religion; language; geographic region; gender; socioeconomic status; educational status; and political orientation. Share what insights you have gain as a result of this assignment. You will also be asked to discuss this paper in class on February 12th.

Applied Project

To enhance your learning and to give you an opportunity to apply research findings to the real world, you will work in small groups to work toward reducing prejudice/discrimination in an area of importance to you. (The group composition is up to you, aim for 3-5 people).

The organization, group, or topic you target is up to you. The only limitation is that you must draw from the course material to develop your ideas and approach. As an example, you might examine children's books in a local school, bookstore, or public library to see whether the books contain stereotypes and/or exclude certain groups. You might instead decide to choose a particular organization and evaluate their diversity, diversity policies, and diversity initiatives in some way. You might gather information from websites, interview folks in human resources about their diversity issues, and/or speak with employees and management. If challenges are identified, you could develop a proposal for improvement and present the proposal to someone in a position of authority. Just pick something that is important to you.

You may use any approach (that’s legal and ethical, of course!) that you have sound theoretical reasons for believing may be effective. Try to think creatively about ways to address the problem. I’m willing to help you with this, but your group should brainstorm some ideas before coming to see me.

Before you implement your program, you’ll need to do two things. First, you MUST give me – and I must approve – a proposal with a summary of what you’ll do and where you’ll do it. This proposal is due February 26th. Second, you must discuss the logistics with “the powers that be.” Thus, you should talk to Housing and Residence Life if you plan to implement your project in the residence halls, the specific department head if you’re implementing it in an academic building, or whomever is “in charge;” this MUST be done before you begin the implementation of your intervention. Other than these two requirements, you will have a great deal of latitude in this project, so be creative!

The deliverable associated with this project will be a group paper somewhere between 5-8 pages in length that addresses the connections between the project in which you participated and the course topics, content, and objectives. You should describe the theoretical or empirical work on which your ideas were based, the intervention itself, and what new ideas might be taken from your experience. This paper is due April 23rd, and you will informally discuss your projects (~5 minutes) in class on April 30th.

Research Proposal

Another way to use the content from this course is through research itself. For this project, you will need to identify an unanswered research question based on a review of extant literature and design an experiment or survey study that tests that question. I want you (either individually or in groups with less than 4 people) to fully develop a research project, from generating the idea to constructing the methods.

By February 26th, you will turn in a preliminary outline of your research idea. Please note that many of the most interesting topics will not be discussed until later in the semester. This means that if you plan to study one of these topics, you will need to read ahead and go outside of the course syllabus in identifying and developing your idea. We will have on-going discussions about the projects throughout the semester with the goal of enhancing the final product.

In your proposal, you should be sure to address the following questions: What is the question I am interested in answering? What is (are) the relevant theoretical perspective(s)? What do we already know from past research (i.e., has your study idea already been done)? What would I manipulate (or measure) as independent variables? What would I measure as a dependent variable(s)? What are my hypotheses?

The written proposal will be a completed write-up of the research idea that you have developed after getting feedback from me on your preliminary outline. This paper should be about 10-15 pages double-spaced and should follow APA format. It should include both an introduction to the proposed study (in which you review past theory and research relevant to your questions) and a method section (in which you describe in some detail the participants, design, measures, procedures, and hypotheses that pertain to your proposed study). Please include a title page and references.

Grading criteria for the proposal are: adequacy of literature review, rationale for hypotheses, meaningfulness of research question, feasibility of the study (it should be something that can actually be done), soundness of proposed methodology and analysis, and clarity of presentation (including APA style). Informal 5-minute presentations of the research will be made in class on April 30th and should outline the research question, briefly review the literature, and present the proposed study (e.g., methods).

Disabilities and special needs

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Office of Disability Resources at 703.993.2474. Academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.

Academic Integrity

You are expected to follow the GMU Honor Code. Any form of scholastic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) can result in a variety of negative consequences (not the least of which is failing this course).

Course Schedule

Topics, readings, and assignments tentatively follow the schedule below. Due dates for class assignments will not change, but dates for seminar topics might. All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Extensions will not be granted. Five percent will be deducted for every day an assignment is late.

|Date |Topic |Readings |Assignments |

|1/22 |Syllabus | |Assign discussion facilitation |

|Week 1 |Class overview | | |

|1/29 |What does “diversity” mean anyway? |Allport (1954). Ch. 4 | |

|Week 2 | |APA (2003) | |

| | |Crocker, Major, & Steele (1998) | |

| | |Harrison & Klein (2007) | |

|2/5 |Historical perspective |Blackwell (1982) | |

|Week 3 | |Duckitt (1992) | |

| | |Feagin (1991) | |

| | |Kurzban & Leary (2001) | |

|2/12 |Identity |Hammack (2008) |PERSONAL IDENTITY PAPER DUE |

|Week 4 | |Phinney (1996) | |

| | |Pittinsky et al. (2006) | |

| | |Tajfel (1982) | |

| | |Sellers & Shelton (2003) | |

|2/19 |Dual Perspectives |Apfelbaum et al. (2008) |PLAN FOR SHADOW/ ROLE PLAY DUE |

|Week 5 | |Blascovich et al. (2001) | |

| | |Clair et al. (2005) | |

| | |Macrae et al. (1994) | |

| | |Shelton & Richeson (2006) | |

|2/26 |Gender Diversity and Sexism |Dozier (2005) |APPLIED/ |

|Week 6 | |Heilman & Okimoto (2007) |RESEARCH PROJECT OUTLINE DUE |

| | |Maccoby (1988) | |

| | |Swim et al. (2001) | |

| | |Vescio et al. (2005) | |

|3/5 |Race/Ethnic Diversity and Racial/Ethnic Discrimination|Castelli et al. (2008) | |

|Week 7 | |Dovidio et al. (2002) | |

| | |Eberhart (2005) | |

| | |Hughes et al. (2006) | |

| | |Moradi (2006) | |

|3/12 |NO CLASS- SPRING BREAK! | | |

|3/19 |Sexual Orientation Diversity and Heterosexism |Balsam & Mohr (2007) | |

|Week 8 | |Carver et al. (2004) | |

| | |Kurdek (2008) | |

| | |Meyer (2003) | |

| | |Herek (2004) | |

|3/26 |Aspects of Global Diversity |Chao & Moon (2005) |SHADOW/ROLE PLAY WRITE UP DUE |

|Week 9 | |Georgas et al. (2001) | |

| | |Terracciano et al. (2005) | |

| | |Triandis & Brislin (1984) | |

|4/2 (SIOP) |NO CLASS- SIOP | |DAY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE (DSJ) |

|Week 10 | | | |

|4/9 |Experiences of other Stigmatized Individuals |Colella et al. (1998) |DSJ WRITE-UP DUE |

|Week 11 | |Hebl et al. (2007) | |

| | |Miller et al. (1995) | |

| | |Goldberg et al. (2004) | |

| | |Trinitapoli (2007) | |

|4/16 |Diversity Issues in Educational, Clinical, and |Educational | |

|Week 12 |Organizational Contexts |Chizhik (2005) | |

| |(Read papers from your field plus one from each of the|McKown (2008) | |

| |others) |Zirkel et al. (2004) | |

| | | | |

| | |Clinical | |

| | |Constantine (2002) | |

| | |Pederson & Vogel (2007) | |

| | |Wong et al. (2007) | |

| | | | |

| | |Organizational | |

| | |Martel et al. (1996) | |

| | |Sacco & Schmitt (2005) | |

| | |Rosette et al. (2008) | |

|4/23 |Making Change |Allport (1954; Ch. 29) |APPLIED PROJECTS/ |

|Week 13 | |Czopp, Monteith, & Mark (2006) |RESEACH |

| | |Kalev, Dobbin, & Kelly (2006) |PROPOSALS DUE |

| | |Kaiser & Miller (2001) | |

| | |Paluck & Green (2008) | |

|4/30 |Presentations | |PROJECT |

|Week 14 |Wrap Up | |PRESENTATION DUE |

References

Allport, G.W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. New York: Addison Wesley.

Apfelbaum, E. P., Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 918-932.

American Psychological Association (2003). Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice and organizational change for psychologists. American Psychologist, 58, 377-402.

Balsam, K. F., & Mohr, J. J. (2007). Adaptation to sexual orientation stigma: A comparison of bisexual and lesbian/gay adults. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 306-319.

Blackwell, J. E. (1982). Persistence and change in intergroup relations: The crisis upon us. Social Problems, 29, 325-346.

Blascovich, J., Mendes,W.B., Hunter, S.B., Lickel, B., & Kowai-Bell, N. (2001). Perceiver threat in social interactions with stigmatized others. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 80, 253-267.

Castelli, L., de Dea, C., & Nesdale, D. (2008). Learning social attitudes: Children’s sensitivity to nonverbal behaviors of adult models during interracial interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1504-1515.

Carver, P. R., Egan, S. K., Perry, D. G. (2004). Children who question their heterosexuality. Developmental Psychology, 40, 43-53.

Chao, G. T., & Moon, H. (2005). The cultural mosaic: A metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1128-1140.

Chizhik, E. W., & Chizhik, A. W. (2005). Are you privileged or oppressed? Students’ conceptions of themselves and others. Urban Education, 40, 116-145.

Clair, J., Beatty, J., & MacLean, T. (2005). Out of sight but not out of mind: Managing invisible social identities in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 30, 78-95.

Constantine, M.G. (2002). Predictors of satisfaction with counseling: Racial and ethnic minority clients' attitudes toward counseling and ratings of their counselors' general and multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49(2), 255-263.

Crocker, J., Major, B., & Steele, C. (1998). Social stigmas. In D. T. Gilbert, S.T. Fiske & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, (pp. 504-553). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Czopp, A. M., Monteith, M. J., & Mark, A. Y. (2006). Standing up for a change: Reducing bias through interpersonal confrontation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 784-803.

Dovidio, J. F., Kawakami, K., & Gaertner, S. L. (2002). Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 62-68.

Dozier, R. (2005). Beards, breasts, and bodies: Doing sex in a gendered world. Gender and Society, 19, 297-217.

Duckitt, J. (1992). Psychology and prejudice: A historical analysis and integrative framework. American Psychologist, 47, 1182-1193.

Feagin, J. R. (1991). The continuing significance of race: Anti-black discrimination in public places. American Sociological Review, 56, 101-116.

Georgas, J., et al. (2001). Functional relationships in the nuclear and extended family: A 16-culture study. International Journal of Psychology, 36, 289-300.

Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Prentice Hall. Chapter 2 (pp. 41-104).

Goldber, C. B., Finkelstein, L. M., Perry, E. L., & Konrad, A. M. (2004). Job and industry fit: The effects of age and gender matches on career progress outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 807-829.

Hammack, P. L. (2008). Narrative and the cultural psychology of identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 222-249.

Harrison, D. A., & Klein, K. J. (2007). What’s the difference? Diversity constructs as separation, variety, or disparity in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 32, 1199-1228.

Hebl, M. R., King, E. B., Glick, P., Singletary, S. L., & Kazama, S. (2007). Hostile and benevolent reactions toward pregnant women: Complementary interpersonal punishments and rewards that maintain traditional roles. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92. 1499-1511.

Heilman, M. E., & Okimoto, T. G. (2007). Why are women penalized for success at male tasks? The implied communality deficit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 81-92.

Herek, G. M. (2004). Beyond “homophobia”: Thinking about sexual stigma and prejudice in the twenty-first century. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 1, 6-24.

Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J. Smith, E. P. Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices: A review of research and directions for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42, 747-770.

Kaiser, C. R.  & Miller, C.T.   (2001).  Stop Complaining!:  The Social Costs of Making Attributions to Discrimination.  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 

Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review, 589-617.

Kurdek, L. A. (2008). Change in relationship quality for partners from lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 701-711.

Kurzban, R., & Leary, M. (2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 187-208.

Martell, R. F., Lane, D. M., & Emrich, C. (1996). Male-female differences: A computer simulation. American Psychologist, 157-158.

Maccoby, E. E. (1988). Gender as a social category. Developmental Psychology, 24, 755-765.

Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., & Jetten, J. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 808-817.

McKown, C., & Weinstein, R. S. (2008). Teacher expectations, classroom context, and the achievement gap. Journal of School Psychology.

Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674–697.

Miller, C.T., Rothblum, E.D., Felicio, D., & Brand, P. (1995). Compensating for stigma: Obese and nonobese women's reactions to being visible. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1093-1106.

Moradi, B. (2004). Teaching about diversities: The shadow/role-play exercise. Teaching of Psychology, 31, 188-191.

Paluck, E. L., & Green, D. P. (2009). Prejudice reduction: What works? A review and assessment of research and practice. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 339-367.

Pederson, E. L., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). Male gender role conflict and willingness to seek counseling: Testing a mediation model on college-aged men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 373-384.

Phinney, J.S. (1996). Understanding ethnic diversity: The role of ethnic identity. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 143-152.

Pittinsky, T. L., Shih, M. J., & Trahan, A. (2006). Identity cues: Evidence from and for intra-individual perspectives on positive and negative stereotyping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 2215-2239.

Rosette, A. S., Leonardelli, G. J., & Phillips, K. W. (2008). The white standard: Racial bias in leader categorization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 758-777.

Sacco, J. M., & Schmitt, N. (2005). A dynamic multilevel model of demographic diversity and misfit effects. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 203-231.

Sellers, R. M., & Shelton, J. N. (2003). The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1079-1092.

Shelton, J.N., & Richeson, J.A. (2006). Interracial interactions: A relational approach. In. M.P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 38, pp. 121–181). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811.

Swim, J.K., Hyers, L.L, Cohen, L.L, & Ferguson, M.J. (2001).  Everyday sexism: Evidence for its incidence, nature, and psychological impact from three daily diary studies. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 31-53.

Tajfel, H. (1982). Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1-39.

Terracciano, A., et al. (2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science, 310, 96-101.

Triandis, H. C., & Brislin, R. W. (1984). Cross-cultural psychology. American Psychologist, 39, 1006- 1017.

Trinitapoli, J. (2007). “I know this isn’t PC, but…”: Religious exclusivism among U.S. adolescents. Sociological Quarterly, 48, 451-483.

Vasquez, J. J. T. (2007). Cultural difference and the therapeutic alliance: An evidence-based analysis. American Psychologist, 878-885.

Vescio, T., Gervais, S. J., Snyder, M., & Hoover, A. (2005). Power and the creation of patronizing environments: Stereotype-based behaviors of the powerful and their effects on female performance in masculine domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 658-672.

Zirkel, S., & Cantor, N. (2004). 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education: The promise and challenge of multicultural education. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 1-15.

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