Social Psychology Online Course

Learn the psychology of how we interact with each other in group or social situations.

Man is a social animal, and as such, it is very important to understand the psychology of how we interact with each other, or act as a group rather than as an individual. By understanding the “natural” social needs of a person, you can develop an increased sensitivity to other people, and better identify and assist people with attending to deficiencies in their social interactions.

Course Aims:

• To determine how physical characteristics and non-verbal behaviour affect our formation of impressions of others, and how that information is processed;
• To understand the sociological perspective of the self and how we relate to others;
• To discuss attribution theory, the internal and external causes, and its role in self-perception and the perception of others;
• To understand the emergence of attitudes, changes in attitude, and the effect of attitudes upon behaviour and use as predictors of behaviour;
• To discuss the emergence of prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination from the perspective of social psychology and attitudes;
• To understand the influence of physicality, similarity, familiarity and proximity on interpersonal relationships;
• To understand helping behaviour through the influences of conformity, compliance, obedience and diffusion of responsibility;
• To define social psychological theories of aggression and to apply those theories;
• To understand the nature of group behaviour and to demonstrate awareness of group cognition;
• To understand the effect of culture on behaviour of individuals and groups.