Psy 992: Stereotyping and Social Cognition

In this course, we will examine issues regarding group stereotyping from a social cognition perspective. Although there are many important factors involved in the development, use, maintenance, and revision of stereotypes that will not be covered this semester (e.g., frustration-aggression, authoritarian personality, social identity), this course will focus on how mental life affects the processes associated with group stereotyping. The social cognition perspective attempts to identify how cognitive representation and mental processes mediate stereotypic beliefs, prejudicial attitudes, and discriminatory behaviors.

The social cognition orientation breaks down the stereotyping process into a sequence of stages. These steps will serve as the organization for our course’s topics. The beginning of the semester will focus on early stages (e.g., stereotype formation, category activation) and subsequent weeks will focus on processes that unfold later in the stereotyping process (e.g., self-fulfilling prophecy, stereotype inhibition). After an initial overview week, the remainder of the course will focus mainly on primary empirical studies both classic and recent.

Most of the success of this class rests with the students and their preparation. The format of this class is to have students lead discussions each week, with student facilitators determining how to best organize and facilitate discussion on the week’s topics. Because this is a small class, contributing to group discussion is essential. Moreover, it is through the process of discussion and debate that one’s research acumen becomes defined and sharpened. One of the major goals of this class is to help develop one’s thinking and problem solving skills, and this is best accomplished by expressing your ideas in writing and class discussions.

During the semester, students (one or two per week) will share in the responsibility of facilitating discussion. They will need to determine how best to accomplish this goal for the readings. As facilitators, it is not your responsibility to explain the readings to others or review the important points of each paper. Instead, your role is to provide a framework that seems sensible for discussing the topic. For example, you may want to circulate questions via e-mail before class to pose questions of your colleagues. 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 facilitate. The goal of facilitation is to provide structure and direction for fellow students during discussion, not be the discussion.

Each week, students will submit a brief reaction paper (2-3 double-spaced pages) describing their reactions to the week’s readings during weeks that they do not facilitate class discussion. They must be typed, but they need not conform to APA style. This assignment is very open-ended and subject to great latitude in interpretation. Because some students in the class may specialize in different disciplines (e.g., communications, criminal justice), they may want to "spin" the week’s themes in a reasonable fashion toward their interests (which is fine). The primary goal is to make sure that students come to class not only with the readings read, but also after putting some degree of thought into the implications of the readings. Students can submit a reaction paper each week, with each one (provided it is complete) counting toward approximately 2% of the overall course grade. No late reaction papers (i.e., papers not turned in at the end of class), regardless of the circumstances, will be accepted.

Students will submit a project by choosing an area in stereotyping based on their own interests and developing a program of research in the form of a grant proposal. The topic need not be one that a student facilitated, though doing so may benefit some students. A grant proposal outlines a series of experiments that would be conducted in order to address an interesting and important issue with respect to group stereotyping and social cognition. Unlike a typical research paper assignment, a grant proposal lays out several experiments in a programmatic fashion that develops a line of research to address a series of important stereotype-relevant questions. Although students will not be required to carry out the research they propose, the opportunity to develop a well-thought-out proposal should be helpful to those who wish to develop new lines of research or explore ideas relevant to theses and dissertations. This project must take the form of a grant proposal — it cannot be simply a literature review or simply a single experiment. The instructor will be available to help students refine their ideas and suggest appropriate references. The proposal will be written in accordance with the APA Publication Manual (4th ed.), though the format is very different from a traditional manuscript. Instead, it will correspond to a NIMH small grant proposal (R03 type). Additional details and guidelines will be provided later this semester. Topics must be approved by the instructor no later than Thursday, November 18 (the project will face a 10% final grade reduction for each day beyond the 18th that a topic has not been approved). The proposal is due at 12 noon, on Friday, December 10. Late proposals (without documentation of personal emergency or illness) will face a 10% reduction in the project’s final grade for each calendar day that it is overdue.

10/13 — No class (Person Memory/SESP conferences)

11/24 — No class (Thanksgiving)

12/10 — Grant proposal due today