9.70
Social Psychology
Spring 2013
Topics
- Welcome . A Definition of the situation; start of the 9.70/13 collaborative learning system lifecycle; individuals and groups (selves and societies); human systems: levels and aspects of organization and development; singular and plural persons in contexts; sets and settings; housekeeping.
- The Science Of Social Psychology And Vice-Versa II . Paradigm 2 : An alternative “Human Systems” approach; substantive, ethical and methodological issues; what is participatory action research? Are paradigms 1 and 2 mutually exclusive or partly complementary?
- Persons-In-Contexts I : Families as human social systems: Anorexia Nervosa in social context; Demonstration: Participatory action research: Diagnosis and treatment of psychosomatic disorders in adolescence
- Persons-In-Contexts II : Self and society; group norms; conformity and deviance; obedience
- Meaning and Power I : The social construction of reality. Media, mass communication, propaganda, and persuasion. Corporate personhood? What is going on when “conglomerations of Capital” come to be legally entitled to rights that the founders intended to constitutionally guarantee to some, but not all, natural persons?
- Meaning, and Power II : The social construction of reality II; social cognition, affect and action in human systems: Interacting beliefs, values and practices at individual and collective levels of organization and development
- Us And Them I : Justifying ourselves & judging others; reification; attribution; self-justification
- Us And Them II : Defining and dealing with aggression and violence; The medicalization of deviance; naming and taming: “The power to give names and enforce definitions.”
- Who is / are “We” I : What is “human nature?” Prejudice and discrimination: Are the causes “in our genes?” Can they be overcome?
- Who is / are “We” II : Positive attitudes and actions toward humanity and nature; liking, loving and interpersonal sensitivity; what is “humanecological sustainability?” Who needs it? Is it attainable?
- I. (Forming / Storming) : Identifying and organizing end-of-term project(s); refining evaluation criteria
- II. (Storming / Norming) : Working on projects; finalizing production and distribution of evaluation forms
- III. (Performing) : Presenting project findings; completing / submitting evaluations and filing final grades; concluding the 9.70 / 11 collaborative learning system lifecycle
Readings
- [SA] = Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal . Worth Publishers, 2011. ISBN: 9781429233415.
- Pertinently, this SA 11 th is the latest (2011). It integrates relevant developments since the 10 th edition back in 2008, including a discussion of recent fMRI evidence about the effects of social support on brain activity related to fear and references to the 2008 presidential election and its aftermath. It is, of course, silent on some significant events that have occurred since then, and we will surely want to consider some of them.
- 1.2-2 [SA] Front Matter, Back Matter, and Chapter 1.
- 1.2-3 Milgram, S. “The Perils of Obedience.” Harper’s Magazine , December 1973.
- 1.2-6 [SA] Chapter 9.
- 1.3-2 Chorover, Stephan L. “Paradigms Lost and Regained: Changing Beliefs, Values, and Practices in Neuropsychology.” In Theories of the Evolution of Knowing . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990, pp. 87–106. ISBN: 9780805807554.
- 1.3-3 ———. Version 1.5. Front Matter, and Chapters 1–3 in HomeWork: An Environmental Literacy Primer . Collaborative Learning Systems, Cambridge, MA, 1995, pp.vii–xx.
- 1.3-4 Melucci, Alberto, and Stephan L. Chorover. “Knowledge and Wonder: Beyond the Crisis of Modern Science.” In Overcoming the Language Barrier: Problems of Interdisciplinary Dialogue: proceedings of an international roundtable meeting, sponsored by the Center … Sciences at Temple University May 14–17, 1997 . Edited by G. Robert Flower. Center for Frontier Sciences at Temple University, 1998. ISBN: 9780963327215.
- 2.2-1 [SA] Chapter 2.
- 2.2-4 Jones, S. “You Will Do As Directed.” In Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior . Edited by Margot Stern Strom, and William S. Parsons. Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, 1994. ISBN: 970961584146.
- 2.2-5 Part 1: The Challenger Disaster . Directed by Charles Wiener. [Videorecording.]
- 2.3-1 [SA] Chapter 3.
- 2.4-1 [SA] Chapter 4.
- 2.4-6 Calder, J. S., and Worldwatch Institute. “Mobilizing Human Energy.” In State of the World 2008_ :_ Ideas and Opportunities for Sustainable Economies . Earthscan, 2007, pp. 166–79. ISBN: 9781844074983.
- 2.4-7 Macy, J. R. Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age . New Society Pubulication, 1983. ISBN: 9780865710313.
- 2.5-1 [SA] Chapter 5.
- 2.5-3 Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Study . Directed by K. Musen, and P. G. Zimbardo. 1991. [Stanford, CA: Psychology Dept., Stanford University, videorecording.]
- 2.6-1 [SA] Chapter 6.
- 2.6-5 Sociobiology: Doing what comes naturally . Published by Document Associates Inc., New York, NY 1976. [videorecording.]
- 2.6-8 Lewontin, Richard C., Arthur J. Schwartz, et al. Biology as a Social Weapon . Burgess Publication Company, 1977. ISBN: 9780808745341.
- 2.7-1 [SA] Chapter 7.
- 2.8-1 [SA] Chapter 8.
- 2.8-4 Calder, J. S., and Worldwatch Institute. “Mobilizing Human Energy.” In State of the World 2008: Ideas and Opportunities for Sustainable Economies . Earthscan, 2007, pp. 166–79. ISBN: 9781844074983.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.