Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Introduction

This tutorial provides an introduction to the Social psychology unit, sociometric exercises to explore student social groupings, and helps to develop student understanding and interest in social psychology.

Overview

 * 1) Use name tags
 * 2) Tutor introduction - and contact details
 * 3) Introduction to unit websites:
 * 4) * Free and open educational philosophy, using wikis
 * 5) * ucspace - for unit-specific information, e.g., dates, timeline, etc.
 * 6) * wikiversity - for generic information, e.g., theories, research, etc.
 * 7) * Google Groups - for group discussion (web/email forum)
 * 8) * Cross-links facilitate moving between sites
 * 9) Discussion of assessment, particularly e-portfolio and essay topics.
 * 10)  For students to do:
 * 11) * Create a user account on Wikiversity and email the convener with your user name, real name, and student ID.
 * 12) * Join the discussion group.

Sociometric icebreaker
In an open space, meet and greet one another by name (a la "cocktail party") and have a chat (the room will soon become noisy). After some time, the tutor announces a grouping characteristic. People are to arrange themselves according to the group to which they best belong (for tips and ideas, see categories). Some suggested groupings are:
 * 1) Eye colour (comment/discuss on use of eye color by Jane Elliott)
 * 2) Number of siblings (note the psychology of birth order research)
 * 3) Country of birth
 * 4) Where you live (arrange by North, South, East, West - for ideas, see People Map)
 * 5) Religion ("now for some harder ones!..." Organise according to actual beliefs (as opposed to 'offical' religion by birth) and inquire about why, strength of beliefs, etc.)
 * 6) Political voting behaviour (Who do you vote for?)
 * 7) Relationship status
 * 8) Person-situation debate (along a line/continuum; describe the extreme positions; ask those at the fartherest extremes to explain their views)
 * 9) "Computer-savviness".

Individual
Individually write/brainstorm:
 * 1) A unique definition of social psychology (this should not be a regurgitation of the lecture/textbook).
 * 2) What you already know about social psychology (and closely related topics).
 * 3) What you don't know (and would like to know).
 * 4) Essay ideas and topic(s) you're interested in.

Small groups
In small groups (3 to 4), using three separate pieces of butchers paper, discuss, integrate and summarise:
 * 1) A definition of social psychology
 * 2) What your group knows about social psychology
 * 3) What your group doesn't know (but would like to know) about social psychology.
 * 4) Possible essay topics.

Large group discussion
If there are a small number of groups (e.g., ~3), then each group should share their responses/discussion of:
 * 1) Definitions (tutor should help repeat, emphasise, and critique aspects of the definitions - common issues include not focusing on ABC (Affect, Behaviour, and Cognition), and lack of focus on individuals within a social context (e.g., having an overly sociological focus))
 * 2) Areas of knowing
 * 3) Areas of not knowing and curiousity
 * 4) Possible essay questions

If there are a larger number of groups and/or lack of time, ask each group to share one of the four topics discussed.