Psychology 612: Seminar in Advanced Social Psychology

EXAMPLE SYLLABUS, BEING REVISED

Psychology 612: Seminar in Advanced Social Psychology

“Hot” topics in Social Cognition

Spring 2011

Dr. Stephen J. Read, 821 SGM, 02291,

The aim of this course is to examine some of the most active and central areas in current social cognition research. The course will not aim at covering all topics in social cognition, but rather will focus on what I think are some of the most exciting, active, and important current topics in social cognition. Among the topics we will cover are: (1) representation of social knowledge and social concepts, with a focus on what has been termed socially situated and embodied concepts, (2) person perception and theory of mind, (3) automatic versus controlled, implicit versus explicit processes in social cognition, including attitudes, stereotyping, decision making, and goal activation, (4) Social neuroscience, (5) the role of affect in decision making, and (6) Motivation and goal systems. Although I list these topics separately, one thing we will discover is how interwoven these topics are. For example, we will see evidence of the recent explosive growth of social neuroscience in theory of mind, social perception, and stereotyping. And implicit versus explicit processes are a central theme in current work in attitudes, social perception, theory of mind, stereotyping, and the activation of goal systems.

In addition to covering the typical behavioral research in social cognition, I will also try to integrate two other important approaches to social cognition. First, in a number of different areas we will include recent work in the area of social neuroscience. Second, we will often consider various computational models of the various phenomena that people have discussed.

If students have other topics that they would really like to see covered, I am open to adding those topics as well.

The readings are available as pdfs that can be downloaded from this class’s area on USC’s Blackboard system: https://blackboard.usc.edu. Note that more articles are listed on the syllabus and on Blackboard then will actually be required for class. A subset of the articles listed will typically be assigned each week.

I would also like to explore with the class whether it would make sense to use the Discussion forums and chat capabilities that are built into Blackboard. Would students use these tools to discuss the various readings and questions and would these tools add to the value of the class?

Class assignments:

Every week you should email to me at least two discussion questions for the readings for that week. Questions should be received before Noon on the day of class.

During the last two or three weeks of class each student will be responsible for making a presentation and leading discussion on a topic of their choosing. Each student will have about 30-45 minutes. The topic should be related to the class and you should discuss the topic with me well before you start your final presentations. You should suggest one article for the class to read that is relevant to your topic.

A 15 to 20 page paper will be due at the beginning of the final exam period. This final paper should be related to the topic of your class presentation. The paper should be written in the form of an empirical journal article. You are to design a study(ies) and then write a paper with a: (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) introduction, (4) methods section, (5) results (you can make up the results), (6) discussion and (7) reference section. All this should be in APA format. Please consult with me about the topic. The topic should be related to the course.

January 11: Introduction to class

Jan. 18: Foundations: The representation of social knowledge

Smith, E. R., & Queller, S. (2001). Memory representations. In A. Tesser & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Blackwell handbook in social psychology, Vol. I: Intraindividual processes (pp. 111-133). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [pdf]

Smith, E.R., & Semin, G.R. (2004) Socially situated cognition: Cognition in its social context. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 53 - 117. [pdf]

Niedenthal, P. M., Barsalou, L. W., Winkielman, P., Krauth-Gruber, S., & Ric, F. (2005). Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(3) 184-211. [pdf]

Wittenbrink, B., Park, B., & Judd, C. M. (1998). The role of stereotypic knowledge in the construal of person models. In C. Sedikides, J. Schopler and C. A. Insko (Eds.), Intergroup cognition and intergroup behavior. (pp. 177-202). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. [pdf]

Background

Ratneshwar, S., Barsalou, L. W., Pechmann, C., & Moore, M. (2001). Goal-derived categories: The role of personal and situational goals in category representations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 10(3) 147-157. [pdf]

Read, S. J., Jones, D. K., & Miller, L. C. (1990). Traits as goal-based categories: The importance of goals in the coherence of dispositional categories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1048-1061. [pdf]

Barsalou, L. W., Niedenthal, P. M., Barbey, A. K., & Ruppert, J. A. (2003). Social embodiment. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory, vol. 43. (pp. 43-92). New York, NY, US: Elsevier Science. [pdf]

Barsalou, L.W. (1991). Deriving categories to achieve goals. In G.H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 27, pp. 1-64). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. [Reprinted in A. Ram & D. Leake (Eds.), Goal-driven learning (1995, pp. 121-176). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books] [pdf]

Jan. 25: Parallel distributed processing (Connectionist) models and their relation to social perception

Read, S. J., Vanman, E. J., & Miller, L. C. (1997). Connectionism, parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and Gestalt principles: (Re)Introducing Cognitive Dynamics to Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 26-53. [pdf]

Smith, E. R. (1996). What do connectionism and social psychology offer each other? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 893-912. [pdf]

Simon, D., & Holyoak, K. J. (2002). Structural Dynamics of Cognition: From consistency theories to constraint satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 283-294. [pdf]

Read, S. J., & Monroe, B. M. (in press). Using Connectionist Networks to Understand Neurobiological Processes in Social and Personality Psychology. In E. Harmon-Jones & J. Beers (Eds.). Methods in the neurobiology of social and personality psychology. Guilford Press. [pdf]

Feb. 1: Person perception and Theory of Mind

Read, S. J. (1987). Constructing causal scenarios: A knowledge structure approach to causal reasoning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 288-302. [pdf]

Wellman, H.M. (2002). Understanding the Psychological World: Developing a Theory of Mind. In Usha Goswami (Ed.), Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development (pp. 167-187). Blackwell Publishers Ltd. (pdf).

Malle, B. F. (2005). Folk theory of mind: Conceptual foundations of human social cognition. In R. R. Hassin, J. S. Uleman and J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The new unconscious. (pp. 225-255). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press. [pdf]

Read, S. J., & Miller, L. C. (2005). Explanatory coherence and goal-based knowledge structures in making dispositional inferences. In B. Malle & S. Hodges. Other Minds. New York: Guilford Press. [pdf]

Read, S. J., & Miller, L. C. (1993). Rapist or "regular guy": Explanatory coherence in the construction of mental models of others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 524-538. [pdf]

Feb. 8: Theory of Mind 2

Stone, V.E. (2006). Theory of Mind and the Evolution of Social Intelligence. In J. Cacciopo, P. S. Visser, & C. L. Pickett (Ed.), Social Neuroscience: People Thinking About Thinking People. (pp. 103-129). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [pdf]

Leslie, A. M., Friedman, O., & German, T. P. (2004). Core mechanisms in 'theory of mind'. Trends in cognitive sciences, 8(12) 529-533. [pdf]

R. Saxe, S. Carey, and N. Kanwisher (2004). Understanding other minds: Linking Developmental Psychology and Functional Neuroimaging. Annual Review of Psychology. 55, 87–124. [pdf]

Mirror Neurons and understanding intentions

Gallese, V., Keysers, C., Rizzolatti, G. (2004). A unifying view of the basis of social cognition. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 8(9), 397-403. [pdf]

Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacs, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J. C., Rizzolatti, G. (2005). Grasping the Intentions of Others with One’s Own Mirror Neuron System. PLOS Biology, 3(3), 529-535. [pdf]

Kilner, J. M., Friston, K. J., & Frith, C. D. (2007). Predictive coding: an account of the mirror neuron system. Cognitive Processing, 8, 159–166. [pdf]

Other

Frith, U. (2001). Mind blindness and the brain in autism. Neuron, 32, 969-979. [pdf]

Friedman, O., & Leslie, A. M. (2004). Mechanisms of belief-desire reasoning: Inhibition and bias. Psychological Science, 15(8), 547-552. [pdf]

Marsella, S. C., Pynadath, D. V., & Read, S. J. (2004). PsychSim: Agent-based modeling of social interactions and influence. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive Modeling, pp. 243-248. [pdf]

Critiques of Theories of Theory of Mind

Apperly, I. A., Riggs, K. J., Simpson, A., Chiavarino, C., & Samson, D. (2006). Is belief reasoning automatic? Psychological Science, 17(10) 841-844. [pdf]

Apperly, I. A., Samson, D., & Humphreys, G. W. (2005). Domain-specificity and theory of mind: Evaluating neuropsychological evidence. Trends in cognitive sciences, 9(12) 572-577. [pdf]

Barr, D. J., & Keysar, B. (2005). Mindreading in an exotic case: The normal adult human. In B. F. Malle, S. D. Hodges (Eds.), Other minds: How humans bridge the divide between self and others. (pp. 271-283).[pdf]

Feb. 15: Social Cognitive Neuroscience

Adolphs, R. (2006). What is special about social cognition? In J. T. Cacioppo, P. S. Visser and C. L. Pickett (Eds.), Social neuroscience: People thinking about thinking people. (pp. 269-285). Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press. [pdf]

Lieberman, M. D., & Eisenberger, N. I. (. (2006). A pain by any other name (rejection, exclusion, ostracism) still hurts the same: The role of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in social and physical pain. In J. T. Cacioppo, P. S. Visser and C. L. Pickett (Eds.), Social neuroscience: People thinking about thinking people. (pp. 167-187). Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press. [pdf]

Lieberman, M. D. (2007). Social Cognitive Neuroscience: A Review of Core Processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 259-289. [pdf]

Mitchell, J. P. Mason, M. F. Macrae, C. N. & Banaji, M. R. (2006). Thinking about others: The neural substrates of social cognition. In J. T. Cacioppo, P. S. Visser and C. L. Pickett (Eds.), Social neuroscience: People thinking about thinking people. (pp. 63-82). Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press. [pdf]

Blakemore, S., Winston, J., & Frith, U. (2004). Social cognitive neuroscience: Where are we heading? Trends in cognitive sciences, 8(5) 216-222. [pdf]

Other

Frith, U., & Frith, C. (2001). The biological basis of social interaction. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(5) 151-155. [pdf]

Feb. 22: Social Cognitive Neuroscience: Evaluation and Affect

Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5304) 1293-1294. [pdf]

Phelps, E. A. (2006). Emotion and Cognition: Insights from Studies of the Human Amygdala. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 27-53. [pdf]

Cunningham, W. A., Johnson, M. K., Gatenby, J. C., Gore, J. C., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Neural components of social evaluation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(4) 639-649. [pdf]

Lerner, J. S., Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2004). Heart strings and purse strings: Carryover effects of emotions on economic decisions. Psychological Science, 15(5) 337-341. [pdf]

Shiv, B., Loewenstein, G., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. R. (2005). Investment behavior and the negative side of emotion. Psychological Science, 16(6) 435-439. [pdf]

Naqvi, N., Shiv, B., & Bechara, A. (2006). The role of emotion in decision making: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5) 260-264. [pdf]