School of Communication
Communication & Social Psychology 63-008-18
Lecturer: Dr. Kim P. Hershorn
Course Type: Mandatory Year: First Credit hours: annual credit (one semester, 2 hours) – Fall 2013
Lecturer Details: Time: Tuesday, 1st Semester 12:00-14:00. Office Hours: Tuesday, 14:00-15:00. Office: Building 109, Room 3 Office phone: 03-7384317 Email: [email protected]
McLuhan said that communications media are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, or unaltered. But like fish in water, we are mostly unaware of the environment we are so immersed in.
A. Course Objectives This course aims to foster critical thinking about constructions of identity and reality; and awareness of how we see and interact with our cultural environment, ourselves, others and life in general. Salient themes in communications studies will be used to investigate key concepts in social psychology. By studying representation, advertising, propaganda and public relations, for example, students will learn about the dynamics of self and other, conformity and rebellion, power and persuasion. Although much of this literature draws attention to the deleterious effects of consumer culture, the course concludes with an introduction to the solutions-based approach of positive psychology. Students are challenged to become conscious “agents”, affecting their own lives and the world.
B. Course Requirements Attendance & Active Participation are important. Get into it & let me know what inspires you. Required Reading: See list below. Powerpoint presentations with video clips & images will be posted on our Moodle site. Paper/Project: Traditional essay 8-10 pages, or creative project. Put your theories into practice or try out innovative methods of inquiry. Final Exam: Integrative essay questions. Synthesize readings, lectures and class discussions. (Closed book)
C. Final Grade Apportionment: Attendance and Participation: 10%. Paper/Project Proposal 5% (Due at midterm). Final exam: 45%.
1 Paper: 40%. (Due second to last class). To pass the course, a minimal grade of 60% is required in each.
D. The Course Program and Readings *supplemental readings are marked with an asterix.
Sessions 1-3. Intro: The Self & The Cultural Environment Concepts: Socialization, Constructionism, Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Reproduction, Media Effects, Agency
*Smith, Eliot R. And Diane M. Mackie. “What is Social Psychology?” Social Psychology: Third Edition. London: Psychology Press, 2007. 302 SMI s3 (1142518)
Smith & Mackie ) Chpt. 4: “Constructing the self-concept: What we know about ourselves.” 96–10, 2007. 302 SMI s3 (1142518)
Buckingham, David. “A Life Lived in Media.” Digital Humanities Quarterly. 2012 6-1, 1-17 http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/1/000110/000110.html
Drutman, Lee. “'The Dumbest Generation' by Mark Bauerlein” The LA Times. 25 July 2008. 30 April 2013.
Video: “Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier.” Frontline. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/
Sessions 4-5. Labels, Shadows & Being in Control (The Self & the Other) Concepts: “Othering”, Representation, Power, Orientalism, Views of Nature
Smith & Mackie Chpt 6: “Me, You, and Them: Effects of Social Categorization.” 194–209. 2007. 302 SMI s3 (1142518)
“Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: What is the "Shadow"? Understanding the "dark side" of our psyche” Psychology Today, 30 April 2013.
Sardar, Ziauddin and Borin Van Loon. Cultural Studies for Beginners. London: Penguin Books, 1997. 3-7, 12-13, 160-165 N/A
*Hazen, Don and Julie Winokur, eds. “Representation and Distortion” We the Media: A Citizen’s Guide to Fighting for Media Democracy. New York: The New Press, 1997. 109-130 N/A
Parenti, Michael. “The Make-Believe Media: Media Images Influence How We Appraise a Host of Social Realities.” In Mass Media 95/96. Ed. Joan Gorham. Connecticut: Dushkin. 194-196. N/A
Video: “Edward Said On Orientalism”. Media Education Foundation. MEF.
*Scull, John. “The Separation from More-than-Human Nature.” 30 April 2013. http://members.shaw.ca/jscull/separate.htm
Sessions 6-8. Consumer Culture: Attitudes in the Age of Persuasion Topics: Advertising, Branding, PR, the citizen-consumer; Greenwashing
2 Smith & Mackie, Chpt. 7: Attitudes and Attitude Change 229–267, Chpt. 8: Changing Attitudes with Actions 270–289 302 SMI s3 (1142518)
McChesney, Robert. “Policing the Thinkable.” 23 October 2001. 15 April 2013.
Canadian Association of Journalists. “Advertisers Influence News.” 25 July 2006. No no longer retrievable.
Kilbourne, Jean. “In Your Face…All Over the Place: Advertising is our Environment.” Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. New York: Touchstone, 1999. 57-75 N/A
Klein, Naomi. Short excerpt from Chpt 1 “New Branded World”. No Logo. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2000. 22-26 303.484 KLE n (1189083)
*Beder, Sharon. "Manipulating Public Knowledge." Metascience. March 1998. 7-1. 132-40. 5 August 2008. ejournal (452877)
Moynihan, Ray Excerpt from: Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us into Patients. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2005. vii-xx N/A
Woods, Randy. “'Mad Men' Revisited: The Growth of Consumer Psychology.” All Psychology Schools. 25 April 2013.
Video: Adam Curtis. Century of Self. 2002. BBC 4 UK.
Sessions 9-10. Being Yourself, Conformity & Rebellion Smith & Mackie: Chpt. 9: “Conformity to Social Norms” 309–314 & “Groups, Norms, and Conformity” 306–349; Chapter 10: “The norm of obedience: Submitting to authority”, 369–379, “Rebellion and Resistance: Fighting Back” 379–384. 2007. 302 SMI s3 (1142518)
Kashtan, Miki. “Our Habitual Responses to Authority: Submission May Be So Ingrained in Us That We Are Not Powerful When We Can Be.” Psychology Today. 12 August 2012. 25 April 2013.
Dewer, Gwen. “The Curse of the Herd: What does it Mean to Grow up in a Society That Permits no Strays?” Psychology Today. 6 Jan 2013. 25 April 2013.
Shpancer, Noam. “You are a Conformist (that is, you are human): Recognize that Conformity is Inevitable and Avoid its Pitfalls.” Psychology Today. 5 Dec 2010. 25 April 2013.
Sessions 11-12. Cultures of Caring and Peace Topics: Peace Journalism, Human Needs, Compassionate Communication Positive Psychology, Well-being Research
3 Lynch, Jake and Annabel McGoldrick. “Peace Journalism: A Global Dialog for Democracy and Democratic Media.” Democratizing Global Media: One World, Many Struggles. Eds. Robert A. Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 269-288.
Marks, Nic. “Think before you Think.” Positive Psychology as Social Change. New York: Springer, 2011. N/A
Staub, Ervin. “Notes on Cultures of Violence, Cultures of Caring and Peace, and the Fulfillment of Basic Human Needs.” Political Psychology. 24-1, 2003. 30 April 2013 < http://peaceprospects.com/Staub%20-%20notes%20on%20cultures%20of%20violence, %20cultures%20of%20caring%20and%20cultures%20of%20peace%20and%20the%20basics %20of%20human%20needs%20.pdf>
*Roddick, Anita. “What if the Media Were Required to be Kind?” A Revolution in Kindness. West Sussex, England: Anita Roddick Books, 2003. 92-115. N/A
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