Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Course can be repeated for credit. Students may not take this course for further credit if similar topics are covered. See Psychology department website for course description.

COURSE DETAILS:

Persuasion—whether it be education or propaganda—is inevitable and everywhere—at the heart of politics, social marketing, advertising, parenting, charities, negotiation, preaching, courtroom decision-making. This course is designed to introduce students to attitude and persuasion research. We will explore issues such as the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, the cognitive and motivational antecedents of attitude change, social influence, and some methodological issues such as implicit and explicit procedures.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

The primary goal of this course is to provide students with a solid understanding of theories, principles, and strategies of social influence as they apply to everyday context in which influence attempts take place. When you have completed this course, you should be able to
1. Identify persuasion attempts by individuals and organizations.
2. Understand how persuasion differs across subgroups such as gender and cultures
3. Understand the contexts in which message are produced, disseminated, and interpreted.
4. Utilize persuasion more effectively in your daily lives.
5. Cultivate critical thinking abilities, and raise important questions on ethical considerations of persuasion techniques.
6. Improve your ability to resist persuasion techniques and challenge others’ persuasion strategies.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: