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Course Overview
The 9.70 Learning Process
"Science Walks on Two Legs": Social Psychology in Theory and Practice
Two Complementary Approaches to Studying Social Psychology
Collaborative Learning System
Subsystems
Study Groups
Study Group Minutes
Facilitation
Formative and Summative Evaluation
Timesheet
Journal
Requirements and Criteria for Successful Completion of the Class
Class Materials
Required Text
Additional Readings and Viewings

The full syllabus contains, in a single document, a detailed description of each of the class sessions, the reading and writing assignments, and the class notes. (PDF)

In this course we learn social psychology both theoretically and practically. We examine interpersonal and group dynamics, and explore how the thoughts, feelings and actions of individuals are influenced by (and influence) the beliefs, values and practices of large and small groups. We experience the social interactions and personal reactions in the real social situations of the class. The reading and video assignments afford the theoretical framework for understanding these experiences and putting them into a broader perspective. The class has a discussion and group work format, and it develops as a learning system at three levels: the individual, the study group and the class as a whole.

We will pursue a scientific understanding of social psychological beliefs, values and practices in two complementary ways: Our textbook and other materials will provide the topical framework for the course; our participation in the 9.70 learning process itself will provide a real social situation in which to apply the theories of social psychology.

9.70 in not a "lecture" class. Those "taking" the class are expected to play active roles in the process of its the organization and development into an effective learning system.

Why will we be using the class itself as a focus? Because it is the one social system we all share in common, and because many features of social systems are generic. Accordingly, many issues and crises that will arise for us in the class will be common to the organization and development of other human social systems as well.

You should therefore expect learnable knowledge and skills acquired through your 9.70 learning experience to be valuable in your future personal and social endeavors, both academic and professional.

Your 9.70 learning experience will expose you to social-psychological beliefs, values and practices associated with two different scientific "paradigms." The first - the modern scientific paradigm - is exemplified in and espoused by the textbook. The second paradigm - a systemic, contextual, action-research, or human-ecological perspective - will be introduced and advocated by the instructors.

You will have a chance to compare these two approaches as we explore them sequentially in the second and third class sessions. It is important to emphasize that we do not regard the two paradigms as separate or contradictory. Neither is wholly sufficient and the use of both is necessary to provide a scientifically credible understanding of the subject before us.

The class develops as a Collaborative Learning System at three levels: the individual, the study group, and the class as a whole. The structure and functions of the learning system are defined in the process of its own organization and development.

Everybody entering into the present situation (or "setting") brings his/her own uniquely individual background, formative experiences and points of view. This "mental set" includes a full complement of personal and social (academic, professional, scientific, pedagogical, etc.) assumptions, intentions, interests and attitudes.

How can people with so many different perspectives and backgrounds join together to form a community of inquiry in an MIT class? We do not underestimate the difficulty of creating a Collaborative Learning System here. Given some of the "default assumptions" about what a class should be, we have many barriers to overcome. But our longtime experience teaches us that it can be done - and done well - if we all make a serious effort to overcome our own prejudices and learn to trust each other, to value the learning process, to encourage personal initiative and to reinforce social responsibility, while rejecting cynicism, freeloading, deception, and cheating.

This is tantamount to organizing ourselves, however provisionally, into an actual scientific community or a "consensual domain". Within such a setting, one ultimate objective is for "meaning" and "power" to be equitably shared. For example, it is important for everyone participating in such a community explicitly accepts it as a "default assumption" that all observations/interpretations made by members are equally valid and deserving of serious consideration unless explicitly called into question or shown to be false or invalid.

Because 9.70 is a collaborative learning process, we are all individually and collectively responsible for devising and implementing a mode of self-organization that includes an equitable division of roles and responsibilities.

You have responsibility to participate actively in making the Collaborative Learning System work; it is not only up to the instructors to tell you what to do and you are not expected to merely comply with instructions without understanding and taking responsibility for your own behavior.

Constituent parts of the 9.70 collaborative learning system:

• Individual students
  • Study groups
    
• Individual instructors
  • Instructional subsystem
    
• Class as a whole

These exist in the larger contexts (levels of interaction) including (but are not limited to) the B&CS department, student community as a whole, the Institute as a whole, the local community (Cambridge / Boston), larger social (e.g. geopolitical) and natural (bioregional) levels etc...

Thus, while the main goal of the 9.70 learning system is the development and maintenance of sustainable collaborative relations on individual, study group and whole class levels, we must also be mindful of influences arising from other levels as well.

The class will be divided randomly into Study Groups. This approach is required because of participants' different backgrounds, preconceptions and expectations. The randomization also neutralizes the influence of "invisible loyalties." Everybody ends up in a group that is formed in the same way, and everyone and all groups are put on a "level playing field."

See also the handout "Working Groups".

Study groups meet independently to work and study together. The workload includes a study group commitment of two hours of collaborative work each week. With class meetings, that adds up to at least five contact hours per week.

The time and place of study group meetings should be agreed upon among the members. However certain scheduling constraints apply (see below in Study group Minutes).

Bear in mind that you are supposed to be meeting as a study group. Schedule and attend regular meetings at times and in places where interruptions and distractions won't impair your ability to concentrate and to listen and talk with each other. Avoid "floating" from one meeting place / time to another.

The group should conscientiously negotiate, devise, and implement an equitable way of working together, establishing an open and effective way for members to give and get feedback. Strive for a fair division of labor and a workable system of checks and balances to enhance the quality of the collaborative learning on all levels (individual, study group, and whole-class).

Each week, each study group is responsible for preparing a brief (1-2 page) collaborative paper - a "study group minutes." (PDF)

The first three class sessions will be led / facilitated by the instructors. From the fourth session onward, study groups will take over. Each study group in turn will share the power and responsibility of facilitating the class. By the end of the term, all individuals and each study group will have had an opportunity to facilitate the learning process.

The "demand characteristics" of this leadership role will vary predictably in accordance with topical shifts in the syllabus. Unpredictable changes in the task should also be expected as substantive and procedural issues arise at individual, study group and whole class levels of organization and development.

The facilitating study group will work with the class and with the instructors to define and to deal with arising issues in the collaborative learning process. The instructor(s) will forward copies of each study group minutes, with comments to the facilitating group of the week whose members will already be well-along in the process of planning the next day's class. The facilitating group of the week will carefully read all this material and incorporate relevant points into their class agenda. In addition to the agenda, the facilitating group will also prepare two summary overviews and evaluations of:

1. The last week's class,
2. The form and content of the submitted minutes.

As soon as possible after completion, copies of the foregoing - together with the proposed agenda - should be forwarded to all study groups (in time to allow them to be read and digested before the upcoming class). As a backup, hard copies should be printed out, and made available in class.

Conventional grading practices call for the instructors to evaluate the performance of students on an individual basis. The nature of the subject, and the size and organization of the class make such a grading system wholly inappropriate here. Of course, the instructors will actively participate in the grading process, and the instructor-in-charge will be responsible for endorsing the grade that appears next to your name on the official grade sheet at the end of the term. But please do not expect that grade to reflect merely or even mainly the instructors' own personal assessment of the quality of your own individual work in 9.70.

It is essential to emphasize that in the context of the 9.70 Collaborative Learning Process, we have to perceive and practice evaluation as a continuous and collaborative process which reflects and is based on the three constituent levels of the System: individual students, study groups and the class as a whole.

The organization and development the 9.70 Collaborative Learning System will proceed through a number of stages or phases (see Developmental Stages handout). Formative and summative evaluation processes will be relied upon to both guide our progress and to assess our effectiveness in negotiating our way through the relevant developmental phases (e.g. in particular, the basic trust issue, and the transition from group to class coherence/cooperation).

Learning formative and summative evaluations of individual and group performance in collaborative social situations is an important social-psychological skill, and it will have practical application in connection with the "ultimate" in classroom evaluation routines: "grades and grading."

Your final letter grade will be the result of the successful evaluation process - at the very end.

In 9.70, we have tools for the formative and summative evaluation process at all the three levels of its organization:

• At the individual student level:
  • Timesheet (see below)
  • Journal (see below);
• At the study group level:
  • Minutes (see Study Group Minutes)
• At the class as a whole level:
  • Parts of class sessions should be devoted to process evaluation

This is intended to assist in Formative and Summative Evaluation of your 9.70 learning experience.

Use it to comment on meetings and assignments, and to keep track of the time and effort you devote to your performance in this class. This information is to be exchanged and acknowledged within the study group by all members. Experience teaches us that students in this class need to learn to give and take constructive feedback and this means keeping track of the quantity and quality of your participation in real time (or soon thereafter).

Note: In the event of disagreements relating to final grades (e.g. between self-assessments and peer-evaluations) we may find ourselves forced to ask to examine the contents of your Timesheets and Journals.

As the process of development must be tracked, everyone is expected to keep a journal. Approach this task with the stance of a serious researcher - e.g. a member of an expedition keeping a field notebook. Honesty, accuracy and diligence count! Be faithful in making regular and relevant entries. Use your Journal to record (and thereby to explore) your own thoughts and feelings about any aspect of 9.70 as well as any other topics of social psychological interest.

It would be easy enough for us to simply require you to make your written work available for periodic or on-demand inspection. But that would be pedagogically selfdefeating. What we will do, however, is to ask you to keep your journal with you at all times. In addition, you should be prepared to show (without disclosure of the contents in detail) that it is being well-used for the purposes already outlined.

Summing up what is presented above in detail, we can list the requirements and criteria as follows:

• Success at all the three levels:
  • If not achieved at class level, excellence of performance cannot be achieved at group level
  • If not achieved at group level, it cannot be achieved at individual level
    
    
• Success does not show only at the end; as a process it involves:
  • Reading and viewing assignments; discussions
  • Active participation - at group level; at class level
  • Continuous collaborative evaluation (as explained above)
  • Study group minutes (as explained above)
  • Facilitation preparation and process (as explained above)
    
    
• Successful completion includes:
  • Completed term project(s)
  • Completed summative evaluation

Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publications, 2003, p. 431. ISBN: 0716759667. (Hereafter, SA).

SA is a book about the psychology of human interaction, written from the personal and social (e.g. academic and professional) point of view of an acknowledged authority on the experimental study of social psychology.

Topic by topic, Aronson will lead us through the scientific literature relating to the dynamics of social influence in a wide range of both routine and problematical situations and provide us with some theoretically sound and practically useful answers to questions of a kind that most of us will keep on asking about ourselves and other people throughout our lives. Pertinently, this update of SA integrates relevant developments since the 8th edition (1999) including the tragedy at Columbine, (see also Aronson's "Nobody Left to Hate") and the terrifying mass murders/suicides of 9-11-01.

Professor Aronson will introduce us to some key substantive, procedural and ethical issues in experimental social psychology and take us on an up-to-date tour of its large and varied literature.

All readings and viewings should be completed before you meet with groupmates to discuss the week's assignments and other matters.

Comprehension is key! Read texts and watch films carefully, attentively and conscientiously. To maximize comprehensibility, it is important that the order of assignments be followed as listed, and sometimes you may find it necessary to read or watch more than once. The acquisition of learnable knowledge is a cumulative process. If, after giving the material the most careful and sustained consideration of which you are capable, you still "don't get it," then discuss it with your groupmates and/or bring it to the attention of the class and the instructors.

As you do the readings and watch the films, focus on the social-psychological significance of the issues being raised and their meaning in the context of your 9.70 learning experience. Consider both the media and the messages. Don't be surprised or unduly put off by the fact that some of the imagery is dated and the video itself is of low audiovisual quality. Furthermore, the people and situations portrayed may look strange - they may sport passé haircuts and outmoded dress styles. Don't let that distract you from your main task.

In the past, many 9.70 students reported finding some of the assigned readings and videos mildly (and sometimes powerfully) disturbing. How do you generally deal with information that makes you feel uncomfortable? You may experience feelings of disbelief, revulsion, or alienation that make it difficult for you to cognitively and affectively "take in" the information. If this happens, please understand that your reactions are natural and normal. All of us are inclined to distance ourselves from unpleasant information and prefer to avoid situations in which we find the behavior (and thoughts and feelings) of others to be intellectually and emotionally disturbing. This tendency - a common defense mechanism in psychological parlance - is worth paying attention to in itself. Nevertheless, endeavor to overcome this tendency, lest it impede your understanding of the material.