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Prior to enrolling in courses at this language level, students must have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish at their home university in the U.S.

THE UNIVERSITY OF BELGRANO
Social Psychology

UNIT 1: What is Social Psychology?

The social psychology perspective
Historical roots of social psychology
Main methodologies and theories
Applications of the field

UNIT 2: Social Cognition

Socio-cognitive focus
Cognitive structures: categories and schemes
Categorization process and the formation of stereotypes
Processing of social information: "guided by data" vs. "guided conceptually"
Heuristic approaches to the processing of information
Attribution Theory

UNIT 3: Attitudes

Define the concept of "attitude"
Principal theories
Equilibrium Theory
Dissonance Theory
Theory of Rationalized Actions
Changes in attitude: effects of persuasive communication
Prejudices

UNIT 4: Social Identities

Theory of Social Identity
National Identity
Nationalism and national stereotypes
Positive and negative social identities
Ethnocentrism and altercentrism

UNIT 5: Social Tolerance and Authoritarianism

Social and psychological variables that impact the development of social tolerance
Authoritarian individual
Style authoritarianism vs content authoritarianism
Dogmatism as a variable of authoritarianism in general
"F" scales (Adorno) and "D" scales (Rokeach)
RWA scale (Altmeyer) and Polarity scale (Tomkins)

UNIT 6: Conformity vs. Social Influence

Social influence
Conformity and innovation
Psychology of active minorities
Phenomenon of obedience to authority

UNIT 7: Groups and Leadership

Group characteristics
Formal and informal structures
Group dynamics
Decision-making process and the phenomena of "group thinking"
Leadership phenomena
Personal characteristics of a leader
Followers and their relationship with the leader
Technical leadership vs. adaptive leadership
Visionary leader

UNIT 8: Behavior

Factors that impact social participation and behavior
From mass psychology to the new social movements
Material values

UNIT 9: Social Psychology in Action. 4 examples
9.I. Social psychology, public opinion and the media
Concept of public opinion: "super citizen" vs. "unsophisticated citizen"
Theoretical approach to the effects of the media: hypodermic model, thesis of minimal effects, two-way communication, the critical paradigm, the spiral of silence, the theory of cultural indicators.
Three functions of mass communications: Agenda-Setting, Priming and Framing
9. II. Social psychology in organizations

Concept of organizations as a "system"
Groups within organizations
Organizational leadership
Conflict within organizations

9. III. Electoral behavior

Study different analytical methods to better understand electoral behavior:

1) Sociological model used by Columbia University
2) Socio-psychological model by the University of Michigan
3) The Voter and the economic theories by Columbia University and London School of Law and Economics

Current discussions and perspectives

9.IV. International Relations

Psycho-social dimensions of international relations
Conflict and its phases
Ironic perceptions and implicit rationalities
Conflict as a constructed phenomenon: logic and discourse