PSY1008 Social psychology

    • Course code
      PSY1008
    • Number of credits
      10
    • Teaching semester
      2025 Autumn
    • Language of instruction
      English
    • Campus
      Lillehammer
    • Required prerequisite knowledge

      None.

Course content

The course covers the following key areas, theories, and core concepts:

  • Humans as social and societal beings: Pro-social and anti-social behavior, altruism, and aggression
  • Human social relationships: Social identity and communication
  • Social cognition: Understanding social situations, perception and interpretation of others, attitudes, attribution, stereotypes, prejudice, and intolerance
  • Social influence: Power and authority; socialization, societal and social organization, and institutionalization; group processes, conformity, and obedience
  • The biological foundations of sociability: Evolutionary psychology and developmental perspectives

Learning Outcome

Upon completion of the course, students will achieve the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student

  • demonstrates knowledge of social psychological explanations for social topics such as personal identity, social identity, group processes, social cognition, and persuasion
  • understands the scientific evaluation of various research methods and findings within social psychology
  • possesses knowledge of social psychological research methods and their applications
  • evaluates the ethical implications of conclusions drawn from social psychological research
Skills

The student

  • can apply theories within social psychology to understand and explain social phenomena and practical examples from real life
  • is capable of conducting research on social psychological topics
  • can write an independent academic assignment that integrates concepts, empirical findings, and theories from the curriculum to address a specific problem
  • is able to collect, process, and present data while linking it to relevant theories
  • can evaluate and provide feedback on others' assignments
  • is capable of planning and conducting a small research project
General competence

The student

  • possesses fundamental knowledge of key traditions within social psychology, can discuss their strengths, and critically evaluate them
  • is able to communicate key subject matter effectively in both written and oral forms
  • can reflect on ethical issues related to experimental research
Teaching and working methods

Lectures, seminars, group work, and assignments.

Required coursework

Participation in mandatory seminars, along with the submission of written work or an oral presentation, graded on a pass/fail basis.

Further details regarding content and scope will be provided by the course convenor at the beginning of the course.

Assessments
Form of assessmentGrading scaleGroupingDuration of assessmentSupport materialsProportionComment
Written examination with invigilation
ECTS - A-F
Individual
4 Hour(s)
  • No support materials
Form of assessment

Written individual examination with invigilation, 4 hours.

Support materials: none allowed.

Professional overlap
NameCreditsDateComment
PSY1015 Sosialpsykologi
10

Reading list

Course name in Norwegian Nynorsk: 
Sosialpsykologi
Course name in Norwegian Bokmål: 
Sosialpsykologi
Faculty
Inland School of Business and Social Sciences
Department
Department of Psychology
Area of study
Psykologi
Programme of study
Bachelor of psychology
Course level
Foundation courses, level I (100-LN)