Social Psychology Taught by a Counseling and Pastoral Psychologist

Besides practicing counseling psychology and pastoral ministry, I love teaching - not only theological topics but also various psychological topics. In fact, I am very passionate about teaching on interdisciplinary issues involve both in psychology and theology in cross-cultural context. So, I have created a syllabus to show how I would teach social psychology to students aspiring to practice servant leadership in today's global community, drawing upon my unique clinical background. 

The area of psychology I specialize is actually counseling psychology. However, as a CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs) , the graduate counseling program I graduated from requires to have a strong background in undergraduate social psychology. The curriculum contains cultural psychology and personality psychology, which are more specialized areas of social psychology. 

As I was preparing for the syllabus that you can view below, I found "Psychology and Culture" Thinking, Feeling and Behaving in a Global Context" by Lisa M. Vaughn (2010) to be a very suitable main text to base my course on. The fact that Vaughn's background is not only in social psychology but also in mental health counseling really makes her book stands out in drawing my interest. 

As Vaughn shows in her book, I also show how counseling psychology and social psychology can be integrated to address various human concerns in today's postmodernistic multicultural global community. 

Social Psychology

PSY XXX

XXX Term 2015

Time: XXX

Instructor: Masafumi F. Nakata, MA, MAPS, NMHC

Office Hours: XXX and by appointment

Contact:  Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX   Fax:  XXX-XXX-XXXX  Email: XXXXXX

  

Overview:

This course will introduce you to basic concepts and principles, as well as a research methodology, of social psychology, drawing also upon sociology and cultural anthropology, to foster your competence for promoting peace and harmony in today’s global dynamic context. Through this course, you are expected to examine the introduced concepts and principles with your own critical thinking. Then, you are to demonstrate your abilities to apply the concepts and principles you learn from this course to address critical issues and to solve problems of our multi-national, multi-ethnic, and multicultural global community.

Whether a global community or a local community, such as your own neighborhood and this university community, a community is consisted of humans in its communal culture.  And humans are relational beings. Therefore, human relationships are building blocks of any community.

Each community has its own unique culture. Beneath the culture, there are multiple subcultures. As communities interact with each other, communities become multicultural. Thus, there is a very complex dynamics with an each culturally diverse community.

Interactions of cultures are becoming more frequent than ever as the world is shrinking with recent technological advances. As this phenomena goes on, there are certainly some frictions leading to conflicts. And there is a critical need for managing the frictions and resolving the conflicts. This is the multicultural complexly dynamic global community we all are in.

Through this course, you will develop psychological insights of such a global community and how we can sustain peace and harmony of the global community we make of through the webs of dynamic multicultural relationships.

Vision of This Course:

You will be a compassionate and competent leader of today’s postmodernistic complexly dynamic multicultural global community for the sustenance of peace and harmony. You will lead a meaningful professional and personal life through this leadership role you play in the global community.

Course Objectives:

1. Gain operative understanding of key social psychological concepts and methodologies
2. Develop critical thinking abilities in critiquing social psychological concepts and methodologies
3. Demonstrate the abilities to locate, systematically organize, analyze, integrate, and critically apply concepts and theories of social psychology to address real issues in today’s global community
4. Demonstrate effective cross-cultural communication, negotiation and conflict mediation skills applicable in the global context

By the end of the course you will to define, describe, apply, and critique at least the following important topics to meet the above objectives:

1. Pros and cons of Western reductionistic modern psychology and non-Western indigenous psychologies in their applicability to today’s post-modernistic global multicultural context.
2. Culture and its factors (i.e. Socioeconomic status, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc.)
3. Social research methods (Qantitative vs. Qualitative; Validity and Reliability, Measurement Bias) – their strengths and weakness
4. Social cognition, perception, attitude, behavior and personality – Their interrelatedness
5. Social adjustment and maladjustment, and their relevance to stress
6. The self and its reciprocally dynamic relationship to culture
7. Group processes and group dynamics, including conformity and exclusion
8. Interpersonal attraction and persuasion, exclusion
9. Prosocial behavior and antisocial behaviors, aggression, stress and anxiety
10. Prejudice, discrimination, and oppression
11. Cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural empathy and compassion
12. Conflict – its origin, development, and solution – in interpersonal relations, in group, in organization, and in culture

Required Texts:

Landis, D., Bennett, J. M., and Bennett, M. J. (eds.) (2004). Handbook of Intercultural Training, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Segall,M.H., Dasen P, R., Berry J. W., and Poortinga, Y. H. (eds.)(1999). Human  Behavior in Global Perspective: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology, Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon

Vaughn, L. M. (2010). Psychology and Culture: Thinking, Feeling and Behaving in a Global Context, Sussex, England: Psychology Press

Cohen, A. B. (2011). Religion and Culture. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 4(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1108    

Vail,  K.E. 3rd, Rothschild,  Z.K., Weise,  D.R., Solomon,  S., Pyszczynski, .T, & Greenberg,  J. (2009). A terror management analysis and the psychological functions of religion, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 101(6), 1278-1290

*The instructor will distribute supplemental materials in class as necessary.

Assignments and Examination:

To cultivate and evaluate your critical thinking and integrative thinking, as well as to prepare you to apply your learning into the real global context, this course will not administer knowledge-based quizzes and exams. Instead, this course will require you to write 3 reflection papers and to perform 1 in-class research project presentation.  The in-class research project presentation is this courses final exam Therefore, I do not want you to worry about “clamming” and “memorizing”. Rather, I want you to focus on locating important information in the material, analyzing the information, synthesizing or reorganizing the information as it make sense to you and your need, and communicating your understanding of the information you located and synthesized, especially, how you will apply it to address issues of today’s global community. 

Reflection Papers:

In this course, there are 3 reflection papers to submit and to be evaluated. In these papers, you demonstrate what you understand from your readings, my lectures, and class discussions. In addition, you also write how your understanding can help you address issues of today’s global community.

Suggested format:

Part I – Your understanding from readings, lectures, and class discussions.

The way you have located the information. The way you critique the information, based on your critical thinking and understanding of social psychology concepts and methodology.

Part II - The way you apply the information you critically examined to address certain global issues you are interested in or are concerned.

These papers must be double-spaced and type-written, with a minimum font size 11.

Research Project:

There is one research project. You will write a research paper on a global issue or issues you would like to address in the blow format.

I.                    Description of a global issue or issues you choose to examine and address in your research project

II.                 A reason or reasons you choose this topic or these topics

III.               Description of your research hypothesis (hypotheses) and your way of examining the hypothesis (hypotheses)

IV.              Logical justification of your choice of the social psychology concepts, theories, and methodologies to analyze and address the topic or topics through the  examination of the hypothesis (hypotheses)

V.                 Results of your analysis

VI.              Description of your conclusion and application of your research to address the issue (issues) you choose

On the last day of this course, you will conduct an in-class presentation. You summarize your research project for a 5-minute power-point presentation. You will also conduct 5-minute Q & A session.

Please discuss your topic to ensure that it is relevant to the content of this course. If your topic for this research project is not pertinent to this course, you cannot receive a grade from this assignment and may result in receiving an F grade.

I will be happy to discuss with you on your research project as you work on it for guidance and consultation.

Format of Course Instruction:

Lecture, In-class small group discussions, Reflection Papers, Research Project and its in-class presentation.

Student Evaluation:

Attendance and In-Class Participation (discussions) – 100 pts.

*Excusable absence from the class will not penalize this.

*It is very important that you demonstrate your active engagement in class through in-class discussions. However, it does not necessarily mean that you can dominate the discussion. You must speak coherently of topics of the class or relevant to the topics discussed in the class. It is also important that you demonstrate your abilities to listen to others and their perspectives through the in-class discussions.

Reflection Papers (integrating reading material, lecture and in-class discussion) – 100pts x 3 = 300 pts.

In-class presentation of your research project (Final Exam) – 200 pts

Total: 600 pts.

Grading Scheme:

A – 90% and above

B -  80-89.9%

C – 70-79.9%

D – 60-69.9%

F – 59.9% and below

*No curving. This means that I do not assign grades according to a statistical distribution curve (i.e. normal distribution curve or ‘bell shape curve”).  Thus, grading is not of a relative value but of an absolute value.

*Special accommodations can be arranged for students with special needs. Discuss this matter with the Student Service and me in advance to ensure that your special needs are fully addressed with the available resources.  

*If you have to miss a class, it is your responsibility to cover the material. I am happy to meet with you to discuss with you on the class you have to miss (or have missed).

Course Schedule:

	Topic	Text	Note and Due
Lecture 1	Identity and Culture	Vaughn  pp.2-43
Lecture 2	Cross-Cultural Research	Segall et al. pp. 25-52
Lecture 3	Human development, socialization, and culture	Vaughn  pp.46-73	Focus on cultivation of resilience
Lecture 4	Basic psychological process (perception and cognition) and culture	Vaughn  pp.76-91 Segall et al. pp,94-125; 171-197
Lecture 5	Intercultural interaction and acculturation	Vaughn  pp.94-109 Segall et al. pp.299-323
Lecture 6	Relationship, sexuality, gender, and culture	Vaughn  pp.112-131 Segall et al. pp.227-249	*Reflection Paper 1 due
Lecture 7	Health, health care and culture	Vaughn  pp.134-160	Cross-cultural and transcultural adaptation and maladoptation – solution for maladoptation issues
Lecture 8	Intercultural communication and education	Vaughn  pp.162-181 Segall et al. pp.53-93
Lecture 9	Religion, spirituality, and culture	Cohen, “Religion and Culture” (article) and Vail et al. “A terror management analysis and the psychological functions of religion”(article)
Lecture 10	Work, organization, and culture	Vaughn  pp.184-200
Lecture 11	Culture and Aggression	Segall et al. pp.250-272	*Reflection Paper 2 due
Lecture 12	Cross-cultural conflict and its resolution	Segall et al. pp. 273-298 Landis et al. pp.217-248	Conflict Face-Negotiation Theory (Ting-Toomy, 1985)
Lecture 13	Intercultural Sensitivity Development	Landis et al. pp.147-184
Lecture 14	Managing and resolving intercultural conflict	Landis et al. pp217-265
Final Exam	In-class presentation of your research project (10 min) and Q&A session (5 min)		*Reflection Paper 3 due

*Note – The schedule is subject to change. In case there is a change, you will be notified in advance.