Prospectus

nl en

Improving Intergroup Perceptions

Course
2020-2021

Important Note

  • All Semester II bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester II courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

Entry requirements

Only open to MSc Psychology (research) students

Description

Inter-group conflict is to an important extent rooted in the way people perceive the social world: Stereotypes and group-cues color judgements about in-group and out-group members. Thus, a logical way to improve inter-group relations is to change inter-group perceptions.
In the current course we discuss state-of-the-art cognitive and neuroscientific research on social categorization, inter-group bias, stereotypes, and prejudice, and evaluate how this work can provide a starting points for designing interventions for inter-group conflict.
More specifically, the course consists of two parts. In the first part we discuss basic research on social perception. Students present research and learn to write professional reviews of research articles. In the second part we discuss different intervention methods, based on for example inter-group contact or altering social categorization. Students learn to apply these insights to a self-chosen problem in the context of inter-group relations. The final paper combines the two learning goals of first critically reviewing and synthesizing basic research findings and then applying these in developing an intervention strategy.

Course objectives

During the course, students:
1. Learn about the psychology of bias in inter-group perceptions, and ways to reduce these
2. Learn to look critically at research, and write professional review reports
3. Learn to apply theory and research to interventions for inter-group conflict

Together, the current course prepares for both a career-path within as well as outside academia (e.g. in social policy).

Timetable

For the timetables of your lectures, work groups and exams, please select your study programme in: Psychology timetables

Lectures

Registration

Course

Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions. Master’s course registration

Mode of instruction

7 2-hour work group sessions (attendance of all sessions is mandatory).

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Assessment method

The final grade is based on:

  • organization of a seminar (30%; objective 1, 2)

  • four review reports and two policy-recommendation reports (30%, objective 1, 2)

  • an extensive policy recommendation report (30%, objective 1, 2)

The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Readings list

Selection of scientific articles, e.g.,

Amodio, D. M. (2014). The neuroscience of prejudice and stereotyping. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15, 670-682.
Dovidio, J., F., Love, A., Schellhaas, F., M., H., & Hewstone, M. (2017). Reducing intergroup bias through intergroup contact: Twenty years of progress and future directions. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 20, 606-620.
Kawakami, K., Amodio, D. M., & Hugenberg, K. (2017). Intergroup perception and cognition: An integrative framework for understanding the causes and consequences of social categorization. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 1-80.
Moss-Racusin C. A., Van der Toorn J., Dovidio J.F., Brescoll V. F., Graham M. J., & Handelsman, J. (2014), Scientific diversity interventions, Science, 343, 615-616.

Contact information

Dr. Daan Scheepers scheepersdt@fsw.leidenuniv.nl