Prospectus

nl en

Social and Organisational Psychology

Course
2013-2014

Description

Social psychology studies how in personal or work-related situations our thoughts, feelings and behaviour are influenced by others, and how we in turn affect others. In this course students will be introduced to the main theories and findings in this field. The underlying processes that will be discussed relate to:

  • social observation and social cognition (e.g., how do we form an impression of other people);

  • attitudes ( e.g., how do we form an opinion, and how can it be influenced);

  • behaviour in groups ( e.g., how are joint decisions made).

A good understanding of these processes helps us to gain insight into the various aspects of how people function in work situations such as:

  • personnel assessment and selection ( e.g., can we prevent stereotyping from affecting career decisions);

  • motivation and leadership ( e.g., can a manager make people feel committed to their work);

  • cooperation and team efforts ( e.g., is it possible to make the team perform better than its individual members).

Course objectives

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with general theoretical principles, and show how this theoretical knowledge can be applied to gain a better understanding of people’s behaviour in organizations. Students will gain an overview and understanding of theories and research in the area of social and organisational psychology. In the work group sessions, students will practice in relating daily life observations to theory. Assignments and presentations will be graded and will be combined with the score on the examination to determine the final grade.

Timetable

Social and Organisational Psychology (2013-2014):

Registration

Course

First-year students will automatically be registered for the course.

Examination

Students will not be automatically enrolled for an examination — they can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date. Students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination.

Mode of instruction

14 two-hour lectures + 4 two-hour work group sessions

Assessment

Written examination with multiple-choice questions.
Presentations and assignments in work group sessions

For each first-year course, the final grade will be a weighted average of the examination grade (70%) and grade for the Work Group Assignments ( 30%). Both grades (also if they are not sufficient) will be listed in USIS, and will not be rounded off. A partial grade of 5.50 is possible.
Compensation of partial grades: A partial grade must be at least 5.0 to be compensated by the higher second grade.

The final grade is rounded to whole and half numbers, except for the 5.50.
For the final grade to be a 5.00 or a 6.00, rounding off rules are:
≥ 4.75 and <5.50 is rounded to 5.00,
≥ 5:50 and <6:25 is rounded to 6:00

Blackboard

Course information on Blackboard includes lecture slides, additional/related course material, and exam practice questions.

Reading

  • George, J.M., & Jones, G.R. (2012). Understanding and managing organizational behaviour, Global Edition (6th edition). Pearson.

  • Baron, R.A., Branscombe, N.R. (2012). Social Psychology, New International edition (13th edition), Pearson.

  • Both books will also be available as a package (with reduction), with ISBN number: 9781447972433.

If you are a member of the study association Labyrint you may purchase books at a reduced price via their study book service. Alternatively there are the academic book shops.

Contact