Social Psychology Specialization

(in the PSP Program)

Students choosing the social psychology specialization gain knowledge and hands-on experience interpreting, designing, and conducting experimental and descriptive research to answer important questions about the nature of social behavior. Several faculty in this specialization emphasize experimental social methods and borrow from theories and methods in cognitive and decision-making science.

Students choosing the social psychology specialization have opportunities to study a broad range of topics with area faculty. These topics include social comparison, self-evaluation, and judgment processes (Professors Suls and Windschitl), judgment and decision making under uncertainty (Professors Levin and Windschitl), vulnerability, risk perception, and protective action (Professors Suls and Windschitl), attitudes and group behavior (Professor Baron), and close relationships (Professors Harvey, Klohnen, and Lawrence).

Interested students also can draw on the expertise of Iowa faculty in other departments (including Sociology, Management and Organizations, Marketing, and Psychological and Quantitative Foundations) who are actively engaged in social psychological research. A list of relevant faculty appears at the bottom of this webpage.

Examples of the topics of current projects involving faculty and students:
---egocentrism in people's social comparative judgments and optimism
---how desires for an outcome influence optimism about the outcome
---the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem
---factors associated with rumor transmission
---opinion formation: differences between beliefs and preferences
---development of decision making competence
---children of divorce / coping with the death of a parent

Course Requirements

PSP students choosing the social psychology specialization must meet all of the course requirements specified by the Psychology Department and PSP Program. The full set of official requirements can be found in the Department's Graduate Student Handbook. As is the case for all PSP students, students in the social psychology specialization must complete the following:
---PSP Seminar (1 credit) each semester
---5 area courses
---3 breadth courses
---3 statistics courses

Course Recommendations and Options

The Handbook describes some flexibility regarding the courses that students can select to fulfill their area, breadth, and statistics requirements. Below are some options/recommendations that are relevant to students in the social psychology specialization.

Within the PSP Program, there are several courses that are excellent options for students with a social psychology specialization. For example, each of the following graduate courses are taught by PSP Program faculty:
---Advanced Social Psychology
---Advanced Social Cognition
---Judgment and Decision Making
---Attitudes and Persuasion
---Psychology of Close Relationships

Faculty members in other units on campus also teach courses on social psychology. Theses courses can be used to fulfill some requirements in the PSP Program and are excellent learning opportunities. For example, the following courses have recently been offered by other units:
---Social Psychology (Sociology Department)
---Consumer Psychology (Marketing Department)
---Group Processes and Conflict (Department of Management and Organizations)

There are also a large number of other graduate courses at the University that cover topics that are closely related to social psychology or are relevant to students with specific research or professional interests. The following is a short list of examples. These courses are taught by faculty within the PSP Area or other areas or departments at the University of Iowa.
---Statistics Courses (Statistics Department)
---Personality and Individual Differences (PSP Area of Psychology Department)
---Current Theory and Research in Personality (PSP Area of Psychology Department)
---Structural Equation Modeling (Sociology Department)
---Cognitive Psychology Courses (Psychology Department)
---Health Psychology Courses (Psychology Department)
---Neuroscience Courses (Psychology Department)
---Clinical Psychology Courses(Psychology Department)
---Developmental Courses (Psychology Department)

Robert Baron
Attitude change, group behavior, stress

John Harvey
Close relationships, loss and trauma

Eva Klohnen
Adult development, interpersonal relationships, attachment, ego-resiliency

Erika Lawrence
Longitudinal assessment of the developmental course of conflict behavior, physical aggression, and marital dysfunction in intimate relationships

Irwin Levin
Judgment and decision-making, framing effects, choice narrowing strategies, individual differences in consumer, health, and children's decision-making

Jerry Suls
Social influence, self-evaluation, social comparison, stress and coping with illness, perceptions of social norms

Paul Windschitl
Social judgment and cognition, decision-making, likelihood judgment, comparative judgment about self and others, egocentrism

Leslie Baxter (Communication Studies)--Communication in friendship, romantic, marital, and kin relationships

Terry Boles (Management and Organizations)--Negotiation, conflict management, behavioral decision making, organizational behavior

Steven Duck (Comm. Studies; joint in Psych.)-- Interpersonal communication

Steven Hitlin (Sociology)--Social psychology, self and identity, values, morality, social theory, and gender

Michael Lovaglia (Sociology)--Social psychology, power and status processes, theory construction, alcoholism and addiction

René Martin (Nursing; joint in Psych.)--Gender and stereotyping, social comparison

Dhananjay Nayakankuppam (Marketing)--Evaluative processes, social cognition and judgment, decision making

Johnmarshall Reeve (Psychological and Quantitative Foundations)--Motivation and emotion, interpersonal motivating styles, autonomy and autonomy support, competition