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Learn Social Psychology

How other people shape what you think, feel and do.

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Social psychology studies how the real or imagined presence of other people influences thoughts, feelings and behavior. It covers how we explain others' actions, how attitudes form and change, conformity and obedience, prejudice, group decisions, attraction and helping. The field is famous for dramatic studies such as Solomon Asch's line judgments and Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments, and it has also been central to the replication crisis, so learning which findings hold up is part of the subject. Learnr builds short lessons around the key studies and their critiques. It is educational and not a substitute for a professional if you have mental health concerns.

How to learn Social Psychology, step by step

Start with how social psychologists test ideas. Learn experimental design, deception and debriefing, and why many classic studies could not be run today. Then read about the 2015 Open Science Collaboration project that attempted to replicate dozens of psychology studies, so you approach findings with healthy caution.
Learn how people explain behavior. Study attribution theory and the fundamental attribution error, the tendency to blame personality over circumstances. Catch yourself doing it once a day, for example when another driver cuts you off.
Read the classic influence studies closely. Go beyond summaries of Asch's conformity studies and Milgram's obedience experiments. Look at the variations each ran, which changed the results, and the ethical debate Milgram's work sparked.
Treat contested studies as contested. The Stanford Prison Experiment and the original reporting of the Kitty Genovese case behind bystander research have both been heavily criticized. Learn what the critics found alongside the textbook version.
Study attitudes and group conflict. Learn Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave study of group rivalry, and Henri Tajfel and John Turner's social identity theory. Apply each to a real example such as sports fans or political groups, without taking sides.
Practice applying concepts to scenarios. Short Learnr questions that describe a social situation and ask which effect is at work train the most useful skill here: recognizing these forces in daily life.

What you'll learn

Explain attribution and the fundamental attribution error
Describe cognitive dissonance and how attitudes change
Analyze the Asch conformity and Milgram obedience studies and their ethics
Explain prejudice, stereotypes and social identity theory
Evaluate findings in light of the replication crisis

What's inside your Social Psychology course

A sample path Learnr builds for Social Psychology. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. Methods, ethics and the replication crisis
2. Social cognition and attribution
3. Attitudes, dissonance and persuasion
4. Conformity, compliance and obedience
5. Groups, prejudice and intergroup conflict
6. Helping, aggression and relationships

How long does it take to learn Social Psychology?

An introductory social psychology course takes about 6 to 10 weeks at 3 to 4 hours a week. Reading original studies and the replication literature carefully adds several weeks.

What you need before you start

No prerequisites. An introduction to psychology and basic statistics will help you read studies and judge their strength.

Common mistakes to avoid

Accepting famous experiments at face value. Check replications and critiques, since several textbook findings have weakened or been disputed.
Using single studies to explain complex events. Real-world behavior has many causes, so treat each finding as one piece of evidence.
Assuming social influence only affects other people. Apply the concepts to your own judgments, which is where they are most useful.

How Learnr builds your course

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Social Psychology questions, answered

What was the Milgram experiment?

In studies published from 1963, Stanley Milgram had participants believe they were giving electric shocks to another person when instructed. Many continued to high shock levels, and the work raised lasting questions about obedience and research ethics.

What is the difference between social psychology and sociology?

Social psychology focuses on how individuals think and act in social situations, often using experiments. Sociology studies groups, institutions and whole societies, often using surveys and historical data.