10361 Attitudes and Persuasion 1

Credits: 6 advanced credits in Psychology

Prerequisites: 36 credits, including: Introduction to Statistics for Students of Social Sciences I, Introduction to Statistics for Students of Social Sciences II, Research Methods in Social Sciences, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Participation in Psychological and Educational Research and Research Experience, Regression Analysis and Analysis of Variance. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.

The course is based on a reader edited by Shmuel Ellis and Noga Sverdlik.

“Attitude” is one of the central concepts in contemporary social psychology. Psychologists view this construct as an effective predictor of behavior and other psychological processes, and therefore concentrated extensive efforts in its research. Consequently, researchers in many other areas such as education, communication, marketing and advertising have shown interest in this concept.

The course provides intensive acquaintance with the central issues in the field and with research approaches. It focuses on the theoretical aspects of attitude research, and students are introduced to the applications of the field of attitudes on advertising, surveys, social change and education.

Topics: Introduction; Part I: The nature and importance of attitude – Bases for attitude formation, Strength of attitude, Prediction of behavior, A new view of the structure of attitude; Part II: Attitude change – Factors in attitude change and two-track models, Persuasion and social influence in groups, Persuasion and interpersonal differences, Cognitive dissonance.

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1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.