Re: need social psychology book assignment ideas

[Marie Helweg-Larsen]

I also like David Myers Pursuit of Happiness. Gerald Peterson wrote: Carol Tavris' books, trade books by (individually) Loftus, Langer, and Wegner; Gilovich's book "How we know what isn't so," and Tim Wilson's "strangers to ourselves" come to mind. Robyn Dawes' House of Cards is great -- not strictly social, but a lot of social psych is relevant ;-) Gary Peterson Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University 989-964-4491 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/05/04 9:58 PM >>> Hey Tipsters, I'd like to have my social students read one of several interesting books written by a social psychologist for a lay audience. If anyone has any advice or suggestions with respect to books and/or creative assignments/projects, I'd love to hear them. My goal is for this to be interesting and involving for them, and for them to find some way to creatively apply what they learn. As of now, my potential book choices include a) Sandra Bem's "An unconventional family", b) John Gottman's "7 Principles for making marriage work" (or possibly "The relationship cure"; I'm not sure which but am open to suggestions), c) Bob Cialdini's "Influence: Science and Practice", d) our own tipster Dave Myers' "Intuition", and ....whatever else you all come up with :-). As a last resort, I suppose students could do some sort of critical book review, but I'd rather come up with something better (and more interesting for me to grade). Some ideas that have occurred to me include designing/proposing an original experiment (or any empirical study) to test an idea related to the book, creating a multi-layer web page devoted to the topic, and developing (and perhaps videotaping) a seminar for laypeople based on the book (e.g., a 30-minute video for expectant parents based on "An unconventional family" or a similar video for newlyweds based on Gottman's work). I'd appreciate any ideas or suggestions, especially from those of you who have done similar projects. Thanks!!! Traci -- ********************************************* Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 ********************************************* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]