Don, I would add discussion of what promotes interpersonal attraction,
the apparent non-role for complementary needs (at least initially), the
theoretical ideas from sociobiology with regards mating and attraction can
also generate interest, discussion of the non-conscious processes of
prejudice and person perception, the constructive nature of memory, the
power of social roles and the subtle but strong influence of cultural
features in social learning and ideas about the self. Of course, with the
y2k issue and various apocalytpic groups, I plan to discuss their idea of
what happens when predictions of doom are false...then you can get in to the
classic Festinger work and even have them explore web sites about this
issue. These are a few of my favorite "surprising" areas in social psych.
Gary Peterson
Saginaw Valley State Univ.
This leads to my question for you all. What
>findings do you think students will find most surprizing throughout a
>course in social psychology? Hopefully they will remember some of the
>biggies from their intro to psych/soc courses (e.g. obedience, bystander
>effect), but what else do you think will be unexpected. This will either
>
>PS. I'd be interested in any other advice for the first time instructor of
>social psychology.
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Don Rudawsky
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Department of Psychology
>University of Cincinnati
>(513) 558-3146
>
>
