Psychology Lesson Plan

Essential Understanding Lesson Plan – Prologue (15:00) Lesson Objective:

Students will learn about the scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people.

Lesson Outline (10:00)

1. Attributing Behavior to Persons or to Situations (1:00) a. Contrast dispositional and situational attributions and learn about the fundamental attribution error 2. Attitudes and Actions (1:00) b. Define attitude, the conditions under which it occurs, and the foot in the door phenomenon 3. Conformity and Obedience (1:00) c. Define the chameleon effect, understand the differences between normative and informational social influence, understand Asch’s and Milgram’s experiments, explain how we can be susceptible to social influences 4. Group Influence (1:00) d. Understand social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividualization, understand group think and group polarization, identify how minorities can sway majorities 5. Prejudice (1:00) e. Identify the three major components of prejudice, contrast different types of prejudice, discuss social factors that create prejudice, understand scapegoating, discover ways cognitive processes breed prejudice 6. Aggression (1:00) f. Understand the definition of aggression, describe three levels of biological influence on aggression, understand psychological aggression triggers, explore how violent video games can effect social attitudes and behaviors 7. Conflict (1:00) g. Explain how social traps and mirror-image perceptions fuel social conflict and understand what these are 8. Attraction (1:00) h. Understand the influence of proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity on interpersonal attraction i. Understand passionate and companionate love and how various factors affect them (such as physical arousal) 9. Altruism (1:00) j. Understand the concept of altruism and the bystander effect, explain altruistic behavior from the perspective of social exchange theory and social norms 10. Peacemaking (1:00) a. Understand effective ways of encouraging peaceful behavior and reducing conflict in social settings

Arrows for the Quiver – Questions and Answers (5:00)