intro to social psychology by robb willer
Fabio asked about the latest and greatest in social psychology. Here’s Robb Willer’s UC Berkeley intro to social psychology class, Sociology 150A:
The rest of the lectures (on conformity, norms etc) are here.
also available on ITunes U (as both audio and video) for those of us who lack the patience to watch YouTube for 30 hours but have lengthy commutes.
gabrielrossman
March 22, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Nice lectures. I agree it takes time and patience. Reading is much faster. Professor Willer’s valley girl accent is amusing – “…it’s like… I’m like… so, he’s like …” Perhaps speaking to them in their own language made it easier to get the kids to laugh at his quips and jokes.
I profited directly from the lectures because I did not know of the work of Kruger, Dunning, et al., on “unskilled and unaware.” I got some papers via JSTOR and others via Gale Cengage and even created a special folder for them. For a graduate class in technology and society (Ron Westrum), we looked at experts versus inexperienced decision-makers, but did not explore the problem of being unaware of your limitations. So, this was a good set of lectures for me.
Also, I note that the examples stressed research biases. Even common foibles were brought back to the lab. Perhaps it is only Dr. Willer’s own bias (Ph.D. 2006) or perhaps it reflects the assumption that UC Berkeley students go on to research, rather than life. In my undergrad social psychology class, we looked at life: biases in judging friends, family, co-workers; evaluating work and play; etc. (The Research Methods class handled the same material from that perspective.) But, then, our social psych professor (Denise Reiling) returned for her doctorate after her kids were grown. While she does publish research, as Eastern Michigan faculty she is focused on teaching people who will take their learning into the real world, rather than back into the university echo chamber.
Michael E. Marotta
March 23, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Michael: Sorry – can’t help myself: what a lame comment.
Thankfully not all universities are applied tech schools. The applied stuff has to come from somewhere: more basic work done in what you call the “echo chamber.”
And, “we looked at life” [you insert various applied contexts: friends, co-workers] – please, I think students can make that application from the basic research. If not, of course there are (thankfully) varieties of universities/institutions, including heavily teaching and application-oriented ones. But, it’s strange to go after research schools like that (as well as the delivery of the material – works for the very popular class that Robb teaches at Berkeley).
teppo
March 23, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Marotta’s comment is the most ignorant thing I’ve read on the internet in recent memory. Experiments conducted in the lab are inspired by, and can be applied to “daily life.” As Teppo notes, without science-oriented work generating theories and rigorous empirical studies, applied work suffers.
Also, I’m pretty sure UC-Berkeley grads and students have a decent track-record for making splashes both inside and outside of the Ivory Tower.
Ironically, the phenomena described in Kruger and Dunning’s “echo chamber” piece, may have underpinned Marotta’s original comment to some degree.
(Sorry, I couldn’t help myself, either…)
QuadC
March 23, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Michael,
I appreciate your point about the value of applied knowledge. I actually try hard in the class to relate the research we cover to everyday life. To make these connections though you necessarily have to pull whatever research you’re talking about (be it lab or field research) out of the context it was conducted in and into some new setting where it usually has not yet been studied. I do this about as much as I am comfortable doing without betraying the science.
Regarding my valley girl accent: That’s pretty cold man! Though if you listen further in, I do get slightly more articulate after I adjust to speaking to 500 people while also being video taped. I don’t think in the first lecture I had fully comprehended that my lectures would be taped and put on the internet….to be viewed by anyone, anywhere, forever (there was a retiree in Florida who would send me daily critiques of my lectures throughout the first half of the class). I’m now fated to be perceived through my off-the-cuff word choices to a room of undergraduate sociology majors for eternity…I would not advise it!
Robb Willer
March 23, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Thanks for posting this Teppo! What a great resource.
Sam MacAulay
March 23, 2011 at 10:48 pm
I really like Professor Willer’s valley girl accent (although I didn’t initially think of it as that until someone pointed it out). I also don’t think his brand and style needs any apology. After all, “You can please some of the people…” but lets face it there will always be people who will find fault with you.
As a counselor in the field of social rehabilitation, I have discovered that my study of sociology is often more beneficial than my training in psychology.
Professor Willer, your lectures are wonderful, Thank You for sharing them!
Kevin Edens
June 6, 2011 at 4:13 am
As an engineering major I watch these to gain a perspective of the introductory topics of other fields of study. I like that the tone is light and prefer Wilder’s upbeat personality because It’s essentially the ideal type of lecture for me to watch.
Regarding his above comment on the formality of the lectures you have to consider that he is speaking to undergraduates who have the attention span of a gnat, and arguable not a large capacity to appreciate formality. Second as he mentioned he is going through a bit of adjustment, and despite this still manages to communicate effectively.
Lastly, and most importantly: these are free lectures, and we are getting for free what the UC students pay loads of money for and because of that any shortcomings of Willer’s style to a particular set of audience can be forgiven.
Certainly I enjoyed listening to these. As this is my first introduction to the topic I literally stayed up late one night listening to lecture after lecture because it was so interesting and I couldn’t get enough.
Colby Renfro
December 21, 2011 at 5:31 am