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STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
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| I. | Course Number and Credit: | COM 312, 3 credits |
| II. | Course Title: | Social Cognition |
| III. | Course Description: | The
study of communication and social
cognition examines the processes by which people make sense of other people, of themselves, and of their social world. The course acquaints the student with the cognitive processes of person perception, making social impressions, judging traits and qualities to other people, and interpersonal attraction applied to the contexts of interpersonal, public, and mass communication. |
| IV, | Prerequisites: | Minimum
of nine credits in the department
three of which must be Com. 212
or Com 240 or with permission of
the instructor. Junior or senior status. |
| V, | Course Justification: | Using
the fundamental definition of communication
as the creation of shared meaning, this course is pivotal in examining the meaning creating processes basic to the various communication contexts, e.g., interpersonal and public communication, public relations, and media communication. The course would be offered once a year. |
| VI. | Course Objectives: |
The student will be able: A. To define social cognition in the context of communication as relationship building, defining who the individual is, how they define others around them, and how they perceive social situations. B. To explain social cognition as the process which satisfies the need for meaning, the need for structure, order, predictability and control in the individual's life. C. To explain and distinguish the processes of perceiving, thinking, and knowing. D. To explain the perceiving
of the social image of an individual - their social/physical qualities,
emotions, central character traits, and potential for future behaviors. E. To explain the dynamics
of the self in the cognitive processes and in decision making/problem
solving F. To define cognitive
style and to explain various styles and their effectiveness in communication
situations. G. To describe basic
models of memory and their applications H. To explain the process
of forming inferences and concepts I. To differentiate
among affects, preferences, evaluations, moods and emotions J. To explain the formation of attitudes and their relation to behavior |
| VII. | Course Outline: |
A. INTRODUCTION: What is social cognition and its role in the communication process of relationship building? B. How does social cognition satisfy the need for meaning, for structure, order predictability and control in an individual's life? C. What is the process of perception? How does it compare to the processes of thinking and knowing? D. How does the process of social image perception function in defining social/physical qualities, central character traits, emotions, and potentiality for behavior? E. What are the dynamics of the self system in cognition, decision making, and problem solving? F. What is cognitive style and are some of the various styles and their effectiveness in communication situations? G. What are some basic memory models? How does memory organize the recall of persons? H. How does the formation of social inferences function in relationships with others? I. What are affects, preferences, evaluations, moods, and emotions and how are they distinguished? J. What are attitudes? How are they formed? How do they influence behavior? |
| VIII. | Methods of Instruction: |
The course will be taught using lecture/discussion, small group collaboration and reports, field work, writing to learn, and midterm and final examinations. |
| IX. | Course Requirements: |
The student will be required: B. To conduct field projects and report on them C. To give group oral
reports E. To pass a midterm and final examination |
| X. | Means of Evaluation: |
The student will be evaluated based an the quality of A. Midterm and final examinations B. Major research paper C. Performance in group interaction and reports D. Field research project |
| XI. | Resources: | No
additional resources will be needed
to offer this course beyond keeping current with library acquisitions. |
| XII. | Bibliography: | attached |