270133 Applied Social Influence (S) (SoSe 2015)

Building on the BSc contents in social and organizational psychology, the aims of this course are: (1) to develop further students' knowledge about principles of social influence; (2) to foster students' critical appraisal of the theories, methodologies, and applied issues related to research on social influence; (3) to enhance students' understanding of English as well as their confidence in using the English language in an academic setting.
The core of the seminar will be a thorough reading and discussion of Robert Cialdini's (2008) text on six principles of influence: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. The questions to be addressed include the following: How do these principles work? How can the principles be applied in organizational and other applied settings? How can people resist unwanted influence? Do Cialdini's six principles provide a complete account of social influence?
Additional literature will be used to illustrate principles of influence with classic and contemporary research examples (for examples, see Goldstein et al., 2007). Individual students or pairs of students will be asked to look up, read, and summarize for the group some of these original studies.

Requirements for participation, required level

This seminar will be held in English. This means that *all* materials, communications, and correspondence will be in English. Participating students should thus be comfortable with reading English literature, completing English-language homework assignments, and contributing actively to discussions in English each week.
If in doubt about your English language skills, please contact the course convenor well in advance of the seminar at
gerd.bohner@uni-bielefeld.de .

The seminar forms part of MSc module 27-M-G (G.2 or G.3) and should be taken in either the second or third semester.

Bibliography

Two basic texts are recommended for purchase (paperback versions are available for about 17 and 10 Euros, respectively):
Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Goldstein, N. J., Martin, S. J., & Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion. London: Profile Books.

Over the course of the semester, materials will be made available to participating students via Stud.IP.
Additional readings will be compiled, announced, and made available during the seminar.