Case Studies for Teaching Social Psychology

Thomas Heinzen is Professor Emeritus of William Paterson University of New Jersey. He describes his career as “mostly fun” because of the diverse opportunities within social psychology. Most applications have revolved around the social psychology of creativity including: Individual differences among the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Program Assessment for the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Agent orange health statistics for the New York State Commission on Vietnam Veterans  Technology assessment related to distance learning for Public Service Training Program Tractor rollovers for the New York Center for Health and Medicine Documentations of problem-solving among pre-retirement New York State bureaucrats Documentations of problem-solving among the frail elderly living in nursing homes Applications of game design to curriculum development  Professor Heinzen invested in students’ lives by mentoring more than 60 student conference presentations. More recently, he created video games that teach critical thinking and the unwritten rules of college success.  He also has authored several books and published journal articles based on case studies, archival analyses, in-depth interviews, controlled experiments, and quasi-experimental designs. He has been elected a fellow of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA), the American Psychological Association (APA, Division 1), and the Association for Psychological Science (APS). Wind Goodfriend has been teaching psychology at Buena Vista University, a Midwestern liberal arts school for fifteen years. Wind is a three-time Faculty of the Year award winner. She became Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies in 2017. She also serves as the co-director of the trauma advocacy program and volunteers as the chief research officer for the Institute for the Prevention of Relationship Violence. Wind has written 13 book chapters on psychology in pop culture, covering topics including Game of Thrones, Wonder Woman, Doctor Who, Star Trek, and more. She has developed a wide variety of undergraduate courses including special topics classes such as Psychology of Colonialism, Psychology in Popular Film, and Relationship Violence. She received her B.A. from Buena Vista University and both her Master’s and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Purdue University.

Preface: To Students and Their Teachers
Chapter 1: How Do Social Psychologists Think?
To Wear or Not to Wear an Ineffective Mask: That Was the Question During the Coronavirus Pandemic
An Exercise About Sex and Social Interactionism
The Neighs Have It: Testing Theories With Experiments
A Painful Intuition: Bloodletting
Chapter 2: The Social Psychologist’s Toolbox
Crucial Experiments: Who’s Talking Now?
Ethnography: Gang Leader for a Day
Health Detective: The Missing Pump Handle
Witchcraft and False Confessions: Then and Now
Chapter 3: The Social Self
Phineas Gage: The Self With a Hole in His Head
The Changing Self: Identity of Transgender Individuals
The Disappearing Self: Lost Memory
The Pregnant Self: Does My Bump Look Big in This?
Chapter 4: Social Cognition
Intuition in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Dual Processing Medical Diagnoses
Girl or Boy? Gender Socialization Begins at Ultrasound
Sexual Scripts and Sexual Regrets
Chapter 5: Person Perception
“Tell Me the Truth—Am I Too Pretty?” Marilyn Monroe and the Halo Effect
From Street Kid to Magician: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
Intellectual Bloomers: The Slow Creation of a Classic Study
The Rock in the Coffin: Terror Management Theory
Chapter 6: Attitudes and Persuasion
Cognitive Dissonance, Part I: Prelude to a Theory
Cognitive Dissonance, Part II: The Flying Saucer That Never Came
Understanding Drug Use: The Theory of Planned Behavior
Chapter 7: Social Influence
Obedience Plus: More Data From the Shock Experiments
Mods and Rockers: A Moral Panic
Big Fish Eat Small Fish: Social Coordination in a Violent World
Chapter 8: Group Processes
More Than a Game: The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Interpersonal Rejection: A Case Study of 14 School Shootings
On the Shoulders of Giantesses: The First Computer Programmers
Chapter 9: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Economic Anxiety and the Illegal Deportation of U.S. Citizens
Intersectionality: Sojourner Truth
Environmental Psychology and Institutional Discrimination: What Happened at Erasmus High School?
Footnote 11: After the Doll Studies
Chapter 10: Helping and Prosocial Behavior
The Misunderstood Murder of Kitty Genovese: A Continuing Case Study
Zombie Wasps and Altruistic Vampire Bats
The Bacon Truce: Cooperation Despite War
The Subway Samaritan: The Mathematics of Relative Altruism
Chapter 11: Aggression
Doloreisa’s Story: Aggression, Prostitution, and Sex Trafficking
The Great Train Robbery: Violence as Entertainment
The Cinderella Effect
Chapter 12: Intimate Relationships
Religion and Marriage Counseling
Male Victims of Relationship Abuse
The Influence of Dating Technology
Happily Ever After: Ingredients to a Long, Happy Marriage
References
Index