Prerequisite: Introductory Psychology, PSY P101/102 or P151/152

Description:
“Bush approval ratings slip.”  “Poll shows public supports right to
abortion.”  “50% of U.S. public does not believe in evolution.”
Headlines like these appear almost daily in the news, suggesting the
importance and interest that we attach to public opinion on important
and controversial topics.  This course has two main goals.  First, we
will study the methods of public opinion research, the ways
poll-takers find out what the public thinks and why.  This course will
empower students to become informed and sophisticated consumers of
public opinion data, able to ask the right questions about poll
results they encounter in the news, and to draw their own conclusions
about what (if anything) those results mean.  Second, we will study
some of the basic social psychological principles that shape the
opinions that people hold.  Why do some people (and not others)
support President Bush, favor the right to abortion, or disbelieve in
evolution?  Students will come to understand the roles of persuasive
arguments, group memberships, personal experiences, and conformity to
the opinions of friends and neighbors, in the processes by which
people form and change their opinions.   Enrollment limited to 25;
taught by a mixture of lecture and class discussion.