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CAS 550 – Social Influence

Students Teaching Students

In coordination with an undergraduate-run organization called Students Teaching Students, CAS department faculty members mentor exemplary students who develop and teach 1-credit courses on a variety of subjects that advance expertise in communication and its role in public life. This semester, Associate Teaching Professor Lori Bedell is supporting undergraduates Kara Miller (who was in Lori’s RCL course a few years back) and Jess Strait as they teach a course titled “Period Talk: The Impact of Stigma on the Menstrual Equity Movement.”
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CAS 550 – Social Influence

Social influence is a graduate seminar that exams the socially situated nature of influence: persuasion, compliance, and diffusion. The course introduces students to work on the evolution of social living, including kin and group selection. Students examine theories and research about social determinants and social outcomes (e.g., social cognition, social power, social norms, and social networks) of attempts to change someone's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Students also consider research questions about social transmission (e.g., why do we share influential messages with other people, with whom do we share, what do we share, and how does what we share change with each conversation?). Readings cover both inclusive and exclusive versions of social phenomena (e.g., attraction and ostracism).

Course Objectives

  1. To become familiar with classic and current theoretical and empirical studies of social influence
  2. To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in existing research
  3. To advance a current theory of social influence so as to improve its logical coherence and/or explanatory power