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CAS 220 – 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 220 – Social Influence

How do people change the hearts and minds of others?

“Persuasion has been and will continue to be one of the chief levers of life. Today the density of competing messages is greater than ever before, making the study of persuasion not only necessary for the specializing few but also requisite for all who would live effectively in modern society” (Brembeck & Howell, 1952). Although these words were written over half a century ago, they are arguably even more true today. Because of the enormous role that persuasion plays in shaping the institutions that underlie contemporary society as well as the day-to-day lives of individuals, an understanding of it is essential for everyone.

Course Objectives

  1. To understand the stages of all persuasion campaigns.
  2. To see the interplay of interpersonal and mediated communication in producing change.
  3. To increase one’s skill as a producer and consumer of persuasive messages.