Behavior is situated
Social psychology asks how the same person can behave differently as roles, norms, audiences, and incentives change.
Rutgers catalogResearched guideSIRS history16 section records
01:830:321
Social Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY
- credits
- 3
- Core
- SOEHS
- Typical seasons
- Fall, Spring, Summer
- Fall 2026 sections
- 4
- Open snapshot
- 3 open in snapshot
Course guide
AI-generated overview
Course fingerprint 10 AI-generated signals
Difficulty
3/5Why
The official course covers several core domains of social psychology and assumes General Psychology, but it is designed as a standard undergraduate social-core course.
Workload
3/5Why
The breadth of concepts creates regular reading and study needs, while the department description does not identify labs or build-style projects.
Pacing
4/5Why
The course must move from socialization through perception, attitudes, groups, and conflict in one three-credit term.
Projects
1/5Why
Rutgers describes a conceptual survey of social behavior and does not list a required project or laboratory in the course description.
Exams
3/5Why
The course's many concepts and empirical findings lend themselves to exams, but the official description does not specify a grading breakdown.
Math
1/5Why
The department's published topics focus on social behavior and interaction rather than quantitative techniques.
Memorization
4/5Why
Students need to distinguish theories, effects, and findings across multiple social-psychology domains.
Abstraction
3/5Why
The course applies abstract models of social influence and perception to recognizable interactions.
Prerequisites
3/5Why
Rutgers requires General Psychology, making introductory psychological vocabulary useful but not advanced preparation essential.
Reading
3/5Why
A theory-and-research survey normally requires reading empirical examples, but the official page does not specify a common text load.
Topic breakdown
A practical chapter-by-chapter view from foundations to applications.
4 modules
Module 1
The social person
The course frames behavior as shaped by socialization, culture, interaction, and the situations people enter.
socializationsituationsculturesocial behavior
Basic concept overview
Perception is constructive
People infer intentions and traits from limited information, so social judgments can be efficient and biased.
Attitudes are changeable
Persuasion and social influence can shift attitudes, but the effect depends on message, person, and context.
Groups create emergent patterns
Interaction produces norms, roles, leadership, conformity, and conflict that cannot be reduced to one individual.
Things to watch for
Explaining every behavior by personality
Ask what situation, role, norm, or group process could also be shaping the behavior.
Treating a famous study as a universal law
Track the study's design, boundary conditions, and how the course evidence supports the claim.
Confusing attitude with behavior
Separate what people report believing from what they do under specific social conditions.
Ignoring group-level processes
Map roles, norms, communication, and power when analyzing a small-group outcome.
Fall 2026 sections
3 open · College Avenue, Livingston
| Section | Status | Instructor | Meeting | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0113779 | Closed | Kilianski | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135SC 135 | College Avenue |
| 0213780 | Open | Kilianski | Tuesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at LSH A102; Thursday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at LSH A102LSH A102 | Livingston |
| 0313781 | Open | Lai, Calvin | Tuesday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at BE 100; Friday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at BE 100BE 100 | Livingston |
| H113782 | Open | Jussim, Lee | Monday 2:00 PM-5:00 PM at TIL 103BTIL 103B | Livingston |
cachedSource: Checked-in Rutgers Schedule of Classes snapshotsUpdated when term datasets are refreshedMay be stale
SIRS teaching signals
Historical student surveys
Teaching
4.34
Course quality
4.32
Response rate
36.2%
Coverage
56 offerings · 2014–2025
| Instructor | Offerings | Teaching | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilianski | 12 | 4.17 | 4.11 |
| Cole, Shana | 7 | 4.89 | 4.86 |
| Foels, Rob | 5 | 4.34 | 4.34 |
| Sanchez, Diana | 4 | 4.35 | 4.35 |
| Foels, Rob | 4 | 4.20 | 4.20 |
| Wilder, David | 4 | 4.03 | 3.97 |
Course stats
Catalog and planning context
Credits
3
Current campuses
College Avenue, Livingston
Current availability
3 open of 4
Catalog terms
Fall, Spring, Summer
Core codes
SOEHS
Loaded terms
5
Prerequisites
((21:830:101 and 21:830:102) or (01:830:101))<em> OR </em> ((21:830:101 and 21:830:102) or (50:830:101))
Degree requirement lists
No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.
