Social Psychology: Dynamics of Group Behavior

• Identify unwritten social norms across everyday settings

• Analyze conformity, obedience, attribution, and group identity

• Break down persuasive messages and emotional promises

• Evaluate classic studies for methods, findings, and ethics

• Apply social psychology concepts to media and public behavior

• Produce a podcast using two concepts and one central question

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain how social context and group processes can shape behavior

• Evaluate psychological research and media examples without overstating conclusions

• Create a responsible podcast applying multiple social psychology concepts

Students leave with a completed podcast and a stronger evidence-based framework for understanding persuasion, conformity, identity, and group behavior.

Social psychology helps students see how context, group identity, norms, and authority can influence behavior without erasing individual agency. Comparing concepts gives them more than one way to interpret a social situation.

Research and media analysis add discipline. Students ask how a classic finding was produced, whether ethical limits matter, and whether an example actually proves the claim being made. These habits strengthen media literacy, empathy, argument, and responsible communication. Together, these skills strengthen careful reasoning, responsible professional judgment, and the ability to revise a conclusion when new evidence changes the picture.

This course is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in psychology, persuasion, group behavior, identity, media, marketing, or social research. It fits students who enjoy examining familiar behavior from a new perspective.

Participants should be ready to discuss sensitive social topics respectfully, analyze studies and media, compare concepts, and develop an audio project. Curiosity about both people and evidence will support success. Success depends on careful preparation, steady participation, and respect for classmates’ perspectives throughout the course.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.

Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.

Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.

Social psychologists, researchers, educators, marketers, policy specialists, organizational leaders, and media professionals study how people respond to groups, messages, and institutions. Their work involves research design, behavioral analysis, and careful interpretation.

Students sample that work through classic-study stations, persuasion analysis, social-norm activities, concept application, and podcast production. The course offers a practical introduction to psychology, behavioral research, communications, marketing, policy, and organizational behavior. The work also shows how specialists collaborate across roles and communicate important evidence-based decisions to colleagues, clients, organizations, or the public in complex professional settings.