Instructor

Prof Mrinmoyi Kulkarni

Semester

Autumn’ 2022

Course Difficulty

It has no prerequisites and if one attends the classes regularly, it is pretty easy to follow. It would help if you have an interest in humanities related disciplines and want to explore more. It is part of the HSS minor offered by the Humanities and Social Sciences Dept. It usually runs in the autumn semester and can be taken in whichever year you’d like.

Time Commitment Required

During most of the semester, attending classes would suffice, which amounts to 3hrs/week. Assessments (one write up and a paper presentation in a team of 2) can take up some time but can be managed easily if managed properly. Before end-sems and mid-sems, a day or two of revision proved to be enough for me.

Grading Policy and Statistics

Grading statistics followed a standard bell curve. It was neither too generous nor too harsh.

Attendance Policy

There was no attendance policy implemented by the professor as such.

Pre-requisites

None

Topics Covered in the Course

Non-verbal cues, Attitudes, Prejudice, Cognitive Dissonance, Attitudes, Social Psychology and the Law

Teaching Style

The professor taught using minimal content on the slides that she explained during the lectures. She very conveniently came up with examples from historic events and everyday happenings that made the classes interactive and interesting. The Kurosava movie ‘Roshomon’ was screened during one lecture to explain the importance of different perspectives on the same event.

Tutorials/Assignments/Projects

Apart from mid-sem and end-sem, there were 2 other assignments:

1. Paper presentation in a team of 2
2. Write-up on the social psychology concepts covered in class as seen in one of two movies chosen by the professor (I wrote mine on 12 Angry Men) There were no tutorials. One assignment was watching one of two movies selected by the professor (To kill a mockingbird or 12 Angry men) and writing up about the social psychological concepts seen in the movie (from the ones taught in class). Another assignment involved reading, understanding and presenting, in a team of 2, a research paper given by the professor on one of the topics taught in class.

Feedback on Exams

Midsem: subjective Endsem: objective Questions asked were from the concepts taught and discussed in class. For preparation, noting key information during lectures was important because the slides didn’t cover the material in detail. Then revising these notes and going through the slides before the exam was enough to secure a good grade.

Motivation for taking this course

I don’t know if this course is a prerequisite for some other course but probably not. It is, however, part of the HSS minor course basket and can be done in order to complete the said minor. Although this course doesn’t equip you with any technical/hard skill as such, it does give you a layer of perspectives to look at everyday situations and social interactions in a different light. When I took the course in autumn 2022, the instructor said it can be re-tagged as an elective but if you are planning to do so, I’d still suggest making sure that the department will allow you to do that.

Review By: Ayush Agarwal