PSYCH 135
Social Psychology
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: courses 10, 100A. Designed for juniors/seniors. Interrelationships between the individual and his social environment. Social influences on motivation, perception, and behavior. Development and change of attitudes and opinions. Psychological analysis of small groups, social stratification, and mass phenomena. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
By far the best professor at UCLA. His lecturers are so interesting and he really relates all the information to real life to relate to students the best way he knows how. He is very organized and gives the information you will be tested on in the lecture slides. It is important to go to lecture, he elaborates on studies and points he finds to be the most important and answers questions in lecture. He is very funny and the material may seem somewhat straightforward, but don't let this fool you his tests are quite tough. Luckily he posts key terms to pay attention to on the class portal and sections are very helpful (go to section! you get easy points towards your grade!) MOst of all Goff is the best teacher because he really cares that his students understand the material.
By far the best professor at UCLA. His lecturers are so interesting and he really relates all the information to real life to relate to students the best way he knows how. He is very organized and gives the information you will be tested on in the lecture slides. It is important to go to lecture, he elaborates on studies and points he finds to be the most important and answers questions in lecture. He is very funny and the material may seem somewhat straightforward, but don't let this fool you his tests are quite tough. Luckily he posts key terms to pay attention to on the class portal and sections are very helpful (go to section! you get easy points towards your grade!) MOst of all Goff is the best teacher because he really cares that his students understand the material.
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Most Helpful Review
i Loved this guy! he was so approachable and not afraid to tell stories from his youth and about his personal life, family. some ppl were annoyed with that bc they considered them tangents, but i found them funny and charming. it's not like the stories were random bc he just uses them to illustrate different social psych theories. i never fell asleep in this class (which is uncommon for me) and looked forward to coming to class every wk. sure, his tests are tricky, but i think ppl whine too much about them. gimme a break. who says college tests have to be mind-numbingly easy? the questions are tricky, you have to read them Really carefully. i felt like i mastered the material in this class, thoroughly enjoyed the bk, actually did ALL my reading (which never happens in other classes) but i got all C's on his 2 midterms and final. and even so, i got a B+ in his class for going to easy/fun discussions (20% of class grade just for showing up) where we did little experiments. also got a b on the short paper. the scores are very low on exams, but his policy is fair. he will drop a Q if less than 2/3 of the class misses it. the thing is, ppl miss a lot of questions, but they miss different ones. idea is the majority of the class gets each question right, meaning he did his job in teaching us the material. once you read the exam q's again after you have the answers, you will know why you got them wrong. the questions are actually fun to read--they actually make you chuckle. he is very humorous and uses current and funny examples in his questions to ask about theories. in all, love the guy, loved his class. learned so much. sure, i didn't get an A, but i feel that college should be more about learning than just a GPA. if you care more about learning than having your GPA drop by .005, take his class. this is coming from a 3.7 GPA student, so it's not like i don't take my grades seriously. good luck! :)
i Loved this guy! he was so approachable and not afraid to tell stories from his youth and about his personal life, family. some ppl were annoyed with that bc they considered them tangents, but i found them funny and charming. it's not like the stories were random bc he just uses them to illustrate different social psych theories. i never fell asleep in this class (which is uncommon for me) and looked forward to coming to class every wk. sure, his tests are tricky, but i think ppl whine too much about them. gimme a break. who says college tests have to be mind-numbingly easy? the questions are tricky, you have to read them Really carefully. i felt like i mastered the material in this class, thoroughly enjoyed the bk, actually did ALL my reading (which never happens in other classes) but i got all C's on his 2 midterms and final. and even so, i got a B+ in his class for going to easy/fun discussions (20% of class grade just for showing up) where we did little experiments. also got a b on the short paper. the scores are very low on exams, but his policy is fair. he will drop a Q if less than 2/3 of the class misses it. the thing is, ppl miss a lot of questions, but they miss different ones. idea is the majority of the class gets each question right, meaning he did his job in teaching us the material. once you read the exam q's again after you have the answers, you will know why you got them wrong. the questions are actually fun to read--they actually make you chuckle. he is very humorous and uses current and funny examples in his questions to ask about theories. in all, love the guy, loved his class. learned so much. sure, i didn't get an A, but i feel that college should be more about learning than just a GPA. if you care more about learning than having your GPA drop by .005, take his class. this is coming from a 3.7 GPA student, so it's not like i don't take my grades seriously. good luck! :)
Most Helpful Review
Great Professor. Great Class. Opportunities for extra credit. Pretty Easy tests (the Midterm was NOT that tricky.....really. Though, I will admit, it wasn't the best made test i've ever seen, lets put it that way. Still very possible to do well.) Make sure to do all the readings and go to lecture obviously. But lecture is so fun and interesting, you'll want to go anyways!
Great Professor. Great Class. Opportunities for extra credit. Pretty Easy tests (the Midterm was NOT that tricky.....really. Though, I will admit, it wasn't the best made test i've ever seen, lets put it that way. Still very possible to do well.) Make sure to do all the readings and go to lecture obviously. But lecture is so fun and interesting, you'll want to go anyways!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Great class, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons I will take on hopefully for a lifetime. Tbh I don't show up to a single lecture, I just watched the podcasts and took good notes and what he said (basically I wrote down anything that wasn't directly written on the slides). You have to go to discussion tho cuz it's worth 20% of your grade, and most of those points are for just showing up and participating. The assignments are super easy, you just write a few things you learned from the weekly reading. The bulk of this class is going to be based on your exam score, so you have to be a decent test taker to do well in this class. The great thing about this class is there's no text, all the lecture material you need to know is going to be on the slides, and what he says in lecture of course. There are a couple questions on the readings, but there are study guides that come out so you know exactly what you're gonna be tested on for the discussions. I never actually read all of the required reading, I read some of it and then I would look at what the study guide said and read the material related to that, along w/ the discussion notes. Honestly, I felt like I sort of lucked out sometimes w/ the exams cuz there were some questions that were tricky and brought me to a 50/50. You have a good number of those "Not A, but B and C" type of choices, so you really have to know the lecture material to a deep level. If you wanna get an A in this class, I would give yourself at least several days before the exam to just absorb all the lecture material... do not think you can ace the exams studying the night before, cuz there are going to be some questions that make you think, and there are only like 44 questions so you can only get a couple wrong if you want an A. Also, you can get 1.5 points of extra credit by participating in SONA
Fall 2019 - Great class, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons I will take on hopefully for a lifetime. Tbh I don't show up to a single lecture, I just watched the podcasts and took good notes and what he said (basically I wrote down anything that wasn't directly written on the slides). You have to go to discussion tho cuz it's worth 20% of your grade, and most of those points are for just showing up and participating. The assignments are super easy, you just write a few things you learned from the weekly reading. The bulk of this class is going to be based on your exam score, so you have to be a decent test taker to do well in this class. The great thing about this class is there's no text, all the lecture material you need to know is going to be on the slides, and what he says in lecture of course. There are a couple questions on the readings, but there are study guides that come out so you know exactly what you're gonna be tested on for the discussions. I never actually read all of the required reading, I read some of it and then I would look at what the study guide said and read the material related to that, along w/ the discussion notes. Honestly, I felt like I sort of lucked out sometimes w/ the exams cuz there were some questions that were tricky and brought me to a 50/50. You have a good number of those "Not A, but B and C" type of choices, so you really have to know the lecture material to a deep level. If you wanna get an A in this class, I would give yourself at least several days before the exam to just absorb all the lecture material... do not think you can ace the exams studying the night before, cuz there are going to be some questions that make you think, and there are only like 44 questions so you can only get a couple wrong if you want an A. Also, you can get 1.5 points of extra credit by participating in SONA
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Most Helpful Review
Very very nice guy...as said before, he cares a lot about student's learning and understanding of the material. He's very responsive and is great about checking the class website and responding to ALL questions. His lecture is a little boring but he really means well! Class doesn't require too much reading, just the typical textbook stuff, and every other week or so a really brief paper for discussion. And he's also reallllly fair...try him out. Just do your reading and understand the lectures and you will do great.
Very very nice guy...as said before, he cares a lot about student's learning and understanding of the material. He's very responsive and is great about checking the class website and responding to ALL questions. His lecture is a little boring but he really means well! Class doesn't require too much reading, just the typical textbook stuff, and every other week or so a really brief paper for discussion. And he's also reallllly fair...try him out. Just do your reading and understand the lectures and you will do great.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Before I begin, I'm selling the 4th edition of Social Psychology (PDF version) by Gilovich for $15. If you're interested, send a text to (805) 319-2567. I accept Venmo, PayPal, and physical cash in person. She's a great professor. The class wasn't too difficult nor was it too easy; just right. She provides slides before class even starts and also offers extra credit (SONA). The textbook is necessary because she would occasionally test material from the text that isn't taught in lecture. Honestly if you just read the text and not go to class you'll do fine. Overall a good professor, no BS like other professors out there (looking at you Firstenberg).
Winter 2019 - Before I begin, I'm selling the 4th edition of Social Psychology (PDF version) by Gilovich for $15. If you're interested, send a text to (805) 319-2567. I accept Venmo, PayPal, and physical cash in person. She's a great professor. The class wasn't too difficult nor was it too easy; just right. She provides slides before class even starts and also offers extra credit (SONA). The textbook is necessary because she would occasionally test material from the text that isn't taught in lecture. Honestly if you just read the text and not go to class you'll do fine. Overall a good professor, no BS like other professors out there (looking at you Firstenberg).
Most Helpful Review
Shapiro's class is okay. She is a very nice lady. I wish I could have taken Karney, but she was okay. Her lectures can be a bit dry but for the most part they are good. She uses clicker, which is cool, but I feel like it distracts the class. Her midterm seemed very hard. The Final was pretty easy. Overall okay class.
Shapiro's class is okay. She is a very nice lady. I wish I could have taken Karney, but she was okay. Her lectures can be a bit dry but for the most part they are good. She uses clicker, which is cool, but I feel like it distracts the class. Her midterm seemed very hard. The Final was pretty easy. Overall okay class.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - I want to start off by saying, I genuinely LOVE Dr. Smurda as a professor. Her lectures were thoughtful, engaging, and I truly feel like I learned a lot in her class. However, her tests were NOT fair. The class grade is weighted 80% exam scores and 20% everything else. She gave us practice exams and in NO WAY did they reflect the material that was on the tests. There were too many questions placed in the test that were designed to trick you as well... if you like selecting from "A, B, C, A&C, or All of the Above" type questions, you may do well on the tests. All closed note tests as well. I'm an honors student, and I worked HARD in this class this quarter to still only come out of it with a C- (AFTER the 3% extra credit she thankfully offered to us) was factored in to my final grade. I don't feel that my final grade reflects the knowledge I did take away from this course, and it's so unfortunate. I know a ton of other honors students could also agree with me on this. To reiterate - AMAZING professor, AWFUL / UNFAIR EXAMS. I probably would not take this class with her again due to the testing situation alone, but I would if that were to change in a heartbeat. TAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Winter 2022 - I want to start off by saying, I genuinely LOVE Dr. Smurda as a professor. Her lectures were thoughtful, engaging, and I truly feel like I learned a lot in her class. However, her tests were NOT fair. The class grade is weighted 80% exam scores and 20% everything else. She gave us practice exams and in NO WAY did they reflect the material that was on the tests. There were too many questions placed in the test that were designed to trick you as well... if you like selecting from "A, B, C, A&C, or All of the Above" type questions, you may do well on the tests. All closed note tests as well. I'm an honors student, and I worked HARD in this class this quarter to still only come out of it with a C- (AFTER the 3% extra credit she thankfully offered to us) was factored in to my final grade. I don't feel that my final grade reflects the knowledge I did take away from this course, and it's so unfortunate. I know a ton of other honors students could also agree with me on this. To reiterate - AMAZING professor, AWFUL / UNFAIR EXAMS. I probably would not take this class with her again due to the testing situation alone, but I would if that were to change in a heartbeat. TAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
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