Social psychology's focus is on the relationship between the individual and the social environment. Questions we tackle in this course are things like: "Why do we conform in the way we dress, act, and speak?" "Under what conditions are we likely to help other people?" "Why do we behave aggressively" "How can we persuade people to think like us or buy our products?" and "How does being in a group affect our behavior?" One of the main themes in social psychology is "the power of the situation" which refers to the degree to which our behavior is governed by situational variables rather than our personality traits or sense of morality. Finally, we will discuss which commonsense beliefs have been supported by social psychology research which commonsense beliefs have not. That is, which saying regarding close relationships is supported by the research - "birds of a feather flock together" or "opposites attract"? Read ahead in your textbook in the relationships chapter if you want to know the answer!