There are a number of findings in social psychology that can and often do inform public policy. The purpose of this course is to present and discuss links between findings coming from empirical studies in social psychology and their applications in the public sphere. In this course, you will learn basic models and phenomena in the field of social cognition and discuss their implications for social policy in both the US and internationally.  Sample questions we will investigate are:  How can we overcome psychological resistance to effective social policy change when justifying the status quo may serve fundamental human needs for certainty?  What is the media’s role in increased uncertainty around certain science, such as in the autism-vaccine controversy and climate science?  How do we address the paradox of increased racial diversity leading to both more positive contact between groups while simultaneously increasing threat perceptions among whites?  How does the way in which individuals conceptualize sex and gender influence their preferences for social policies that are sensitive to transgender and gender non-conforming members of their community?  How does our understanding of the social cognitive process of social categorization help us to understand why historically powerful groups (e.g. whites, men,heterosexuals) are viewed as the “default”, and how does this perception shape public policy discourse? These questions (and others) will be discussed,informed by both published empirical studies and current events.   Prerequisites: One Lang fundamentals course (minimum Grade of C), or ULEC, Introduction to Psychology (minimum Grade C)