MALK4000-402 Relational Skills Course description

This course gives students a basis for developing and maintaining good relational skills, with special emphasis on the interdependence of verbal and non-verbal behavior. Through analyses of contributions from social psychology, motivation research, and behavior analysis, students learn a practical approach to understanding causal attribution. The actual observational basis for various explanatory models is systematically examined. The objective of the course is that students acquire ways of analyzing the contingencies for both their own behavior and the behavior of others, promoting desired behaviors.

Admission to the study program

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student can

• describe and discuss useful units of analysis in social interaction in working life and daily life
• describe how to factor in the difference between intended and actual results, and discuss confirmation bias and selective perception; fuzzy causality, and problems with self-assessment
• describe and discuss the relational perspective on behavior
• describe and discuss the topics of causal attribution, Future Time Perspective, Perceived Self-Efficacy, rule governed behavior, self-direction, influence and persuasion, and The Dunning-Kruger effect

Skills

The student can

• analyze important variables that influence individual behavior, including self- talk and self-rules

Competence

The student can

• observe and adapt to how their own behavior affects the behavior of others
• can describe and discuss ethical concerns raised by teaching techniques of influence and persuasion with reference to normative ethical theories

Teaching and learning methods include lectures, discussions, individual reports and workshop/seminars. Students read selected texts in advance for each day of class, and everyone is expected to participate in class through questions and through joining in discussion.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• 4 individual written assignments submitted digitally, each with a maximum length of 6000 characters, including spaces. References are to be included in the 6000 characters.

Individual home examination, 5 hours. Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English. 

All

Grade scale A-F

One internal and one external examiner will assess all exams.