PSYCH 3150
Introduction to Social Psychology
An introduction to the scientific study of social influence. Topics include person perception, social cognition, attitudes, conformity, group behavior, aggression, altruism, prejudice and psychology's interface with law, health, and climate change.
Instructors
Alan Lambert, Calvin Lai, Don Fitz, Heike Winterheld, James Reid, John Hetts, Larry Jacoby, Michael Strube, Stephanie Afful
Reviews
I loved Professor Lai's class. He was very excited to teach and gave great lectures. The class was also pretty easy, though interesting.
5/7/2025
Stanley Tucci is really stepping up his game and going out of his comfort zone masquerading as a WashU Professor
7/22/2024
2 or less hrs/week
little to no work outside of class and content was easy. sad lai is leaving
5/21/2024
The class content is interesting, and Dr. Lambert is nice and helpful. I missed a class and he agreed to schedule a meeting with me outside of his office hours to answer my questions about the missing lecture. The class pace was perfect---not too fast or too slow. Reading the textbook and paying good attention to his lectures are important.
1/25/2024
Awful experience in this class. This is not the easy, pscyh class that people make it out to be. Lambert drones on during lectures and reads of slides that have a single photo on them without any words making it impossible to learn material if you miss class. Grade is based off MC exams which purposely trick you in answer choices. DO NOT TAKE THIS!
1/15/2024
Don't take this class if you cannot take multiple choice exams or thrive off a test-based course. I know that goes for most of the psych classes, but take it with another professor if you need this credit. The exams are tricks and contain information you will have never learned about. Trust me, take it off your RW1. It will save your GPA.
12/18/2023
I loved this class! The material was interesting, and lectures were clear, engaging, and not too dense. Dr. Lambert has a fun sense of humor and was happy to answer questions in and out of class. Attending class and reading the textbook are necessary to do well on the midterms, but they're not otherwise difficult.
12/11/2023
You can very easily get a B if you just show up to class (not even take notes) & study the textbook for a single afternoon before the exam. An A will be a little harder but still pretty easy. The entire grade is out of 150 points, 4 50-point MC exams one of which you can drop. Talks a little slow sometimes but overall 7/10 for lecture entertainment
4/25/2023
Dr. Lai is young, sweet, and pretty funny. Grade is very straightforward, 3 (easy) homeworks, PollEverywhere participation every class, and easy multiple choice exams (average is usually 90%). Can attend class on Zoom. Lots of content overlap with Consumer Behavior (FYI for marketing students), and similar to other psych classes.
12/14/2022
so funny and entertaining!! uses funny/captivating examples to help us understand concepts. wants everyone to do well. textbook reading not necessary to do well, but supplemental readings show up on tests
10/20/2021
Prof. Lambert is one of the few professors I have had at WashU that I genuinely did not like. His lecture style was dry and not engaging, and the tests included a ton of material that was only in the textbook, never covered in class. He was inaccessible outside of class and not interested in individual students. Would not recommend.
6/14/2021
Professor Lambert seemed fairly passionate about what he was teaching and allowed for as much classroom engagement as possible given it was an online course. The course itself would get a bit dry at times but I hear it's much better in-person. He seemed a bit aloof at times, but I usually managed to find something interesting in every lecture!
4/27/2021
He is the best teacher I have ever had at WashU. He is the kindest, most understanding professor and his lectures are consistently interesting. It would be a loss for students to graduate without ever taking one of his classes. He is the reason I want to major in psychology now. Take his class and you will forever be happy that you did.
12/1/2020
I have never rated a professor here before, but I had to say something about Prof. Lai. He's so sweet and very understanding and compassionate, makes the lecture materials very easy and accessible and is incredible at answering questions. Definitely my favorite professor in my time at Washu, and he has made the online learning experience smooth.
10/15/2020
Really interesting course! Prof Lambert is very knowledgeable and helps students engage with the material. There are clicker questions once in a while so you have to come to class or you could miss points but class is super interesting so it's worth it to come! Tests are very fair and are formatted like all other Psych lecture exams (50 MC q's)
12/4/2019
As a marketing major, I found this class extremely useful and interesting! Prof. Lamberts lectures were always clear (though sometimes a little boring). Simply going to class and keeping up with the textbook sets you up for success.
6/27/2018
Winterheld is overall funny and decently interesting. Her lectures do drag on a little but I would say that is pretty standard for a large psych class. The one thing that is important to know about her is that her tests get progressively harder. If you go to the lectures and read the textbook (at least for the 2nd and 3rd test) you should do well.
11/14/2017
The lecture is very bad. Can't really extract things useful. But you still have to go to the class anyways, because for each exam there will be a number of questions that are details covered in the class. Exams are heavily focused on the text books, which is totally different thing from the lecture.
2/6/2017