UNIT: Social & Cultural Influence Issue: Is There a "Prejudiced Personality" Type? YES: Kevin O. Cokley, et al., from "Predicting Student Attitudes About Racial Diversity and Gender Equity," Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2010 NO: B. Corenblum and Walter G. Stephan, from "White Fears and Native Apprehensions: An Integrated Threat Theory Approach to Intergroup Attitudes," Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 2001 This team of psychologists from Texas present data supporting the idea that three personality traits (social dominance orientation, authoritarianism, and openness to experience) predict college students'' attitudes about racial and gender diversity. Using data from White and Native Canadians, researchers Corenblum and Stephan argue that prejudice stems from a combination of factors, including feelings of group threat, anxiety, history of intergroup conflict, and more. Issue: Is Terror Management Real? YES: Jeff Greenberg, from "Terror Management Theory: From Genesis to Revelations," American Psychological Association, 2012 NO: Daniel M.T.

Fessler and C. David Navarrete, from "The Effect of Age on Death Disgust: Challenges to Terror Management Perspectives," Evolutionary Psychology, 2005 Jeff Greenberg, one of the original creators of Terror Management Theory (TMT), reviews its main hypotheses and several findings from a variety of studies that support the main principles of the theory. Fessler and Navarette, both professors of anthropology, present research and arguments against Terror Management Theory. Instead, they find that as age increases, sensitivity to death decreases, and that TMT predictions may be bound to certain cultures. Issue: Is Viewing Television Violence Harmful for Children? YES: Mark Sappenfield, from "Mounting Evidence Links TV Viewing to Violence," The Christian Science Monitor, 2002 NO: John Grohol, from "TV, Violence, & Children: More Weak Pediatrics Studies," Psych Centra, 2013 Mark Sappenfield, writer for The Christian Science Monitor, describes a new scientific report that links television viewing with violent behavior, even in adults. John Grohol, an author, researcher, and expert in mental health online, asserts that the studies that condemn television watching in children fail to consider a myriad of factors involved with children that might also be the cause of negative outcomes. Issue: Is High Self-Esteem Really Beneficial? YES: Sarah E. Lowery, et al.

, from "Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Health-Related Behaviors Among Male and Female First Year College Students," Journal of College Student Development, 2005 NO: Jennifer Crocker and Lora E. Park, from "The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem," Psychological Bulletin, 2004 Health and clinical psychologists here argue that positive self-esteem in college students predicts better body image, fitness, and other health-related behaviors. Researchers Crocker and Park believe that while high self-esteem leads to short-term gratification, it also leads to long-term negative effects, including poor self-regulation and poor mental and physical health. Issue: Is the Fear of Bullying Justified? YES: Oyaziwo Aluede, et al., from "A Review of the Extent, Nature, Characteristics and Effects of Bullying Behaviour in Schools," Journal of Instructional Psychology, 2008 NO: Helene Guldberg, from "Are Children Being Held Hostage by Parental Fears?" Spiked, 2007 This team of researchers from Nigeria review a long list of negatve outcomes from both being the victim of bullying and from being the bully. Negative consequences of being victimized include "physical, academic, social and psychological problems." Developmental psychologist Helene Guldberg believes that parents'' fears of bullying have gone too far. Controlling teachers and parents are restricting children''s freedom, teaching them not to trust adults, and preventing children from learning how to resolve conflicts.

UNIT: Close Relationships Issue: Is Hookup Culture on College Campuses Bad for Heterosexual Girls? YES: Amy Julia Becker, from "Hookup Culture Is Good for Women, and Other Feminist Myths," Christianity Today, 2012 NO: Timaree Schmit, from "Hookup Culture Can Help Build Stronger Relationships," Original Work, 2013 Amy Julia Becker argues that hookup culture demeans women. From a Christian perspective, she argues that sex leads to greater life fulfillment when removed from the hookup culture. Timaree Schmidt argues that hookup culture is nothing new and that it can be healthy for people to have different sexual experiences. Issue: Are Extremely Homophobic People Secretly Gay? YES: Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, from "Is Homophobia Associated with Homosexual Arousal?" Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1996 NO: Mark E.

Johnson, Christiane Brems, and Pat Alford-Keating, from "Personality Correlates of Homophobia," Journal of Homosexuality, 1997 Researchers Adams, Wright, and Lohr present an empirical study which shows that highly homophobic men become sexually aroused when exposed to gay male pornography. They argue that these men are homophobic due to their own secret sexual interests. Researchers Johnson, Brems, and Alford-Keating find evidence that homophobia is related to many other variables, including gender, age, empathy, religiosity, and coping style. UNIT: Gender & Sexism Issue: Are Male Teens More Aggressive Than Female Teens? YES: Lori Rose Centi, from "Teenage Boys: From Sweet Sons to Narcissistic Teens," The Washington Times, 2012 NO: Frances McClelland Institute, from "Aggression Among Teens: Dispelling Myths About Boys and Girls," Research Link, 2009 Lori Rose Centi addresses the differences in male and female brain development, and how gray and white matter in the brain can impact adolescent behaviors. She also discusses other brain changes that may contribute to males being more impulsive and less careful than their female peers. The Frances McClelland Institute shares a fact sheet which dispels "myths" about the differences in male and female teens. It reports on a meta-analysis of 148 studies and the resulting major findings. Different types of aggression are defined and discussed.

Issue: Should Parents Be Allowed to Choose the Sex of Their Children? YES: Z. O. Merhi and L. Pal, from "Gender ''Tailored'' Conceptions: Should the Option of Embryo Gender Selection Be Available to Infertile Couples Undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology?" Journal of Medical Ethics, 2008 NO: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, from "Sex Selection," Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2007 Physicians Z. O. Merhi and L. Pal discuss the conditions under which selection of the sex of a child does not breach any ethical considerations in family planning among infertile couples. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists'' Committee on Ethics supports the practice of offering patients procedures for the purpose of preventing serious sex-linked genetic diseases, but opposes sex selection for personal and family reasons.

UNIT: Race & Intergroup Relations Issue: Is Racism a Permanent Feature of American Society? YES: Derrick Bell, from "Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism," Basic Books, 1993 NO: Russell Niele, from "''Postracialism'': Do We Want It," Princeton Alumni Weekly (2010 Derrick Bell, a prominent scholar and authority on civil rights and constitutional law, argues that the prospects for achieving racial equality in the United States are "illusory" for blacks. Russell Niele, a lecturer in politics at Princeton, works for the Executive Precept Program sponsored by Princeton''s James Madison Program. He has written on affirmative action and the origins of an urban black underclass. Niele argues that American society is moving toward a meritocracy, which is post-racist (not post-racial). For him, race, ethnicity, and religious identity are less determinant than they were in earlier American history. Issue: Is Race Prejudice a Product of Group Position? YES: Herbert Blumer, from "Race Prejudice As a Sense of Group Position," Pacific Sociological Review, 1958 NO: Gordon W. Allport, from "The Young Child," Basic Books, 1979 Herbert Blumer, a sociologist, asserts that prejudice exists in a sense of group position rather than as an attitude based on individual feelings. The collective process by which a group comes to define other racial groups is the focus of Blumer''s position.

Gordon W. Allport, a psychologist, makes the case that prejudice is the result of a three-stage learning process. Issue: Is the Emphasis on a Color-Blind Society an Answer to Racism? YES: Ward Connerly, from "Don''t Box Me In," The National Review, 2001 NO: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, from Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003 Ward Connerly is a strong critic of all attempts at racial classification and believes that in order to achieve a racially egalitarian, unified American society, the government and private citizens must stop assigning people to categories delineated by race. To achieve this goal, Mr. Connerly is supporting the enactment of a "Racial Privacy Initiative." Eduardo Bonilla-Silva argues that "regardless of whites'' sincere fictions, racial considerations shade almost everything in America" and, therefore, color-blind ideology is a cover for the racism and inequality that persist within contemporary American society. Issue: Does the Implicit Association Test (IAT) Measure Racial Prejudice? YES: Shankar Vedantam, from "See No Bias," The Washington Post, 2005 NO: Amy.