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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Psychology of Popularity by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

4.7
stars
981 ratings

About the Course

The level of popularity you experienced in childhood and adolescence is still affecting you today in ways that you may not even realize. Learn about how psychologists study popularity and how these same concepts can be used in adulthood to be more successful at work, become better parents, and have a happier life....

Top reviews

JD

Feb 20, 2016

This course has been absolutely terrific! The knowledge and insight this has briefed me with has been very useful, and makes more than a lot of sense. Thank You Mr. Prinstein, and Thank You Coursera!

HC

May 10, 2018

This was amazing, really interesting, well presented. A good insight into how our friendships while of school age can impact on our adulthood and how this is so often repeated down the generations.

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1 - 25 of 249 Reviews for Psychology of Popularity

By Maria M

•

Oct 29, 2018

The course itself is great and have a lot of awesome points, such as:

- interesting subject and I couldn't wait to finish it.

- it helped me to understand what exactly is my problem with peers and romantic relationship. Now I have clear goals to work with: no hostile attribution bias, not to be excessive reassurance seeker.

Though, for my point of view it needs some polish.

- Entire course is possible to complete in 1 day, due to NO homework, NO lectures, NO extra resources for study.

- The topic is not disclosed and leaves more questions than answers. Lecture "Does popularity change when moving to a new context?". Why they didn't make experiment with selecting only popular kinds from all schools and putting them together? Most probably, roles would change. There was similar experiment on rats https://steemit.com/psychology/@natord/social-roles-exploiter-worker-whipping-boy-and-independent

- No links to resources. I would like to see more details on experiments. I would like to know more data of experiments such as how many children were participating?

- Data is not structured. Charts with one axis, one curve with two names. The idea is clear, but not mathematically expressed correctly.

- Strange analyze of data. Difference of 6% considers as a huge one, difference of 30% not important.

- Contradictive course. First he said it's almost impossible to change group, later he provides fact that in 2 year 58% of not aggressive - rejected (50% of all rejected) kids becomes not rejected.

- Some terms are not explained and used as everybody should know it. For example I find internalizing/externalizing symptoms not very common.

By Andrei A I

•

Jul 20, 2017

I guess the course was OK. I really liked the models in the first videos, which looked at the difference between visibility and likability. The last two weeks contained videos which I believed were a bit redundant, and did not add much new information.

I would also have liked the course more if it would have delivered some tools for dealing with popularity situations both at work and in our social circles.

By Nirav N

•

Sep 7, 2020

Yes, This course teaches me how actually the growth of children gets affected by social and other emotional issues. Basically It's an eye opening course for me . Really thanks for this course.

By Steven R S

•

Aug 1, 2016

Thought provoking especially when considering why peoples impulses causes them to react in a certain manner based upon childhood and adolescent filtering in response to cued behavior patterns.

By Kelly D

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Feb 8, 2017

This course was heavy on data and light on implications and course corrections. It would have been more helpful to outline the types of behaviors that make an individual fall into a specific category socially and how to change what your currently do to enhance your social likability.

By Lauren S

•

Apr 20, 2020

My mind is completely blown. This entire course was fascinating, from start to finish. Dr. Prinstein did a fantastic job keeping the material succinct but potent, and keeping his presentations energetic and upbeat. This is my favorite course so far. I’m telling everyone I know it take it!

By Martha L

•

Feb 15, 2018

I feel we deserve to be given a list of references. This course begs the question of how to heal from popularity wounds, and how to be popular which were both not addressed at all. Very disappointing.

By iolanda m

•

Mar 26, 2020

Not too many new nor useful information, some confusion in the data presented, frequent errors in the presentation.

There is free access to the videos, but not to the quiz at the end of each week.

Try it for free I order to figure out if the course is good for you.

Would not recommand.

By Justin D

•

Feb 20, 2016

This course has been absolutely terrific! The knowledge and insight this has briefed me with has been very useful, and makes more than a lot of sense. Thank You Mr. Prinstein, and Thank You Coursera!

By Mel C

•

Feb 22, 2020

Loved the delivery and quality of information Dr. Prinstein offers in his course. Very informative and an excellent primer to pursuing more research done on the Psychology of Popularity!

By Stacey W B

•

Nov 18, 2017

I found this class to be very informative. I wondered why some of the studies were dated and how the results might be different in today's world. Thank you for this valuable class!

By Alice M B

•

Jul 21, 2020

Very high quality material, evidence-based and introduces you to some aspects of psychological research while talking about an interesting theme. Obviously it does not make you any expert on research nor popularity but it's a great introduction and makes you want to research and learn more about it. It focuses on neuro and evolutionist perspectives at times as well as empirical psychological designs (surveys, observations). If you don't know anything about popularity research (terms used, key elements) but is interested in psychological research in general, this is a very cool course for you! As a plus, it makes you reflect on your own life :)

By thomasrascon

•

Dec 2, 2015

Great course fun, interactive. I really like the professor he is very nice and he explains everything very well. Out of all the courses I have enrolled in this is my favorite. I highly recommend this course to any one with an interest in psychology

By Helen B C

•

May 11, 2018

This was amazing, really interesting, well presented. A good insight into how our friendships while of school age can impact on our adulthood and how this is so often repeated down the generations.

By Kira L M

•

Mar 9, 2016

The content was very interesting and understandable. As someone who has a B.S. in Psychology, this is one part of Social psychology that I never learned about until now.

By Kasia J

•

Aug 1, 2017

Interesting but most importantly engaging course. Well put together and easy to follow :)

By Renu G

•

Nov 8, 2015

AH

MAY

ZING!

By Rohit N

•

Jun 8, 2017

The topic itself is such a novel one to dissect. Popularity effects/ affects us in many ways and the studies undertaken in this course explains how society shapes you in a certain way. Good or Bad it's a great revelation for one and all as we understand ourselves a bit better after we take the course.

For me it was enlightening at multiple levels.

Certain aspects of the study isn't covered though. Children can belong to varied categories based on their peer group. In this course the study assumes that children will belong to one peer group at a time. Peer groups can vary in a child's life - for eg: the peer group of their school would be different from the one in their neighbourhood. This case isn't considered and this would open up a whole new set of possibilities in understanding a person's mental make up.

But it's a great first step. Kudos.

By Morten R H

•

Mar 10, 2016

Interesting overview of group psychology - but in essence just a bunch of definitions and statistics.

I would have liked more focus on how the group dynamics works and how to influence these - and break the circle of unpopularity, the tools to overcome the aggressive stamp etc.

Also, I found the quizzes often had unclear and ambiguous wording.

Generally happy to have taken the course - but did not quite meet the description or my expectations. Off to the next :-)

By Marianne H

•

May 22, 2018

This is the first time I've done anything remotely related to psychology, and before I started, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it, but actually it was one of the most enjoyable, interesting and accessible courses I've ever done. It's perfectly pitched so that complete beginners can engage right from the very start without feeling all at sea, and yet I think students who are more au fait with psychological matters wouldn't feel patronised or dumbed down in the least. Not only that, but it actually answered questions that have genuined bugged me since secondary school. If I had the money, I'd be hopping on a plane and charging straight over to North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to enrol on a degree course in Psychology, and I'd want to be taught by this specific instructor!

By BasicallyStitch

•

Apr 23, 2018

This course changed the perception of my peer relationships during adolescence and many memories that I considered unpleasant, I now consider as neutral. I learnt about different types of biases and it shifted my perception of everyday situations. While learning I had a chance to analyse my role in my relationships and my peers' behavior from the past. This was an important course for my personal growth.

I strongly recommend this course to parents whose kids have a hard time adjusting at school. I believe some parts of this course should be taught at schools too. If you have a professional interest in child and adolescent psychology, you will also find a lot of useful information here (important research and concepts).

By Martina R G

•

Nov 24, 2019

I loved how clear the professor’s presentation was, and I was able to follow the read as well. I learned many whys but would’ve liked to have learned or presented with Hows. I learned a lot of valuable information I can use with my daughter and myself. As a stroke/brain injury survivor, my life was turned inside out and upside down, downside-up. This tragic event affected my entire family but especially my daughter and our relationship. I’m seeing a lot in my daughter that I learned in this course, or was reinforced by it, and now I can work to make things better for both as far as our emotional/psychological health is concerned. I really appreciate what I learned in this class and highly recommend it.

By Tien K

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Jan 5, 2016

Really great course! Learning about the psychology of popularity helps me to learn more about myself and others. I was popular in elementary school but became controversial in middle school. I moved to another country in high school, and in that new environment, I became quite average. Until now in early adulthood, I still yearn to be popular. Although I don't engage in substance abuse or other risk factors, I do not maintain interpersonal relationships well and have been trying to fix this issue. By taking this course, I now understand potential factors that could have caused this issue, and that's the first step to my endeavor to improve myself. Thank you for the enlightenment!

By Ange R

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May 28, 2017

An interesting look at popularity and how it affects kids, teens, and adults. Some fascinating (and depressing) information that I highly recommend. I feel like this info would be so valuable to parents of kids or teens.

I like that sections are inclusive (like the clarification about dads acting as parents too but there not being as many studies, and weight not equaling health). I also enjoy the brief quizzes/polls during talks that keep lectures interactive without being overbearing or demanding strict note taking. Professor speaks with enthusiasm and engages.

By jungcookie _

•

May 1, 2020

Finished through the Free Track (do note that this means I did not get feedback for my quizzes) and honestly, the professor, the content, and the production was very well-explained, thorough, and downright empirical (which I appreciate). A good introductory course, so no need to have any prior knowledge in Psychology to enjoy it. Would love to see a part two that looked into everyone's suggestions in the Research Forum. Do participate in the Project Popularity research project to help the creators of this course gather more data. Many thanks!