SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGNFOUNDATION IN NATURAL & BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

MARCH 2015 INTAKE

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY(PSY 30203)

SEPTEMBER 2015 SEMESTERSESSION: MONDAY, 3.30 PM – 5.30 PM

LECTURER: MR SHANKAR THIRUCHELVAM

FINAL PROJECT REPORT

GROUP MEMBERS:ISAAC CHEW JIAN CHUEN (0322030)

JOSEPH SOH (0323887)

REBECCA MARIE TANDUBA (0322757)

TEH WEI HONG (0323743)

CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

INTRODUCTION 4

METHODOLOGY 5

DISCUSSION 6

APPENDIX 8

REFERENCES 9

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we’d like to acknowledge the effort of everyone involved in making this video project a success. Without their patience, knowledge and both physical and mental effort, this project would fail to be completed.

We’d also like to thank our lecturer, Mr Shankar, for his guidance through lectures and advices he has given.

Our gratitude reaches out to the team as well for their time and commitment they have made for this project. We’d like to give them credits for having taken part in this project willingly as well as their co-operativeness when working with others involved.

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INTRODUCTION

In a group comprising of four people, we were instructed to conduct a three-to-five-minute video, which is to be conducted to revolve upon five different social psychology concepts and theories. This assignment is for students to identify the social psychology concepts and understand how they are applied or implemented in every day life. It is also to allow clarified connections with different perspectives as well as intertwining with other concepts within the field.

We’ve decided to conduct a series of social experiments, experimenting on the chosen social psychology concepts that we have agreed upon. The social psychology concepts that we have chosen are self-perception theory, social influence, persuasion, the attribution theory and prejudice.

Through this assignment, we were able to understand on a deeper level of the social psychology concepts in real life situations.

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METHODOLOGY

APPARATUS:1. Two recording devices (cameras)2. Props (e.g. number cues, baby powder, a straw)

PROCEDURE:1. 23rd January 2016 : First meeting with the group to discuss the video-

making and selecting of social psychology concepts. Meeting ends when we have confirmed and decided on the date and time to execute the project.

2. 29th January 2016 : We met up and immediately started filming. Part 1: Rating Experiment. We carried around number cues and hold up whatever number we rate strangers, similar to the judges in the Olympics. In this experiment, we were testing the self-perception theory. Part 2: “Drug-dealing” Experiment. We used baby powder to pose as ‘cocaine’ and tested the concepts of social influence and persuasion. We went about calling two of our friends and conducted the experiments on them, not-knowing that they were being filmed and the outcome of it was good. Part 3: The Interview. For this, we printed out headshots of a murderer and an athlete, both wearing black with a wall as their background. We had a few friends sit with us as we question them during this event. This is a test for the attribution theory and prejudice. The meeting ended when the final bit of the video is done and after deciding who was to do the editing, report-writing and presentation slides.

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DISCUSSION

As a team, we discussed the social psychology concepts that we were interested in doing as we have decided upon doing a series of social experiments.

PART 1: RATING EXPERIMENTConcept tested: Self-perception theoryThe self-perception theory explains the usage of our own behaviours to help gauge our attitudes as we see ourselves just as how strangers see us.

We carried number cues and hold whichever desired number and rate strangers as they go about their routines, attempting to catch their attention and at the same time, engage some kind of reaction from them.Corresponding to that, we received facial-feedback hypothesis by which our subjects did not outwardly responded but simply responded by just smiling or laughing.

PART 2: “DRUG-DEALING” EXPERIMENTConcepts tested: Social influence and persuasionSocial influence concept explains a social identity theory whereby the development of our identity is connected to particular social groups. We tend to think that we are “the same” or “different from” social groups.Persuasion explains the attempts to influence others’ behaviours or attitudes.

We used baby powder and a small plastic bag to pose as ‘cocaine’ and a Starbucks straw-stirrer as the straw. We called up the friends of one our team mates as they are of the same social circle, so prediction of the outcome would be deemed successful. Which it did. We used the social influence of our subjects’ friends and persuaded him into doing drugs, despite the common schema that drugs and drug-dealing are illegal and wrong.

PART 3: THE INTERVIEWConcepts tested: Attribution theory and prejudiceThe attribution theory explains the study of models or subjects to further enhance the study of the attribution process.Prejudice explains a negative-learned attitude towards a group of people.

We printed two headshots, one of a white Americana and one of an African-American. One of these two is a serial killer while the other is a famous sports endorser. We called up a few of our friends to “interview” them on which of the mentioned two people was the criminal. We managed to collect interesting feedback and corresponding to that, we received slight prejudism as our subjects discriminated the African-American by labeling him “black” and even discriminated on the men’s appearances by stating the one with the beard is the criminal.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we managed in the making of this social psychology video and at the same time, learn more about the social psychology concepts and theories that we have learnt through lectures and previous assignments. We were able to identify the concepts when applied to daily context as well as learn how these concepts and theories are used in every day life.

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APPENDIX

REFERENCES

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A.W. (n.d.). PROJECT 2 Video Clip. Retrieved January 30, 2016, from http://fnbe0115angelawee.weebly.com/project-2-video-clip.html

Examples Illustrating Social Psychological Concepts. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2016, from http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/examples.htm

S. M. (2007). Social Psychology | Simply Psychology. Retrieved January 30, 2016, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-psychology.html

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