School of Architecture, Building and DesignFoundation in Natural, Built Environment

Group Members: Cham Zheng Chee (0322317)

Chia Keh Chian (0322062)Muhammad Hassan (0322316)

Quah Ken Yew (0322893)Shreya Maria Wilson (0322173)

Tam Zhao Wei (0322587)

Group / Session:Monday 10AM-12PM

Lecturer:T. Shankar

Subject:Social Psychology

Submission date:14th December 2015

Content page

1. Acknowledgement

2. Introduction

3. Method

- Apparatus / Materials

- Procedure

3. Discussion

4. Reference

5. Appendix

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, a very grateful thanks to all group members

(Cham Zheng Chee, Chia Keh Chian, Shreya Maria Wilson,

Tam Zhao Wei, Quah Keng Yew and Muhammad Hassan) who

did a lot of contributions in accomplishing this final research

report and the social psychology conceptual clip. Without the

participation and cooperation of all group members, it wouldn’t

be possible for us to complete this assignment. Besides, we also

sincerely thank our lecturer, Mr. T. Shankar for giving us

guidance throughout the whole assignment. After all, we felt

great and satisfied as we managed to finish both the research

report and video clip on time.

Introduction

This assignment with title ‘Research Report & Group

Presentation’ is separated into two main parts which are to

produce a research report based on a social psychology

conceptual clip and to do a group presentation. Groups of

between five to six students are required to do further research

in the social psychology topics taught and discussed in class.

Group conceptual topics are based on integrating theory to the

practical. After understanding all concepts and theories taught,

students are required to implement them in producing a three to

five minutes short clip containing five concepts from five

different lectures. This assignment aimed to expose students to

the implementation of concepts to practical environment and to

enhance teamwork ability and leadership.

Method(a) Apparatus/ Material

- Nikon P330 is used to film the whole video.

- Adobe Premiere Cs5 is used to edit the video.

- Voice over is done by using the microphone of iPhone 5s.

Costumes and props:1. Shreya – Main character

- Hand phone to check time, make and receive phone call. The wallpaper of her phone was what caused her to recall the past memories.

- Tissue while she was crying.

- Costume: casual.

2. Cham – Main character’s boyfriend/ ex-boyfriend

- Costume: casual.

3. Hassan and Keng Yew – Two good-looking guys

- Costumes: smart casual.

4. Keh Chian and Zhao Wei – Friends- Costumes: casual.

(b) Procedure

We had our first meeting on 4th November 2015 at Event Hall 1, library to discuss about the storyline and concepts. Before the meeting, all of us brainstormed and prepared three storylines to discuss with each other on that day. After analysing the good parts and bad parts of each story, we decided which story to use. Next, we planned our shooting date and venues, divided job and characters in the video. Everyone participated in this project. Our job and characters are as below:

Members Job Character

Cham Zheng Chee Report writer, assistant slides maker

Main character’s boyfriend/ ex-boyfriend

Chia Keh Chian Report writer, director Main character’s girl friend

Muhammad Hassan Videographer, video editor Good looking guy

Shreya Maria Wilson Report writer, assistant slides maker

Main character

Tam Zhao Wei Main slides maker, report writer

Main character’s girl friend

Quah Keng Yew Assistant video editor Good looking guy

We also decided to act without script to present the more natural acting.

Setting:

We filmed the whole video in Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, including:

i. Coffee Bean – Dating scene

ii. Open space beside library – Quarrel scene, monologue scene

iii. Lakeside sitting area in front of Block E – Girls talking scene

The reasons why these venues were chosen were;

(a) Coffee Bean is a café with relaxing and chilling atmosphere, which is a place that is suitable for couple dating.

(b) Open space has better lighting which is suitable of video filming. It also provided a depressing and sad atmosphere for the quarrel scene and monologue scene as the weather was gloomy.

(c) The lakeside sitting area is somewhere students can rest and chat with friends in school while having breaks. That place also provides good natural lighting which is suitable for shooting.

Shooting date and time

i. 26th November 2015, Thursday. 4:00PM

- Dating scene

ii. 27th November 2015, Friday. 5:00PM

- Quarrel scene, monologue scene, girls talking scene.

DiscussionA) Concept and definition

After multiple discussions with the team, we’ve decided to precede our concept of video with storylines regarding relationships. We want to illustrate some familiar scenes and reaction that are commonly seen in the process of a relationship.

The relationships that we would want to portray in our video focuses on relationships of a couple. Relationships are the way in which two people are connected, the state of being connected. In a relationship, there is often ups and downs between both individuals. Difference in opinions and arguments occurs in a relationship. Sometimes, small little arguments between couples may lead to discomfort, entering a state of avoidance and if the problems were never solved, it may even lead to separation. When an individual has gone through all of these experiences, it becomes a scar, a memory, and also a part of them on how they perceive relationships. It will change an individual’s perception, attitude and also behavior once they’ve gone through tough times in relationships.

In the video, we’re able to see how the main character walks through her relationship, how she deals with her relationship, and also how the relationship affects her mentally and emotionally.

We have applied 5 main social psychology concepts into the storyline that relates to how the main characters manage herself, her thoughts, and her ways of dealing with her relationship. The

5 concepts that are applied into the video are self-serving bias, confirmation bias, self-verification theory, negativity bias, and also stereotyping.

B) Storyboard design

After doing research and a lot of group discussions we came up with the rough story line referring back to the chapters we learned in class. The first few meeting conducted we focused more on the flow of the story and which concept does it relate to. Later our next step was to decide the techniques we would use while recording the scenes and character allotment. Moving on we discussed on the positioning of the characters and the locations which best suit the scene. We didn’t have a scripted play and opted for on the spot acting so that the video looks more natural rather than rehearsed.

C) Application and Analysis

Scene - Self-serving bias

Scene description: After the breakup the girl is sad and she stands by the railing talking to herself; pushing all the blame on the boyfriend for the breakup.

Concept definition: The self-serving bias is people's tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors.

Explanation: In other words the self-serving bias refers to our tendencies to take personal credit for success while blaming outside sources for our failures. Essentially, we tend to believe that our successes are due to internal traits and talents, while our failures are caused by variables outside of our control. This happens as the cognitive bias allows people to protect their self-esteem. The factors which influence this are: age, gender, culture, depression and self-esteem.

Application: the main reason one reacts with a self-serving bias is because cognitive bias allows them to protect their self-

esteem by doing so. This mostly happens to people who are in negative situations. Since in our video also it was a negative outcome the girls’ cognitive thinking made her think that it wasn’t her but the boy to be blamed. She believed that she gave her best but the boyfriend was the main reason for the bad end of the relationship. What is happening is that by blaming outside forces for failures, in this case the boyfriend, to protect her self-esteem and absolve herself from personal responsibilities.

Scene - Confirmation bias

Scene description: Gynie who wants a boyfriend refuses to listen to Shreya who advises her that all guys are bad because she thinks that all guys are cute. She only listens to Giselle, who agrees with her.

Concept definition: The tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.

Explanation: The effect when we give more attention and weight to data that support our beliefs. If our beliefs are firmly established on solid evidence and valid confirmatory

experiments, the tendency to give more attention and weight to data that fit with our beliefs should not lead us off track as a rule. In other words your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions

Application: When a girl says she wants a boyfriend, she chooses to listen to her friend who agrees with her and supports her belief, rather than the one who tries to convince her that all guys are bad, which is opposing her hypothesis. She has confirmation bias which stops her from listening to others’ who has a different opinion from her.

Scene - Self-verification Theory

Scene description: The scene shows the main character that just gone through a break up with her boyfriend. It shows her crying in devastation about the whole relationship that ended so quickly. The scene continued with the main character’s monologue. She couldn’t understand why her boyfriend can’t see the beauty in her. She thinks that she is pretty, kind and at the same time the perfect girlfriend material a guy could ever asked for. She always thought that she was doing her best to commit in this relationship

Concept definition: Self-Verification Theory is a social psychological theory that asserts people want to be known and understood by others according to their firmly held beliefs and feelings about themselves.

Explanation: In a simpler way of describing the self-verification theory is that we want others to see us as the way we see ourselves. This will affect us in the change of our attitude and behaviors in order to complement the self that wants to be perceived by others. This occurs even when our self-concept is negative. It gives us the illusion of controllability and predictability. Among people with positive self-views, the desire for self-verification works together with another important motive, the desire for positive evaluations or "self enhancement". 

Application: The main character cried after the break up. She was heartbroken and at the same time full of unsatisfactory. She has always packaged herself as a caring and an understanding girlfriend in the relationship. She wondered: “I’m so pretty and I have everything a guy is seeking for, why not he sees that beauty in me?” She has shown how much she has been trying to portray that perfect girlfriend that every guy could have ever imagined and the relationship ended like that makes her devastated and it was an unacceptable thing for her.

Scene - Negativity bias

Scene description: The scene shows the main character looking at an old photograph that was taken with her ex-boyfriend. It was a great day because she could remember how happy they were together at that time, talking about anything, and everything. But then, she immediately turned really sad after some time looking at that old photograph. The arguments between the main character and her ex-boyfriend on that same day when they took the photo were remembered. It triggered her sad memories at the same time as she looked at the same photo.

Concept definition: Negativity bias refers to the notion that even when of equal intensity things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one’s psychological state and processes than do neutral or positive things.

Explanation: It is the tendency of someone being reminded of a negative thing rather than something positive or neutral things. Something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person's behavior and cognition than something equally emotional but negative. It can be a common place, object or incident that only triggers the negative memory of it. It effects the mind, and it might lead to depression. The negativity bias

includes the formation of impressions and general evaluations such as attention, learning, and memory, decision-making and risk considerations.

Application: The main character has gone through ups and down in her past relationship. That particular photograph has reminded her two different things, which is the beautiful memories of the main character being with her boyfriend, at the same time the sad memories were triggered too. The sad memories affected her more emotionally. It clearly illustrates how the negativity bias comes in whereby the same incident that has both good and bad memories, but the bad memories, which is the negativity that has more affect towards her rather than the good memories she had too.

Scene - Stereotyping

Scene description: The scene shows two attractive guys passing by the main character and her friends. Both of her friends was attracted with the attractive guys and was discussing how it would be great to be in a relationship. Suddenly, the main character was angry and told her friends that guys are the worst kind of people and girls shall never be tricked by the guys.

Concept definition: Stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.

Explanation: People often assume that all members of a group share some common feature. This causes a perseverance effect whereby once a schema is formed, it is hard to change. It may become a difficult thing for people to “let go” of these types of schemas. Things that are due to their past experiences that is resulting in an installation of how they perceive an issue or a person.

Application: When the main character’s two friends was talking about how attractive the guys were, and how desperate they were to get into a relationship, talking about all the good things being in a relationship, it triggers her memory. She reacted to her friends quite aggressively and told them that guys are not nice people, based on her past experiences. She couldn’t agree with her friend’s reaction and their idea of being in a relationship. She was trying to use her past experiences to reflect on the current situation and convincing her friends that relationships are not as wonderful as they think. The main character don’t like the fact that their friends being attracted to the guys because she categorizes all the guys with that same traits to be similar as his last boyfriend. Therefore, she was quite angry with what was going on.

ReferencesHara Estroff, M. (2003, June 20). Our Brain's Negative Bias. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200306/our-brains-negative-bias

J.North, R., & B. Swann.Jr, W. (2012, September 1). What's Positive About Self-Verification? - Oxford Handbooks. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195187243.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195187243-e-044#oxfordhb-9780195187243-div1-315

Heshmat, S. (2015, April 23). What Is Confirmation Bias? Retrieved December 6, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias

Gale, T. (2008). Self-Verification. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3045302399.html

Peterson, P. (n.d.). Stereotypes. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/stereotypes.html

Fournier, G. (2010, July 20). Self-Serving Bias. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2009/self-serving-bias/

Boyes, A. (2013, January 9). The Self-Serving Bias - Definition, Research, and Antidotes. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201301/the-self-serving-bias-definition-research-and-antidotes

AppendixScene #1: The Quarrel

Scene #2: Flashback

Scene #3: Sweet Old Times

Scene #4: Gossip Girls