Sp report

Social Psychology Research Report

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Social Psychology

Research Report

Lecturer: Mr. Shankar Thiruchelvam

Group Members:

Tristan Yu (0317729)

Tang Pei Kei (0318545)

Rozanna Farah Ibram (0317967)

Simpson Chin (0318154)

Session: Monday, 8.00am

Course: Foundation in Natural

Build and

Environment Feb

Intake

Submission Date: 8/12/2014


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In this psychology filming project, we received a lot of cooperation and support from

many parties. We would like to voice our gratitude here. First of all, we want to thank Eugene

from foundation in Engineering for participating in our video. His willingness to participate

in the experiment with an open heart is a big contribution towards our project. Next, we like

to thank all our fellow course mates that helped us throughout the project. They gave advice

to help us improve our conduct of this experiment. Besides that, a great gratitude towards

group members, Tristan Yu, Simpson Chin, Tang Pei Kei and Rozanna Farah Ibram for

giving their full cooperation in conducting this project. Finally, we would like to express our

sincere gratitude to Mr. Shankar Thiruchelvam for his support and help throughout this

project as he has taught us all the knowledge which allows us to complete this project.


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CONTENT

Lists Pages

1. Acknowledgement 2

2. Introduction 4

3. Method

Apparatus/ Materials 5

Procedure 5 - 6

4. Concept 7 - 13

5. Discussion 14 -16

6. References 17

7. Appendix

Video Script 18 -21

Video Link 21


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INTRODUCTION

Understanding social psychology can be useful for many reasons. First, we can have a

better understanding of how social psychology concepts influence our choices and actions in

daily life. Additionally, it also allows us to gain a greater appreciation on how our social

perceptions affect our interactions with other people. The group conceptual topics are chosen

based on integrating theories into practical. These concepts that we had learned will be

incorporated in a video clip. There are some basic aspects of concepts that play a large role in

our actions. Basically, the video is about the new start of the semester and how an individual

wants to make friends based on the behavior of the students in class. There are 6 concepts

topics that we included in this video, which are first impression, stereotyping, CORFing

(Cutting Off Reflected Failure), social facilitation, observational learning, and bystander

effect. Our aim is to convey the importance of social psychology concerned with how social

phenomena influence us and how people interact with others. The setting of the video is a

classroom of which it is a small social network itself. We tend to incorporate the concepts

into our daily life to explain the importance of social psychology in our life. Hence, studying

social psychology can enrich our understanding of ourselves and of the world around us.


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METHOD

Material

Tables and chairs were used to show the situation of a classroom. School bags and

stationaries were also used to portray us as proper students. Camera was used to record the

acting. Also, every member was dressed in an easily distinguished manner that portrays them

to be high school students, without uniform, but in proper attire to enter class.

Procedures

1. The team was assigned with different attitude of students: “Nerd”, “Sleeping beauty” and

“Rude behavior” in a class.

2. An appropriate setting was chosen to perform the experiment.

3. The main focus was the girl; she was being exposed to different scenario of students in

class reaction towards different situation.

4. 1st Act - One of the students entered the class and saw different types of students’

attitudes. Camera focused on her standing there and looking around the class wondering

which seat should she sit. She started to have stereotype of each of people.

2nd

Act – “Nerd” thought that he would have done better, but someone behind him did

even better.

3rd

Act – As one of the students throws rubbish to the back, the girl beside witnessed this

situation and also follow suit.


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4th

Act – The student left his area with his paper and un-capped bottle on the table, and

accidentally spilled water all over the paper. The camera captured every student’s

reaction towards the situation in class - no one seemed to care, and was expecting

someone else to do something about it.

5. The recording differentiated into two parts: voice recording part and action filming. As

we will import the voices in a different channel to easy the editing job.

6. All the concepts can be observed from the video on YouTube.


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CONCEPT

1. First Impression

The initial impression we have on another individual for the first time of contact. The

impression may be positive or negative depending on the conditions an individual is

projecting to observers. It is a sense of physical as well as psychological features. First

impressions are usually instantaneous and occur without active awareness of observer. The

impression made is not on a person’s behavior or actions however they are mostly based on

their physical appearances. Researches determine that physical appearance is a very

important aspect of forming first impression. People are more likely to assume “what is

beautiful is good” therefore expecting people who are physically attractive are more likely to

be interesting, warm, outgoing and socially skilled than less attractive people, this is called

the ‘halo effect’. The halo effect is defined by one positive attribute observed on a person will

cause us to attribute other positive attribute toward the particular individual. However,

besides physical appearance, there are a varied range of characteristics that will assist in

forming the first impression such as: age, gender, race, culture, language, accent, posture,

voice, number of people present, and time given to process. Furthermore, it was found that

first impressions are formed after 0.1 second of meeting. After it is formed, first impressions

will remain stable and the observer’s impression of the individual will be set and it will be

hard to change the impression later on.


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2. Stereotype

Stereotypes are characteristics ascribed to groups of people involving gender, race,

national origin and other factors. These characteristics tend to be oversimplifications of the

groups involved, however. For example, someone who meets a few individuals from a

particular country and finds them to be quiet and reserved may spread the word that all

citizens from the country in question are quiet and reserved. A generalization such as this

doesn’t allow for diversity within groups and may result in stigmatization and discrimination

of groups if the stereotypes linked to them are largely negative. That said, even so-called

positive stereotypes can be harmful due to their limiting nature.

Firmin Didot invented the word ‘stereotype’ in the profession of the printing press

during the late Eighteenth Century in France. Originally, a stereotype was a duplicate

impression of a typographical element used for printing newspapers. The first common use of

the word was in 1850 when dictionaries defined it as ‘an image perpetuated without change’.

American journalist Walter Lippmann later coined a metaphor in 1922 while writing an

editorial for Public Opinion. In it, he stated that the pictures in the press influence people’s

perceptions of reality, and consequently, they develop their own stereotypes: “Whether right

or wrong, our imagination is shaped by these pictures seen. Consequently, they lead to

stereotypes that are hard to shake.”

There are multiple perspectives from which to understand stereotypes. Even

stereotype has its strengths and weaknesses. People can process new information about an

event or person and make predictions about other people’s behavior quickly with help of

stereotyping. On the other hand, people can exaggerate the differences among groups that


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make people see other groups as overly homogenous, even though people can easily see that

the groups they belong to are heterogeneous.

3. CORFing (Cutting Off Reflected Failure)

Cutting Off Reflected Failure - CORFing is practiced by attempting to distance or

separate ourselves from some failure that may have a negative impact on our self-esteem,

reputation, or self-image.

BIRGing and CORFing are easy to witness within the world of sports, but they also

make their mark in the workplace. Within organizations, employees are motivated to align

themselves with successful projects and products and distance themselves from failures.

For example, losing is the worst part in a game. It can break-up relationships as

people have mood swings easily, either on each extreme end, within a short moment. Losing

can negatively affect fans longer than winning can. The funny thing that happens when a

team loses is how fast the fans disassociate themselves from the team. Attitudes change from

‘we won’ to ‘they lost’. They will yell and scream about ‘how bad their team is’ and ‘how

they hate them for losing to that team’ or ‘how they want to trade the whole team for a high

school JV team’. It is torturous for a die-hard fan that has invested so much time, money,

energy, passion and love into a certain game or team. The image of the game and the final

score are burned into their brains like a non-stop nightmare that they have no control over.

http://adf.ly/IvnoP


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4. Social Facilitation

Social facilitation can be defined as ‘an improvement in performance produced by the

mere presence of others’. There are two types of social facilitation: co-action effects and

audience effect. The first social psychology laboratory experiment was undertaken in this

area by Norman Triplett in 1898.

In his research on the speed records of cyclists, he noticed that racing against each

other rather than against the clock alone increased the cyclists' speeds. He attempted to

duplicate this under laboratory conditions using children and fishing reels. There were two

conditions: the child alone and children in pairs but working alone. Their task was to wind in

a given amount of fishing line and Triplett reports that many children worked faster in the

presence of a partner doing the same task. Triplett's experiments demonstrate the co-action

effect, a phenomenon whereby increased task performance comes about by the mere presence

of others doing the same task.

The co-action effect may come into operation if you find that you work well in a

library in preference to working at home where it is equally quiet. Other co-action effect

studies include Chen (1937) who observed that worker ants will dig more than three times as

much per ant when working alongside other ants than when working alone and Platt, Yaksh

and Darby (1967) found that animals will eat more of their food if there are others of their

species present.

Social facilitation occurs not only in the presence of a co-actor but also in the

presence of a passive spectator or audience. This is known as the audience effect, surprisingly.

Dashiell (1935) found that the presence of an audience facilitated subjects' multiplication

performance by increasing the number of simple multiplications completed. Travis (1925)


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found that well-trained subjects were better at a psychomotor task in front of spectators.

However, Pessin (1933) found an opposite audience effect, namely that subjects needed

fewer trials at learning a list of nonsense words when on their own than when in front of an

audience.

5. Observational Learning

Observational learning is defined as watching others (models) engage in behaviors

and then repeating the same behavior. Basically copying the actions observed on other people.

This theory is found by Albert Bandura in 1961. The theory explains how we as human

beings acquire attitudes, fears, opinions and forming specific behaviors.

To form observational learning, it does not require reinforcements however in order

for it to happen a model individual is vital. A social model can be parents, sibling, friend or

teachers. For children the models are mostly individual of authority. The model is important

as it facilitates cognitive process behavior, it helps learner encode their observations and store

in memory for later imitations.

Usually, models displaying a certain behavior do not have the intention to influence or

instilling said behavior onto others. However, observers are able to process the behaviors,

remember and imitate the actions. The theory suggests that environment, cognition and

behavior occurring around an individual shape their functionality as a person. Behaviors are

spread out across cultures through a process called diffusion.

There are 4 stages of observational learning:

1. Attention

2. Retention/memory

3. Imitation/motor


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4. Motivation

Observational learning is advantageous when they are positive. It is crucial parents

are highly attentive towards children as behavioral construction based on observation are high

in the early stages of childhood. In order to shape a child’s behavior motivation and positive

reinforcement would better influence the child. A child would process and perceive a

behavior better when they are positively instructed on how to handle situations and solve

problems by a skilled instructor.

6. Bystander Effect

The term bystander effect refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the number

of people present, the less likely people is to help a person in distress. When an emergency

occurs, observers are more likely to take action if there are a few or no other witnesses. Being

part of a larger crowd makes it so no one has to take responsibility for an action (or inaction).

Early research of the bystander effect was done by researchers, the name of Latane’

and Darley. They studied a group of college students. The college students watched strangers

on video tapes observing how they respond to someone who is choking. To my surprise they

found that when the strangers thought they were the only one around 85% of them helped.

When the strangers thought that there was one other person 65% of them helped. Only 31%

of the strangers helped when they thought that four other people were around (Senghas,

2007). As astonishing as this research is we witness this type of disregard for other citizens

every day.

A famous true example that showcases how people will ignore someone in need is the

story of Kitty Genovese. Genovese was attacked for 45 minutes in public which results to her


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death. More appalling than the murder was the fact that 38 people watched and did nothing

(Senghas, 2007). According to the bystander effect, if there were fewer people around,

Genovese’s life may have been saved. Other researchers have done studies similar to the one

that Latane’ and Darley conducted.

One reason that the bystander effect occurs is the social influence process known as

“diffusion of responsibility”. Through numerous studies, psychologists have found that

bystanders are less likely to intervene in emergency situations as the size of the group

increases. The presence of others make one feel less personally responsible for responding to

events and each additional person presents lower the chances of anyone helping at all. People

tend to assume that someone else will provide the necessary help, especially when there are

many others around who could potentially do so.

A second mechanism behind the bystander effect is the reliance upon others to help

interpret ambiguous circumstances. When alone, individuals are responsible for deciding how

to respond appropriately to a situation. But when there are others present, we look to them for

guidance, especially when an unusual or novel event is occurring (such as an emergency).

Unfortunately, this can cause everyone in the situation to assume that nothing needs to be

done, if no one else is doing anything at the moment.


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DISCUSSION

First Impression

First impression was implied in the video when Pei Kei just started her class for the

semester and went into the class new peers. Her first impression of Tristan was that he was a

typical ‘nerd’ therefore he must be smart and hardworking however he has a lack of fashion

sense. As for her first impression of Simpson, because he was sleeping on the first day of

school, she assumed he was a lazy student. Pei Kei’s first impression of Rozanna was a rude

student due to her nonchalant attitude and placement of her feet on the table. In the end, Pei

Kei decided Tristan was her best option to make friends with as he might be useful to her to

assist with the assignment in the future.

Stereotyping

The scene when Pei Kei went into her first class showcased stereotype as she started

to observe people’s behavior. She witnessed students with different attitudes which are

“Nerd”, “Lazy”, and “Rude”. One of the variables was the students’ behaviors and the

environment. As she noticed the students around her, she was stereotyping her classmates

based on their behaviors that influenced her decision who she would be sitting with. Pei Kei

was shocked when she realized the dark skinned boy who was sitting at the back of class was

Chinese. The boy, Eugene looked like an Indian from his physical appearances. People

stereotype dark skinned Asians as Indian.


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CORFing (Cutting Off Reflected Failure)

We applied this theory in the video on the first day of school, Pei Kei walked into the

classroom and she asked permission to sit beside Tristan. The reason she chose to sit beside

him because she was trying to distance herself from bad influences. Her first impression on

her classmates determines her choice to sit with whom. The attitude, behavior and physical

appearances were important in her decision making.

From video, Simpson seemed like a lazy person because he was sleeping on the first

day of school and Rozanna was a rude girl who did not pay attention and was listening to

music in class. Therefore, Pei Kei concluded that Tristan was a hardworking nerd and so he

should be smart, hence she decided to sit with Tristan.

Social Facilitation

Social facilitation was instilled in the video when Simpson and Tristan were doing

assignments together. They were friends and also competitors in the class as they were both

clever students. Simpson was stressed when he was working with Tristan and the

situation/co-action drove him to work harder. He did not want to lose to Tristan therefore he

was motivated to produce a high quality work. As a result, Tristan worked hard to finish two

pages of the assignment, however, with the aid of social facilitation; Simpson did more than

the assignment required him to do.


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Observational Learning

In the video, it was shown that Rozanna was throwing rubbish nonchalantly in class.

Pei Kei was observing this behavior and when she wanted to throw a piece of rubbish and she

could not find the rubbish bin she just threw the rubbish behind her. Observational learning is

where she saw another individual performing an action therefore assuming it was fine to do

so, thus she imitates the same behavior.

Bystander effect

In the video, the bystander effect occurred in the scene when Simpson went out of the

classroom. He accidentally slammed the door too hard and caused the uncapped water bottle

to topple and water was spilt all over the table and Simpson’s assignment.

However, no one in the classroom who witnessed the incident made a move to help.

The theory was explained through Pei Kei’s monologue, she thought to herself “Rozanna will

definitely help him” as the presence of others made her feel less responsible to help. Hence,

this mind set influenced the others. At the end, no one tried to save Simpson’s assignment.


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REFERENCES

1. Spark Notes, Retrieved from

http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section2.rhtml

2. Khan, S. R., Benda, T., & Stagnaro, M. N., 2012, Stereotyping From the Perspective of

Perceivers and Targets. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 5(1), Retrieved from

http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1043

3. Wann, D. L., Hamlet, M. A., Wilson, T., & Hodges, J. A. (1995). Basking in reflected

glory, cutting off reflected failure, and cutting off future failure: The importance of

identification with a group. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 23,

377-388. doi:10.2224/sbp.1995.23.4.377

4. The Bystander Effect, Retrieved from

https://sites.google.com/site/thepsychofsocialpsychology/classical-studies/the-bystander-

effect

5. J.M. Densing, 2014, What is Social Facilitation, Retrieved from

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-social-facilitation.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section2.rhtml

http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1043

https://sites.google.com/site/thepsychofsocialpsychology/classical-studies/the-bystander-effect

https://sites.google.com/site/thepsychofsocialpsychology/classical-studies/the-bystander-effect

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-social-facilitation.htm


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APPENDIX

Video Script

ACT 1

It is the first day of the semester start.

(Pei Kei is walking up from the staircase. She stops outside of the classroom and tidy herself.)

Pei Kei: Today’s the first day of school. I must tidy myself and not embarrass myself. *Italic represents all the conversation in mind.

(Pei Kei takes a deep breathe then walks in. She starts to observe all the classmates in the

class and to find an empty seat.)

(Camera focuses on Tristan. He acts as a nerd with suitable clothing and spectacles.)

Pei Kei: This guy must be a nerd!

(Camera then focuses on Simpson. He acts as a lazy boy who is sleeping on the first day of

school.)

Pei Kei: Sleeping on the first day of school? He must be very lazy.

(Camera goes to Rozanna. She acts as a rude girl who is listening to the music alone at the

back of the class with her feet on the table.)

Pei Kei: She is so rude!

(Out of a sudden, Pei Kei was shocked by Eugene.)

Pei Kei: He is so dark. I think he is an Indian.

(BUT… Eugene shouts and asks a question to Tristan.)

Eugene: Hey, Tristan what have u done during the holiday? *in Chinese

Tristan: Urgh…. Revise lo… *in Chinese

(Pei Kei is walking towards Tristan.)


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Pei Kei: I’m sorry. Can I sit here?

Tristan: Urgh…Yea.

ACT 2

Few months later. One day, before a submission date.

Simpson: Tristan, have you started DPJ 01?

Tristan: Huh? What? DPJ 01? When is the submission date?

Simpson: Ya, is tomorrow!

Tristan: What is tomorrow? I need to start work now!

(Camera focuses on Tristan doing his assignment. He works very hard on his assignment with

big and exaggerated movement.)

(He slowly raises up his end products and smile broadly.)

Tristan: Phew~ Finally! Hey, how about yours?

Tristan: Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!

(Tristan is shocked by the exclusively amount of the artworks that drawn by Simpson.)

(Camera zoom-in all the way of those pieces of artworks and focuses on Simpson. He is

panting because of working too hard.)

Simpson: Ah…? What?

ACT 3

In classroom.

(Rozanna and Pei Kei are sitting side by side, doing their assignment.)

(Suddenly, Rozanna rolls the paper into a ball then throws it behind to the classroom. She

repeats the action again.)

(Pei Kei noticed this action but she just keeps quiet.)

Pei Kei: Oh shit!


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Pei Kei: Where is the rubbish bin??

Pei Kei: Urghhhh! Forget about it!

(Then, she learns the action of throwing rubbish behind of her from Rozanna.)

ACT 4

In classroom.

(When Simpson is doing assignment, he is angry with his shaky table.)

(Simpson suddenly stands up from his seat, seems like going to washroom.)

(Camera focuses on the un-capped bottle that with the water inside. As Simpson accidentally

slams the door too hard and causes the bottle falls down, the water inside spills all over

Simpson’s assignment.) (Slow-motion)

(Everyone in the class turns and looks at the disaster happened, but no one take a move.)

(Camera captures everyone’s reaction.)

(Camera first goes to Tristan.)

Tristan: Someone will goanna help him.

(Camera then focuses on Pei Kei)

Pei Kei: Ah, Rozanna will definitely help him.

(Camera focuses on Rozanna. However, she just ignores and continue listens to her music.)

The story ends.


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Cast List

Pei Kei as Good Student

Tristan as Nerd

Simpson as Lazy Boy

Rozanna as Rude Girl

Special guest

Eugene as Dark Boy

Video Link

Psychology video- FNBE Social Psychology Final Assignment

http://youtu.be/aH17NdA13Ao

http://youtu.be/aH17NdA13Ao

Education

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