report

1. GROUP MEMBERS: AHMAD ASHRAF [ 0317744 ]
AGNES YEO SHU YUAN [ 0318668 ]
KONG XHIANG LYNN [ 0317730 ]
NG WAI KHONG [ 0317980 ]
LYNETTE LAW [ 0317761 ]
GROUP/SESSION: MONDAY, 4PM
COURSE: FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILD
ENVIRONMENT [FNBE]
SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY [ PSYC0103 ]
SUBMISSION DATE: 8TH OF DECEMBER 2014
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2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Shankar for giving us this
opportunity to conduct a social experiment for our Social Psychology final project. We would
also like to thank Mr. Shankar for guiding us throughout this final project. Not to mention, we
would like to thank him for sending the lecture notes to us as it was very useful in this final
project.
On the other hand, we are grateful to our parents as they provided us with financial
resources that was needed to film this social experiment. We would like to extend our sincere
regards to all the participants that were involved in this experiment. Throughout this whole
experiment, we want to thank all of our friends who came to help as we needed more people
to conduct this experiment.
Besides, we would like to thank our group members for cooperating with each other
and working hard as a group throughout this project. We divided our tasks equally, and would
like to thank all our group members for their contribution. Lastly, we would like to thank
Taylor’s University for allowing us to film in the campus throughout the whole project.
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3. TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Acknowledgement
2. Table of Content
3. Introduction
4. Method :
4.1.Participants
4.2.Apparatus/ Materials
4.3.Procedure
5. Discussion
6. References
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4. 7. Appendix
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5. INTRODUCTION
In this final project, we are required to conduct a social psychology experiment or a
skit. We are encouraged to use materials and theories from various topics taught and
discussed in class. This project is divided into two parts. The first part of this project is
recording the video clip and a report and the second part is to conduct a group presentation on
the submission day. The whole project carried about 40% marks in total, 20% for report, 20%
for video clip and presentation.
In a group of 5, we decided to conduct a social experiment in Taylor’s University.
This experiment is about a few of us crossing an imaginary line to test whether the people in
campus will follow our behaviours and also how would they react to it. There are several
concepts that can be found in this experiment. These concepts are conformity, situational
attribution, schema, selective attention and pluralistic ignorance.
Our video is more of a social experiment where there is a research project conducted
with human subjects in the real world that typically investigates the effects of a policy
intervention by randomly assigning individuals, families and etc to different treatments. Our
main objective is to observe the students in the campus whether they will get influence by
involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group and their response as
well to the group influence.
The script of the video is a group of students which visualizes that there is an invisible
rope in the middle of the pathway. By trespassing it, the group of students will have to lift
their legs to leap over the imaginary rope. The objective of the experiment is to imply that
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6. there is an obstacle across the path, and in order to cross over it, you can either jump, hop or
by lifting your leg up. Furthermore, the experiment can only be conducted when there are
passers-by along the targeted pathway. Hence, the hypothesis that we come up with before
the experiment is, the more the people crossing the invisible obstacle, the higher the chance
that the passers-by will mimic our action. Whereas, the lesser the people crossing the
invisible obstacle, the higher the chance that the passers-by will ignore us and pass by the
targeted pathway as per normal.
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7. METHODS
Participants
All the participants who took part in our social experiment are from Taylor’s University
Lakeside Campus where they do not acknowledge the presence of the experiment in the
beginning. This is to ensure that all the responses given was not acted up but purely from
their natural reaction in order to prove the concept tested. The participants will then be
interviewed after the experiment to confirm their responses.
Apparatus/ Materials
4 of our group members will be the actors and actresses of this experiment, which are Ahmad
Ashraf, Ng Wai Khong, Agnes Yeo Shu Yuan, and Kong Xhiang Lynn. They will cross a
certain point by lifting their legs up where they pretend that an imaginary line is obstructing
their way. Another 1 of the group member, which is Lynette Law, will be hiding among the
crowds or the corner with the camera to film the reactions of the participants and will then be
interviewing them after the experiment. In addition, another camera is also set up to film the
whole process of the social experiment.
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8. Procedures:
1. Planning the social experiment
A few discussion were conducted before carrying out the social experiment. During the first
discussion, decision were made on conducting a social experiment instead of a short skit.
Research was also done based on the types of social experiment that is suitable to be
conducted in Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus.
2. Conforming the concepts
A discussion were conducted to confirm the concepts of the social experiment. Some
researches about the concepts were also done before conforming. The concepts conformity,
situational attribution, schema, selective attention and pluralistic ignorance were finalized in
the end.
3. Deciding the venue
On the second discussion, the venue of the social experiment was discussed and in the end
finalized with 2 different venues which are, the area outside the library and also around
Syopz Mall, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus.
4. Dividing the roles
Before conducting the social experiment, roles were equally divided among the group
members by deciding the actors, actresses, and the cameraman. Ahmad Ashraf and Ng Wai
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9. Khong will be the actors whereas Agnes Yeo Shu Yuan and Kong Xhiang Lynn will be the
actresses. Lynette Law will then be in charge of the filming process.
5. Sequence of venue
The filming was first started outside of the library, then moving on to the next location which
was the Syopz Mall. Precise locations are in front of Chatime and Ruemz Hotel, and another
venue was in front of Subway.
6. Analysing the results
After filming the social experiment, we had analysed the responses given by the participants.
We noticed that there were few different reactions and responses in the video.
7. Discussing the results
Another discussion is made to conform the relation of concepts to the responses of
participants in the social experiment to see if they match. After the discussion, the report of
the social experiment is then proceeded.
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10. DISCUSSION
The concepts that we portray in our video are mostly taken from our psychology
lessons as well.
Firstly, our main psychology concept that took place in the video is Conformity. It is a
type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a
group, the change involved is in response to real or imaginary group pressure. The social
experiment that we have conducted was able prove the concept, Conformity, as we are able to
convince some of the participant to follow our footsteps, that is to avoid the imaginary
obstacle. This also proves that people are much easier to be influenced by a group of social
norms under a group pressure.
The next concept tested in the social experiment is Selective Attention, which is a
process whereby one pays attention only to messages that addresses a need or interest or are
consistent with the individual’s attitudes, opinions and beliefs. As shown in the video clip, it
clearly shows that the pathway do not contain any physical obstacle which is obstructing the
way. But, when a group of people is trying to surpass this invisible obstacle, it caught the
attention of the passer-by and was able to convince them to believe that there is an obstacle
obstructing the pathway.
Following, the third concept tested is schema, which is a cognitive framework or
concept that helps organize and interpret information. Furthermore, schema can be useful as
they allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of information that is available
in our environment. The process of Assimilation, Accommodation and Equilibration took
place when a new schema was formed in the mind of the participants. Initially, the
participants assumed that the pathway was clear, but after observing our actions, they were
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11. convinced that there is an obstacle (invisible) obstructing the pathway. The group of actors
and actresses who acted to surpass the invisible obstacle on the pathway was able to
accommodate a new schema onto the participants mind by implying that there is an obstacle
on the pathway. Equilibration then took place as the participants then try to surpass the
invisible obstacle which they thought was obstructing the pathway.
The fourth concept in the social experiment is Situational Attribution. Situational
attribution means, people tend to infer that a persons’ behavior is due to situational or
external factors. An example can be taken from the video when a group of students started to
cross the invisible obstacle. This action has caused the passer-by to believe that there is
actually an obstacle obstructing the pathway. Therefore, the assumptions of the passer-by
proves the concept of situational attribution as they infer that the group of students’ behavior
was due to a situational or external factor, which in this case, was the invisible obstacle.
Lastly, the fifth concept implied in the experiment is Pluralistic Ignorance. It means
that a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but incorrectly
assume that most other accept it, and therefore go along with it. Most of the people tend to
ignore us although we are in a group of people where we can give enough persuasion to
conform them to act like us as well. This is able to prove the concept, pluralistic ignorance, as
they tend to reject the norm and assuming that the obstacle was not present.
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12. REFERENCES
1. McLeod,S. (2007). What is Conformity? Retrieved from :
http://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html
2. Kendra Cherry. (2014). What is Schema? Retrieved from: http://
psychology.about.com/od/sindex/g/def_schema.htm
3. Oskar Blakstad. (2008). Social Psychology Experiments. Retrieved from: http://
explorable.com/social-psychology-experiments
4. Myers, D. (2010). Exploring Social Psychology (4th ed., p. 482). McGraw-Hill.
5. Goodwin, C. J. (2010). Research in psychology: Methods and design, 6th edition.
New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
6. Sanderson, C. A. (2010). Social psychology. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
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13. 7.
APPENDIX
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