Love is Blind

Final
Project

General

In this course, we
have provided several examples of how social psychological topics apply to real
world scenarios (e.g., misattribution of arousal in The Bachelor,
prosocial behavior with The Subway Hero). Now, it’s your turn to find an
example of social psychology “in the wild.” For your final project, your task
is to (1) identify a piece of media that demonstrates a social psychological
topic we reviewed in class, (2) find a research study on this topic using
PsycINFO (more instructions to come) to help you describe the topic, and (3) describe
how the topic and the research study you found explain the phenomena observed
in the selected media.

In addition to
applying social psychological concepts to real world scenarios, an objective of
this course that you can effectively explain your observations to people who
have a limited knowledge of social psychology. Therefore, you will be allowed
to choose how you would like to present your final project. You may submit a:

–
Paper (3 – 4 pages)
–
If you choose to write a paper, you can either write a formal
APA-style paper. Please make sure you present it professionally (i.e., avoid slang in your
paper).

Step 1

Your first task is
to identify a piece of print or broadcast media (e.g., a persuasive
infographic, news segment, reality television show, documentary, etc.) and
describe how it demonstrates an example of a social psychological topic. You
may choose to focus on how the writers/production team exploit social behavior
to elicit a behavior or attitude from subjects in the production (e.g.,
contestants) or from the audience (e.g., viewers at home). You alternatively
choose a scene/clip that demonstrates social psychological phenomenon in an
interaction between subjects.

For example, if I
were to choose The Bachelor franchise, I may critique how the producers
plan dates. Throughout the show, the bachelor (or bachelorette) attend
“one-on-one” dates with their suitors. Often, these dates feature exciting and
emotionally arousing activities such as splashing out on luxury goods, taking
helicopter rides, learning tantric yoga, or going skydiving. Although these
dates make for fun content for viewers of the show, the producers may
unwittingly evoke misattribution of arousal in the bachelor(ette) and
their date. Misattribution of arousal occurs when people confuse physiological
responses caused by fear or anxiety resulting from perceived danger with
feelings of liking toward another person…if this were my real project, I
would go on to describe a study examining misattribution of arousal and then
compare the experimental scenario with the events on the show, but I already
did that in Lecture 8; Close Relationships! J

Be sure to give us
a brief overview of the media you selected so we have some context for the
situation. If you are using a specific clip or clips, please provide us with a
link so that we can view it or include the clip in your project.

Step 2

After identifying and describing your chosen media, define the relevant
social psychological topic. Your goal is to explain a complex concept
thoroughly and accurately for an audience who may not know anything about it
(so, not your professors).

Then, use PsychINFO or Google Scholar to conduct a literature search and find a research study (preferably an
experiment) that provides evidence of the topic in question. Please download the article you use and attach it to your final
submission. In your description of the study, you should include:

–
The research question and
hypothesis
–
The methods the researchers
used to test their hypothesis (explain what they had participants do)
–
Their results (how did
participants behave?) and their conclusions (how did they interpret the
findings)

Returning to my Bachelor
example, I would describe the bridge study (see Lecture 8) to explain how
misattribution of arousal functions.

Step 3

Finally, apply the topic
and the study to your selected media. Compare the methods the researchers used
to the scenarios in your selected media. What is the overlap? How closely does
the example you chose map onto the study you described? How do you know the topic
is relevant to this piece of media? Think about the pattern of results from the
study—did you observe the same outcomes in the example you provided?

Again, returning to
the Bachelor example, I
would compare the scenario researchers created in the bridge study to the dates
producers arrange on the show. Then, I would explain how the results of the
bridge study are applicable to the outcomes on the show—how do we know
misattribution of arousal has taken place?

Please use the following clip,
https://youtu.be/o-lkX22XOow “Love is Blind” The Lauren and Cameron
Story. Please talk about the following social psychology topic,
Interpersonal relationship, and proximity.

Last Completed Projects