social pshychology

READING AND VIEWING MATERIAL: 2) Chapter 8 in our textbook, “Group Process.” 3) Watch one of the following classical movies, which portray a closed group, and the complex activity between group-members: a) The movie “Lifeboat” by Alfred Hitchcock, which is about a group of survivors on a lifeboat in World War II. You can find it on YouTube in several versions, for example: Lifeboat 1944 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Lifeboat 1944 b) The movie “And then there were none,” which is an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s mystery book. You can find it on YouTube in several versions, for example: And Then There Were None (1945) HD, FULL MOVIE (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. And Then There Were None (1945) HD, FULL MOVIE THE GOAL OF THIS PAPER ASSIGNMENT: To demonstrate your understanding of the material by analyzing events and situations of your choice from one of the above two films. PAPER TOPIC: Your paper should be a response to the question: How do some of the concepts or theories in Chapter 8 apply to some of the situations and events in the film? Obviously, you cannot (and shouldn’t try to) write about ALL the topics of Chapter 8, or ALL the things that happen in the film. Rather, you should focus your paper on specific psychological ideas and specific episodes. I leave it for you to decide how to do this and how to structure your paper. One good possibility is to select 2-4 specific episodes in the video which relate to some of the theories in the chapter, and then analyze these episodes from the perspective of these theories. Another possibility is to focus on 2-3 major theories and examine how they apply to the video. However, there are other good ways of structuring your paper. Use your creativity and critical thinking! In any case, here are some general instructions which you should follow: a) Your paper should utilize several major ideas from the chapter, as opposed to focusing exclusively on one little idea. In other words, you should demonstrate your knowledge of several important parts of Chapter 8. b) Assume that your reader has already watched the film. Don’t waste writing space in re-telling what is happening in it. Your reader has already watched it. All you need is to refer to the episode under discussion with a brief description (and indicate the minutes in the video!). Most of your paper should be devoted to an intelligent discussion, not to merely re-telling events. c) When you explain ideas from the textbook, always explain them IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Usually there is no need to quote word for word (in quotation marks) unless the exact wording is important (as when you quote an important writer). I want to hear your voice, not somebody else’s. d) A focused and clear organization of your paper is important. Start by presenting the issue or topic you want to focus on, build your discussion in a logical order, step by step, and end with a brief conclusion or summary. e) When you examine a psychological idea from the book, you might find that it does not apply to the video, or applies only in part. This is perfectly legitimate. After all, psychological ideas are not always correct. It is perfectly fine to write that a given idea does not apply precisely to the events. To put it differently: Don’t force ideas on the movie. f) At the end of the paper you should include a bibliography section, consisting of all the reading items to which you referred in your paper (our textbook, the video, and whatever other items you have used, if any). Notice that you are not expected to use any additional text or video. The bibliographical list should be in APA or MLA style. g) Remember that your task is to write a psychology paper. Therefore, you should write in a concise, objective, serious way. Avoid expressing personal values and opinions and stick to the facts and to the psychological ideas. Avoid empty platitudes, such as From time immemorial humankind has” or “Everybody is different, and everybody has his own opinion.” Be specific and concrete – you are writing as a scientist. h) No abstract (brief summary) is needed at the beginning of your paper.
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