SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

RESEARCH REPORT

NAME : LEE PEI GIE ( 0315653 )

AMANDA NG WEI XUAN ( 0316140 )

MUHAMMAD HASIF BIN ALIAS ( 0316413 )

LAI CHOON FENG ( 0315898 )

GROUP/ SESSION : MONDAY 1 P.M. – 4 P.M.

SUBJECT : SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE : FNBE

LECTURER : MR. T, SHANKAR

SUBMISSION DATE: 2nd JUNE 2014

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Acknowledgement

We would like to express our gratitude to our lecturer, Mr T. Shankar who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful social psychology conceptual video clip, which also helped us in doing a lot of research and we came to understand more about psychology concepts we have learnt in the class.

Secondly, we would also thank each of the group members for the great commitment and other classmates who helped us a lot in finishing this project within the limited time.

We are making this project not only for marks but to increase our understanding about psychology which will definitely help us in our following test as well.

Again, thanks every single person who helped us throughout the video shooting!

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ContentNo Content Page number

1. Introduction 4

2. Storyline summary 5

3. Method- Apparatus/ Materials- Procedure- Settings

6

4. Discussion- Concepts/ Theories

7 - 9

5. Reference 10

6. Appendix 11-13

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IntroductionWhat is social psychology? There are three main areas of interest that are social perception, social influence and social interaction. Social perception means forming an impression of others based on available information. Social influence means the process by which one’s thoughts and actions are affected by others. Social interaction means the process by which one’s thoughts and actions are affected by others. In this era of globalization, the people in this world influence each other when people all over the world interacting daily, which ultimately affect our perception about the world. We can only survive and communicate with people easier when we understand the concept behind social psychology.

There are three objectives of this project. Firstly, this project allowed us to conduct social psychology experiment on our own through research. Secondly, it also enhanced the teamwork ability and leadership. Lastly, problem solving and creative thinking are encouraged as well during video shooting.

Upon the completion of this project, we successfully demonstrate implementation of concepts to practical environments, to apply critical thinking in application of real world experiences, to work in group dynamics.

This project definitely needs a lot of planning. We need to arrange our timetable well so that every single member is able to involve themselves in the project. On the other hand, script is needed to prepare well before video shooting. Finding locations for video shooting of course needed some planning as well. Eventually, social psychology theories are implemented, which in fact is the main objective of this project.

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Summary

The story starts with the little girl’s mom has became sick. She diligently helps her mom to do housework and behaved independently. She cooks for her mum, helps to wash and dry clothes and studies alone herself although she is still at a very young age.

One day, as she is wandering and loitering out on the street, she sees a man who is handing a sack of tin collected on the street to a tin buyer, while the tin buyer paid him some money in return.

After a few days, she finds out that the rice in her house has become lesser from day to day. The girl knows that selling tins is the only way of earning money to buy her mum medicine and rice. So, she works on it daily by collecting tins at the roadside and on the street. After that, she sells it to the tin buyer.

One day, when she is on her way back to home after selling all the tins she has collected, she met her neighbour. Her neighbour informs her that the human trafficker from their village has been released from jail and asks her to be more cautious about it.

She has a book to record the money that is collected through tins selling and she always keeps in track with the amount of money needed to cure her mum. Every time when she hears her mother coughing, it strikes her to work harder to earn more money so that her mother’s sickness can be treated as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the money that she can earn daily though collecting tins is way too far from the required amount.

The next morning, she cleans herself and wears prettily. After looking at her mom for the last time, she goes to look for the human trafficker herself unexpectedly. When they met, the human trafficker first thinks that this little girl can be his new prey. However, he is totally shocked by what this little girl has said. She pleaded him to sell her because she is still lacking money for her mom’s surgery.

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Method

Apparatus / : Small stool, clothes, pot, rice, bottles, tins, cane, notebooks, porridge, Materials spoon, bowl, rubbish bag, stationeries.

* Camera and camera stand for video shooting.* Some other minor apparatus are borrowed from house

owner of shooting location.

Procedure : 1) Suggest video script with social psychology concepts.

2) Get approval from the lecturer.

3) Suggest video props that are needed.

4) Suggest locations for video shooting and get approval.

5) Discuss days for video shooting and start the progress.

Settings : Chong Zit Man ( one of the course mates )’s hostel, Taylor’s University’s parking lot.

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Discussion(Psychology theories incorporated in video clips.)

Six social psychology concepts have involved in this video which comprising theories of kinship selection, empathy-altruism model of prosocial behavior, the availability heuristic, observational learning, ageism, confirmation bias and sociocultural theory.

1) Kinship selection

Kin selection is the tendency to help others whom are blood related. The more closely the individuals are related, the more likely people are to help. It suggests that altruism towards close relatives occurs in order to ascertain the continuation of shared genes. Linking to the video context, Tong Tong, who is just a small little child, worked hard finding money and doing all the house chores for a woman. That woman is her mom, the closest blood relative she had. She took great care of her mom, feeding her and gathering money for an operation than could make her mom healthy again. This theory clearly revealed that most people put family as the predominant persons whenever anything happens.

2) Empathy- A ltruism M odel of P ro - social B ehavior

Empathy-altruism model of pro-social behaviour explained a higher tendency to help others whose welfares are threatened with a great cost in helping them, wanting nothing in returns. The story started off with the scene when Tong Tong’s mom was badly falling sick, very weak and in need of an operation. Tong Tong, as her daughter diligently helped her mom by doing all their house chores while she lived an independent life study all by herself and at the same time, finding money for her mom’s operation and to fill their empty stomachs. She did not desire anything in return and only wished for her beloved mom to be healthy again.

3) The Availability Heuristic

We make a judgment based on what we can remember, rather than complete data. In particular, we use this for judging frequency or likelihood of events because we remember recent experiences, then the events have significant effects on our decisions. For instance, Tong Tong

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found out that the rice in her house has became less that it could not sustain her mum and her live any longer. Since her mom was sick lying on the bed, so she kept thinking of the way to resolve the problems. This situation quickly recalled her memory about the scene she saw on the previous day where she can actually earn money to buy the rice and also to pay for her mom’s medicine and surgery operation fee by collecting and selling bottles and tins.

4) Observational Learning

Observing Learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of other people. Albert Bandura theorized that observational learning can be understood via four distinct concepts - attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement. These four concepts used in sequence allow organisms to acquire the ability to engage in new, at times complex, behaviours simply through observation.

Attention -  It is the first up in the process of understanding observational learning. As the short video clip illustrated, Tong Tong was first paying attention at the process of trade done by the tin collector and buyer. It she did not watch the process intently, her brain could not truly learn the process. Attention is critical to making sure that all of the important details are noted.

Retention - Retention is the process of taking the information in through one’s senses and committing it to memory. One has to remember the steps in order to replicate them later. So, Tong Tong has paid close attention to how the tin collector and buyer did their trade, but then it was her turn and she got to remember how to do it.  Regardless of the level of complexity of the observed behaviour we are trying to learn, remembering what we observed is critical.

Motor Reproduction - Motor reproduction is the act of putting to use the information that your brain has taken in. So Tong Tong had retained the knowledge by committing the process of the trade to memory. In order to truly learn to earn money, Tong Tong need to actually attempt to make start collecting money by collecting tins.

Reinforcement - Reinforcement can increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. When Tong Tong found that by collecting and selling tins can help her earned money, she repeated the works more often. The positive result of selling the tins acted as reinforcement, so that she was encouraged to work on it again.

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5) Non verbal communication ( Non - verbal cues )

Non verbal cues are body languages, gestures, and expressions that convey thought or emotion without words.  Emotional expressions in psychology are observable verbal and nonverbal behaviors that communicate and internal emotional or affective state. Example of emotional expression in the video is shown when Tong Tong showed facial movements of her crying which indicates that she was sad. On the other hand, holding the rice pot is also an example of body language or behavior. The behavior of her holding the pot and looking at it indicates she was sad and worries when the rice in her house was finishing and cannot sustain her mother and her life any longer.

6) Sociocultural perspective

The sociocultural perspective seeks to understand human behavior and personality development by examining the rules of the social groups and subgroups in which the individual is a member. These rules are often unwritten guidelines that direct a person's actions. Race and ethnicity, religion, gender, social class, family traditions, peer groups, and age are some of the subgroups that may influence someone's behavior. In this case, Tong Tong decided to meet human trafficker and sold herself to him because she wanted to gain extra money for her mother’s surgery. The action of trading by the group of two person she saw on the previous day that had taught her that she had to sell something to earn something, it is a reverse trade. This is what she learnt from her culture.

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References1) http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/availability_heuristic.htm

2) http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/observational-learning-definition-theory-examples.html#lesson

3) http://senoritaciiefnbe.blogspot.com/2013/12/social-psychology.html

4) http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/sociocultural-perspective-definition-examples-quiz.html#lesson

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APPENDIX

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Script for video clips

Main character ( Little girl ) : Amanda Ng

Mother : Lee Pei Gie

Tin buyer : Hasif

Tin collector : Ah Lai

Human trafficker : Ah Lai

Neighbour : Lee Pei Gie

Scene 1

Little girl’s mom has became sick. She diligently helping her mom to do housework and behaved independently ( cook for her mum, help to wash and dry clothes, studying alone herself ). < Kinship selection & Empathy-altruism model of prosocial behavior > She always wish to grow up faster ( always measure her height ).

Scene 2

As she wandering and loitering out on the street, she suddenly saw a scene. A man was handing a sack of tin collected on the street to a tin buyer, while the tin buyer paid him some money in return.

Tin buyer : “ Here, three dollar for you. Have a nice day.” ( Paying money to another man )

Scene 3

One day, she found out that the rice in her house has become less. Since her mom was sick lying on bed, she kept thinking of how to solve the problem of it. The girl remembers that by selling tins can make her earn money to buy her mum medicine and rice. < The availability heuristic > So, she works on it daily by collecting tins at the roadside and on the street. After that, she sell it to the tin buyer as what she seen on previous day. < Observational learning>

Tin buyer : “ You don’t do this yourself, right? Must be someone helping you. Here, I’ll pay you a bit more. ” ( Paying money to little girl )

Little girl : “ Thank you, uncle. ” ( Receive the money happily. )

Tin buyer : “ It’s okay. Take care. ” She nodded her head.

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Scene 4

Little girl took the money and back home happily. On the way home, she met her neighbor.

Neighbor : “ Tong Tong, is your mom getting better ? ” The little girl nodded her head.

Neighbour : “ The human trafficker from our village was released from jail. Don’t go anywhere yourself, okay? ” Little girl nodded her head again then going back home.

Scene 6

At home, she counted the money happily. She also record the money spent to buy medicine daily and diligently collecting tins on the street. Every time when she hears her mother coughing, it strikes her to work harder to earn more money so that her mother’s sickness can be treated faster. Day by day, the medicine fee become more expensive and she found that the money she earned cannot cover it long term.

Scene 7

Another day, she cleaned herself and wore prettily. After looking for her mom for the last time, she went to look for the human trafficker herself unexpectedly.

Little girl : “ Uncle……” She stands in front of him, and he look curiously at her.

Little girl : “ Uncle, can you sell me please? I need another 1800 for my mom’s surgery. ”

< Sociocultural theory – you need to sell something to earn something, it is a reverse trade. This is what she learnt from her culture. >

The end.

1) Observational learning ( chap 5 )

2) Kinship selection ( chap 8 )

3) Empathy-altruism model of pro-social behavior ( chap 8 )

4) Non verbal communication ( non verbal cues ) ( chap 7 ) *not written in script.

5) The availability heuristic ( chap 3 )

6) Sociocultural theory ( chap 1 )

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