Social psych paper

Dr. Scuderi PSYC 3350 - Social Psychology Page 1 of 2

HW #4: Relating Social Psych to Everyday Life - Media Analysis Paper

Due: Friday, April 3, 2015

PSYC 3350 – Social Psychology

Dr. Noelle Scuderi

From the Syllabus:

Practice applying social psychological theories/concepts to your everyday life. Identify a sample TV clip, magazine or newspaper article, advertisement, commercial, comic strip, etc. that demonstrates a social psychological phenomenon. In 2 to 3 pages, write a brief description of your media example and define and describe the related social psychological theory or concept, comparing and contrasting the theory with your example.

Details:

This assignment requires you to identify sample audio-visual clips or written items that demonstrate one or more social psychological theories or phenomenon. For example, your textbook often highlights short cartoon strips as examples of social psychological phenomenon. In our Blackboard course modules, you’ve seen links to articles written in popular psychology magazines and even news clips that deal with a related social psychology topic, and we’ve talked about how commercials demonstrate persuasive appeals or conformity pressures. You may use an example of your choosing from any source (except your textbook), and highlight any social psychological theories that we have discussed from Chapters 2 through 10.

Because the focus of this paper is on “everyday life”, please refrain from using formal

scientific journals/research for this assignment. Ideal sources would be examples that are available in the public domain and could be shared via a web link, video clip, or computer file. You may choose other sources (like a movie scene for example or an excerpt from a novel) that are not distinctly shareable, but in those cases, you will need to take extra care to set up the scene and describe the background so that the connections are well-understood between your example and the social psychological principles that you are describing to the reader (me).

In addition, please be mindful of appropriate content. I do not want to see anything

explicit or otherwise inappropriate used as an example in this paper. For this assignment, you will write a 2-3 page analysis. In your analysis, you will need

to first describe your media example, and identify the related social psychological concept(s). Clearly define the concept(s) and provide the necessary background about relevant research from your text/readings as learned in this course. Identify, clearly, how the social psychological theory relates to your example. If your example does not fully conform to the theoretical definitions and expected results/findings, please discuss the differences as well. Some media examples (especially books and movies) will encompass multiple theories. For the purposes of this assignment, please focus on just one key psychological theory in your example.

Note: If you wish to receive feedback about media choices or have any questions,

please contact me via Blackboard messages. I will respond as quickly as possible.

Dr. Scuderi PSYC 3350 - Social Psychology Page 2 of 2

Writing Tips:

Please begin your paper with an introduction and end your paper with a conclusion paragraph. Please write this paper as a formal report, not a casual response. As such, please refrain from writing in the first-person (including the words “I”, “my”, etc.).

Your completed paper should be approximately 2 to 3 pages long (typed, double-

spaced using 1" margins and 12-point font). Please include an APA-style reference list with your media examples clearly sourced (with valid web links/file attachments, where appropriate). Please cite your textbook as a source if you use it as a resource for definitions/research explanations. If you use other sources besides your textbook as a resource, please cite those sources as well! Please remember to put any/all quotes in quotation marks and include the appropriate parenthetical citation to accompany them. You will be submitting this paper using SafeAssign in Blackboard.

This assignment is worth 60 points, and is due by midnight on Friday, April 3. Each of you has the ability to get an “A” on this assignment. In general, the grading will be broken down as follows:

General Writing Style/Organization (10 pts) – Did you proofread? (Hint: the answer

should be “Yes”) Did you write in 1st-person? (Hint: the answer should be “No”) Introduction (5 pts) Media analysis

• Clear descriptions of media content (10 pts)

• Definition/description of social psychological principles (10 pts)

• Clear linkages between the theory and your media example (15 pts) Conclusion (5 pts) APA Style Reference List (5 pts)