Locate  a film or book (popular fiction, not a psychology text or  instructional/academic film) that illustrates one of the concepts we’re  discussing this semester. For example, the film/book might depict  situations that are relevant to the concepts of obedience, conformity,  altruism, persuasion techniques, groupthink, interpersonal attraction,  etc… Any topic discussed in our readings is fair game, but the concept  needs to be clearly depicted in the source you chose.

For  the purposes of this assignment, films/books that actually depict any of  the classic experiments we’re discussing this semester (e.g., the  recent film titled “Stanford Prison Experiment”) are explicitly not  allowed. Work to “stretch” and use your critical thinking skills to  determine whether your source is clearly related to a social psychology  concept or not.

After  referring to the film or reading the book, please use any of the  following formats to report your observations: Power Point slides,  narrated slideshow, or video diary (e.g., “vlog”). This  assignment is not intended to be a formal writing assignment. Rather,  the intent is to see you make connections between your readings and  “real-life” situations as depicted in popular media sources and to  express your thoughts succinctly and coherently. Be creative, but be  sure that the reader/viewer is able to clearly discern that you can  critique the film/book in a scholarly way as related to course material  (e.g., don’t just give a “book report” in which you describe the plot of  the movie/book).

1.  Describe which social psychology concept you are choosing (e.g.,  conformity, obedience, altruism, persuasion, etc…) and indicate how you  see it manifested in the film/book you chose.

2.  Describe the social psychology concept. What does it mean? How has it  been studied in the field of social psychology? What have you learned  about it this semester?

3.  Briefly describe the film/book you chose (e.g., its plot, characters,  themes, etc…). This description does not need to be really lengthy (you  don’t need to summarize the entire plot; hit the high points), but  should be sufficient to demonstrate that you actually viewed the entire  film or read the entire book.

4.  Clearly describe how you feel the film/book you chose relates to the  social psychology concept. If you chose altruism, for example, how do  the characters in the film/book behave in a prosocial manner toward  others? If you chose group think, how did the characters get caught in a  situation that resulted in a group think mentality?

5.  Finally, take time to ensure that your finished product is polished (no  grammatical/spelling errors in written work, no grammatical issues or  unclear language in video submissions), flows well, and looks  professional. While you aren’t expected to submit Spielberg-quality  films, your submission should be at least as professional-appearing as  reasonable videos seen on YouTube or PowerPoint presentations made in a  work setting.