Social Psychological Concepts in The Matrix

This assignment requires observation, a reflection of your experience, and the application of social psychological concepts and theories to your experience. In addition to including relevant information from your textbook, you should include at least three journal articles (must be primary sources) in your assignment. You job is to weave information from the textbook and your three articles into your essay writing a paragraph about the research without connecting it to your analysis/experience is not acceptable.

Formatting: These assignments should be 4-5 pages minimum in length, not including the title page. They should be double-spaced, typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, and use APA format and citations. Remember, if you provide a definition of a concept that you found in the textbook, then you should cite the textbook. Points will be deducted if these instructions are not followed. The assignments should be written in an essay format using paragraphs (i.e., not using bullet points or question/answer format). Quotes should be used sparingly, instead you are expected to paraphrase and cite your sources. You are allowed a maximum of two sentence quotes per assignment.

Grading Criteria: Your grade for these assignments will be based on your ability to 1) follow directions including formatting, 2) use correct grammar, spelling, sentence and paragraph structure, 3) fully address relevant issues in a thoughtful and coherent manner, 4) express a thorough and appropriate reflection of your experience or process, 5) effectively apply social psychology concepts and theories to your analysis, and 6) summarize and link research discussed in your selected empirical journal articles to your analysis/experiences. When reflecting on your experiences it is very important that you not only write about those experiences, but that you also demonstrate that you understand related concepts, theories, and research findings (i.e., analyze your experience from a social psychological perspective). Additionally, you should take an in-depth approach rather than trying to cram as many social concepts/theories as you can into one paper. I expect that you have edited your own work (re-read it, removed fluff, checked organization, etc.) and that you will complete the assignments in an honest manner. Assignments will be submitted to Turnitin.com to check for plagiarism.

Social Psychological Concepts in the Movies Assignment
For this assignment, you will watch a movie that is related to two or three social psychological concepts that you have learned about in this course (e.g., attributions, cognitive dissonance, schemas, groupthink, deindividuation, conformity, modern racism, self-fulfilling prophecies, etc.). You may want to view the film more than once. Read the general instructions section for formatting and grading information.

Your paper should include the following:

A description of the social psychological principles/theories that were at work. You need to be able to demonstrate that you understand the principle/concept or theory and that you can describe it in your own words.

A brief summary of the situation(s) in the movie in which the principles occurred. Remember not to get too caught up in your description here that is, the focus is on explaining the social psychological principles.

A discussion of why people in the movie behaved the way they did and whether or not they behaved the way that would have been predicted by social psychology.

In addition to including information from your textbook, you should include at least three journal articles in your summary.

Your paper may be on two or three specific occurrences that each demonstrated a different social psychological principle, on one specific occurrence that incorporated two or more social psychological principles, or the general theme of the movie, as long as it incorporates at least two social psychological principles. (If you write about the theme of the movie, however, make sure that you are not too vague; talk about instances in the movie that support your take on the theme of the movie).

For example, if you watched Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” you could discuss 1) the movie’s general theme of prejudice, and 2) the specific incidence of rioting that occurs near the end of the movie. When discussing prejudice, you can talk about the outgroup bias that the various ethnic groups in the movie each exhibit, and how John Turturro’s character reduces his cognitive dissonance (that was created by being prejudiced against African-Americans yet liking Michael Jordan) by subtyping. When discussing the riots, you can discuss the deindividuation that the participants experienced as a result of a heightened sense of anonymity, and the situational power of conformity. However, make sure that you clearly explain how these concepts are demonstrated in the movie.

Be specific when writing this paper simply summarizing the movie or speaking vaguely about general social psychology principles without relating them directly to the movie will not get you a good grade!

I’ve included the textbook in the files. I would like a paper based on the social psychology concepts in Frankie and Alice. Chapters 3,4,5,6, 7 and 8 and their concepts most likely will relate to the film.