Ch. 18 due dates and project

We're almost done (yay!!). Please have the following pages read by the dates below:
p. 695-713 for Wednesday 4/7
p. 714-728 for Friday 4/9
p. 729-741 for Monday 4/12
Test (last one!) Thursday 4/15
Project (see below) due Friday 4/16

Social Psych Project: Portfolio of Social Psych Mini-Experiments and Observations

Each of the following pieces should be 1-2 paragraphs in length (for a total of about 2-3 double spaced typed pages). Please write in narrative form, but otherwise you may organize the pieces any way you wish.

--Part 1: Violating a social norm
Self-explanatory: do something that is not technically “wrong” or illegal, but somehow breaks the rules of expected behavior. Record the specifics (who/what/when/where/how/why) of what you did, why you chose that particular act, how people reacted (as you expected?) and any variations you performed and their results. Also consider whether the norm you violated is one that’s worth upholding, and how that may have factored into your choice to act against it.

--Part 2: Committing an act of altruism
Practice a random act of kindness that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. As Phoebe on Friends wonders, is there such a thing as a purely altruistic act? Your job is to find one and do it! Steer clear of anything that can be explained by social exchange theory. Again, explain the specifics of what you did and the reaction(s) to it.

--Part 3: Choosing cooperation over competition, and vice-versa
Identify as many situations as you can over the course of the next week in which you had the choice to cooperate (how would you operationally define this?) versus compete with others. Keep a running tally over the next 4-7 days. In your final write-up, describe two of the situations you encountered, what you chose to do and why, and whether you would approach similar situations the same way in the future.

--Part 4: Analysis
Your conclusion: what did you learn from this project – not only about psychology, but about your own behavior? What do you think I (and David Myers!) wanted you to learn from a project like this? What’s the take-away message? How does the purpose of the project and its results reinforce psychology’s purpose and value as a science?

To make this scientific, include at least one piece of evidence/ documentation to support the pieces above. This may include data such as your cooperation vs. competition tally, a picture of you violating a social norm, etc. Also correctly apply and bold-face 5 terms from the chapter in your write-up, which may take any form.

Please include any additional analysis, thoughts or conclusions you feel are appropriate and add to the project, even if I haven’t included a specific prompt that asks for it.

This is an individual project (to discourage social loafing!!) due Friday 4/16 and worth 75 points for term 4.