ATTRIBUTION THEORY: Sports

If it is appropriate you might include a table summarizing any data you collected. Here is an example.

Table 1. The drinking patterns of males and females in similar and dissimilar groups..

Sip

Gulp

Males

Male group

Mixed gender

30%

65%

70%

35%

Females

Female group

Mixed gender

85%

55%

15%

45%

IV. DISCUSSION and ANALYSIS. An interpretation and analysis of the data you collected or what you read. Here you should state what you felt the data meant and relate it to the principles we discussed in class and in the text. For example, using the example above, one might write...

“The beer drinking behavior can be explained by several principles. First, the males were more likely to be sitting with other males and there was competition to demonstrate manliness by guzzling their drinks. There was group pressure to drink the most the fastest. In fact, the only time women gulped their drink was when they were with a group of men who were engaged in this rapid drinking one upmanship. There was peer pressure to conform.”

V. REFLECTION. Your reactions to the study. This should be your personal reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? How does the study reflect your personal behavior or beliefs? You should state your personal thoughts and reflections on the study and its meaning in one or two paragraphs.

VI. REFERENCES. You must have a reference section stating all of the sources you used.

VII. ATTACHMENTS.

Evaluation criteria.

I will look for the following when evaluating your papers.

· Be advised that my undergraduate degree was in English. I expect that the papers will be composed in standard English. I will take organization, grammar, spelling, and syntax into account when evaluating them.

· Clear, direct introduction.

· Thorough, complete statement summarizing how you gathered your data.

· Clear summary of the situations, data or information you collected.

· Clear interpretation of the analysis you have done including clear connection to the course material and concepts. This will be judged on the basis of the extent to which you connect the information you collect to what we covered in class.

· A candid reflection on how you connect the paper to your personal experiences.

The outlines I have given you represent the minimum for the papers. If you meet this minimum you can expect to get a C grade. If you go beyond the minimum requirements, go into more depth, bring additional information from this or other classes, and/or demonstrate thought and critical thinking you grade will be higher.

ATTRIBUTION: Whose fault was it?
Relevant Reading	Franzoi, Chapter 4
Purpose:	The purpose of this paper is to see if the elements of Attribution theory are evident in the real world in sports.
What you should do.	Find three to four newspaper articles from the sports section in which a coach and/or other players are interviewed about the performance in some sporting event. You may obtain the articles from any newspaper, including the campus newspaper, magazine, or on-line. Read the articles and identify the attributions that the players and coaches made about their performance. To keep things simple, focus on athletes involved in either individual or team activity. Take notes on the following: What was the situation? What was the sport? Where was the event? Was it important? How close was the competition? Underline or highlight the portions of the article that you are evaluating for attributions. Who is being interviewed? Was the person on the winning or losing side? What role did the person play in deciding the outcome? Was the person/team successful? What attribution did the person make for the outcome? Do you think that the attribution is internal or external and why? Why do you think the person made this attribution? That is, what do you think the person’s motivation was?
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. A brief paragraph stating how you located your articles. A DESCRIPTION of the situations you read. You should summarize the facts. Be sure to include the physical/situational characteristics of each event, the personal characteristics of the people, and the behaviors you saw. For example, The first contest was between the reigning champion, Hammerhand Smith, and Mehta ‘The Crunch’ Carple, the leading contender to the minnow-weight arm wrestling championship held in East Gopher Hole Gulch, Nevada. Contrary to all predictions, Smith lost the championship in three rounds in the best three-out-of-five contest.’ A SUMMARY of what the winners and losers said or alleged about the causes of their success or failure. Are these internal or external attributions? BE SPECIFIC. Quote the comment(s) that reveals the individual’s attribution of the outcome. An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of your information. Discuss how you think the situational and/or personal factors influenced the behavior you saw. Be sure to include information and ideas covered in your text and in class. Support your conclusions with specific examples from your observations. For example, Smith, the loser, stated that one of the reasons for his loss was the fact that his plane was delayed due to snow and he did not get is usual nine hours of sleep before the contest. This external attribution for his loss appears to be a face-saving statement indicating Self-serving bias. This DISCUSSION section should include one or two paragraphs summarizing your conclusions about what you saw and relating these to the principles and ideas from the course. Did you find what you expected to find? PERSONAL RELEVANCE. The paper should conclude with one or two paragraphs with your personal reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? To what do you attribute your successes and failures? Why do you make these attributions? Other thoughts and reflections. Include copies of the articles as an attachment to the paper.
Source	This assignment was based on the following source: http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/, Accessed January 10, 2007.

NORMS: How do my peers behave?
Relevant reading.	Franzoi, Chapter s 3, 9 and 10
Purpose:	This is a mini-research project in which you will be asked to do an observational study in how people demonstrate personal space and social norms.
What you should do.	Choose ONE of the following topics for your project. Each of these topics has different requirements. Make every attempt to be objective, careful, and detailed. CHECK WITH ME before you begin to ensure that no ethical boundaries are violated. PERSONAL SPACE: Analysis of the personal space between 12 sets of people. Data collection. · In each of THREE different locations, observe, document, and analyze the personal space in at least FOUR different interpersonal interactions. You should have data on twelve separate interactions. It will be easier if you observe pairs of other people rather than a large group. Be careful of artificial barriers that might restrict movement. You should NOT use interactions in which you are a part. · For each location discretely write notes about the kind of situation (theatre, private room, dining area, etc.) and its description (room size, lighting, background noise, level of crowding, etc.) · Note the characteristics of the people you observe (e.g. gender, age, height, status, etc.) as well as their rough interpersonal distance and body language (facing each other, turned to the side, eye contact, arm position, etc.). Try to choose people you don’t know instead of people you think are interesting. Avoid picking friends. · You should budget a minimum of five minutes for each group you observe. · Finally, note how the interacting people changed their space. SOCIAL NORMS: Analysis of the behavioral patterns in three different situations. Data collection. For each of three DIFFERENT public social situations (e.g. restaurant, church, outside a classroom, dormitory, etc.) look for and document at least THREE different social norms or COMMON PATTERNS of behavior (e.g. clothing, greeting rituals, verbal expressions, etc.) · Take notes on each location; discretely take notes about the kind of situation and its physical aspects (room size, lighting, background noise, level of crowding, etc.) Note the people who are more likely to follow these patterns (e.g. older people, faculty) and who is least likely. You should budget a minimum of a bout 15 minutes for each group you observe. Finally, note any reactions to violations of these norms (e.g. staring at an inappropriately dressed person, making comments about someone, etc.)
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. A METHODS section in which you state exactly how, when, and where you collected you observations. A DESCRIPTION of what you saw. This should review and summarize the facts. Be sure to include the physical/situational characteristics of each location, the personal characteristics of the people, and the behaviors you saw. (For example, “Four observations were done in the Gold Rush Room in the student union of pairs of three to four people after the lunch hour.” Or, “In all three cases the girls crossed their arms and leaned away from the boys when the boys got closer than about two feet.” An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of your information. Discuss how you think the situational and/or personal factors influenced the behavior you saw. Also discuss the extent to which you believe that the behavior you saw was performed consciously or unconsciously. Be sure to include information and ideas covered in your text and in class. Support your conclusions with specific examples from your observations. For example, ‘Women who appeared to be talking to men they did not know well held their arms across their chests.” Or “Students did not greet professors the same way they greeted other students. They were more formal (Hello Dr. X) rather than (Hey, what’s up?). A DISCUSSION and REACTION section should include one or two paragraphs summarizing your conclusions about what you saw and its relevance to social psychology. Finally, you should conclude with one or two paragraphs with your PERSONAL reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? How do you think that situational factors influence your personal social behavior? Other thoughts and reflections. Include your notes and observation forms as an attachment to the paper.
Source	This paper was based on the following source: http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/, Accessed January 10, 2007.

ALTRUISM: Helping people
Relevant reading	Franzoi, Chapter 14
Purpose:	The goal of this project is to see if the social psychological principles that apply to prosocial behavior apply to heroic behavior seen in the real world.
What you should do.	You should identify THREE regular people who did something heroic. These should be people who performed some altruistic act that was not part of their normal job and which placed them in some danger. Do not choose someone like Mother Theresa or Martin Luther King, extraordinary people whose lives were devoted to helping. Chose ordinary folks. One example might be Wesley Autrey, a New Yorker who leapt on to subway tracks to save another person just as the subway rushed into the station. I recommend that you gather your information about these people from several sources. One possible source is the Carnegie Hero Fund web site www.carnegieheor.org. Identify the hero (or heroine’s) and what this person normally does. Describe the situation. Be sure to comment on the environment, location, number of bystanders present, etc. Identify the person or people helped. Who were they? Why were they in danger; were they responsible for being in danger? Identify exactly what the person did and the amount of risk involved. Identify the outcome.
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. A brief summary on how you collected your information. A DESCRIPTION of the situations you read. You should summarize the facts. Be sure to include the physical/situational characteristics of each event, the personal characteristics of the people, and the heroic behavior. The first hero was Upton Leftus, a 35 year-old father of six who had just resigned from his job as a stamp sorter at Perfect Perforations, Inc. As he walked home he witnessed an automobile accident in which a Muslim woman, Ethel Al Kohol was pinned against a wall by a runaway car. A crowd of about 18 people gathered as the woman struggled to free herself. The gas tank of the car burst into flames and the woman screamed for help. One person in the crowd shouted that he had dialed 911. Upton raced to the car as the flames engulfed the front and pushed against the hood moving the vehicle enough that the woman could free herself. A SUMMARY of what was consistent in these situations, possible reasons the heroes helped. Be sure to include the reasons why the person assumed responsibility for helping and the costs and benefits for his/her actions. An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of your information. Discuss how you think the situational and/or personal factors influenced the behavior you saw. Also discuss the extent to which you believe that the behavior was altruistic. Was the behavior consistent with what we discussed in class and covered in the text? Be sure to support your conclusions with specific examples from what actually occurred in the situations. This section should include one or two paragraphs summarizing your conclusions about what you saw and relating these to the principles and ideas from the course. You should conclude with one or two paragraphs with your PERSONAL reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? Have you ever behaved altruistically or failed to act when you could have provided help? Was your behavior, or lack of behavior, consistent with the ideas relating to bystander intervention? Why do you think you behaved this way? Other thoughts and reflections. Include copies of the articles and notes as an attachment to the paper.
Source	This paper is based on an assignment found a the following website: jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/Helping, accessed January 14, 2007

CONFORMITY and OBEDIENCE: Torture
Relevant reading	Franzoi, Chapters 9 and 10 Gibson & Haritos-Fatouros, The Education of a Torturer Electronic reserve. Hersh, S. (2004) Torture at Abu Ghraib, The New Yorker. Electronic reserve Zimbardo Stanford Prison Study. You should use at least one of the following sources for this study. http://www.prisonexp.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment For more information see the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prisoner_abuse You may also look at the following sites. Please note that they contain extremely graphic and disturbing images so they are not required. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3672901.stm http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=8560
Purpose:	The goal of this paper is to give you the opportunity to look at how conformity, group pressure, and obedience can influence people to do things that they would not normally do.
What you should do.	Read the relevant reading. You may include other sources as the spirit moves you, but you must cite all sources material at the end of paper in the reference section. Be sure to take notes on the behavior of the soldiers who were actively involved as well as those who appeared to be observers. You should note the following. What was done to the prisoners? Who were the principle actors? Did they behave this way spontaneously? Were they trained to behave this way? Who were the bystanders? Did they actively participate? Did they do anything to stop the degrading behavior? Was there any difference between what the two types of guards? How did the behavior develop over time? What explanations/excuses did the guards give for their behavior or failure to stop the behavior?
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it. A brief overview of the sources you used and how you collected your information. A DESCRIPTION of what happened at Abu Ghraib and Zimbardo’s prison. This should review and summarize the facts without judgment. Be sure to include the physical/situational characteristics at each location, the personal characteristics of the guards, the behavior they committed, and their explanation for these behaviors. An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of these events. Discuss how you think the situational factors influenced the behavior of the guards. Some of the guards were very inventive about finding ways to humiliate, degrade, and otherwise control the prisoners. Other guards were relatively quiet and merely went along. How did the silence help to legitimize the cruelty as part of the system? Using the material we covered in class regarding group influence, conformity, and obedience, what psychological influences contributed to the behavior of the guards? Be sure to support your comments with specific examples from the reports. For example, you might state ‘The guards in both studies were not given clear instructions about what was expected of them so they were left on their own. This conformity may have been influenced by the need for group cohesiveness.’ What explanations did the guards give justifying their behavior? Did any of them state that they felt it was excessive? If so, what excuses did they give for their actions? A DISCUSSION and REACTION section should include one or two paragraphs summarizing your conclusions about what you saw. Given what we have covered about group processes, obedience, and conformity, what would a social psychologist recommend to prevent situations like Abu Ghraib? Conclude with one or two paragraphs with your PERSONAL reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? How has group participation influenced you to do something you knew was inappropriate? Have you ever failed to stop people in your group from doing something you knew was wrong? Other thoughts and reflections. Be sure to include a separate reference section listing all of the articles you used for this paper.
Source:	This assignment is based on an assignment found at the following website: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/cwolfe/PSY202/AbuGhraib.htm, Accessed January 10, 2007

LOVE and RELATIONSHIPS: Looking for love in all the wrong places?
Relevant reading:	Franzoi, Chapters 11 and 12
Purpose:	The purpose of this paper is for you do develop an understanding of how people describe themselves and their expectations when seeking relationships. A significant number of people are relying on personal ads in newspapers and the Internet to meet romantic partners. How do they present themselves in these ads? Do women differ from men in what they say about themselves and what characteristics they seek in a partner?
What you should do.	You should analyze what people say about themselves in personal ads. First, collect 30 personal ads that focus on ONE of the following: · 15 ads from men seeking women AND 15 ads from women seeking men. or · 15 ads from men seeking men AND 15 ads from women seeking women. Read through all 30 ads and, as you do, list all of the adjectives or descriptors that you find in the ads that indicates what men and women are offering a potential partner and what they are seeking in a potential partner. The source web page has extremely good suggestions for tabulating your data. I strongly recommend that you use these forms. When you have completed this you should have a table breaking down the types of adjectives by males and females and what they say about themselves and their prospective partners. If you used several sources (newspaper, web, magazine) you may want to see if there are similarities and differences as a function of the medium.
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. A brief section describing how you went about collecting your information. A RESULTS section that summarizes your data. This should be an objective description of the number of ads, their source (the web, newspaper, magazine, etc.), and a summary of the responses for each gender. This summary should categorize the responses with a summary of the number and percent of times a particular type of adjective was used. I encourage you to include the table that you used to tabulate the responses. An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of your data. Here you should state what you believe your results say about how males and females describe themselves to their targeted partners and what they are looking for. You should highlight the similarities and differences. You should relate this to the information that we discussed in class and what is found in the textbook. Be sure to relate this to specific data. For example, you might say, “Fifty-seven percent of the men described themselves as being physically fit while only 25% of the women stated that they were looking for attractive males.” A DISCUSSION section should include one or two paragraphs summarizing your conclusions about - What you found and how this is consistent with of different from what we discussed in class. - What kinds of thing were omitted from the ads? - What these ads say about our cultural values regarding what is important in a relationship. Finally, you should conclude with one or two paragraphs with your personal reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? What surprised you? Are these data consistent with how you would describe yourself? Are they consistent with what you are looking for in a partner? Other thoughts and reflections. Be sure to attach copies of all of the ads you used as well as your worksheets. Rather than having the ads on 30 separate pages try to cut and paste them with multiple ads on single pages.
Source	This assignment is based on an assignment found at the following website: http://courses.umass.edu/psyc360/homework_F05.htm, Accessed January 10, 2007.

PERSUASION
Reading	Franzoi Chapter 7
Purpose:	The goal of this project is for you to develop an understanding of how advertisers use the principles we discussed to influence behavior.
What you should do.	You should analyze a minimum of four print or TV advertisements and review how the advertiser makes use of different elements of the Yale Communications Model to influence the audience. First identify a set of advertisements to analyze. The ads can be in any media, for any product, though sticking to TV commercials aired during “family time” on network TV will make your job easier. To keep things simple for yourself, try one of the following… You could examine how the same product makes use of different media (channels) and the extent to which the message is similar or different across those channels. For example, cosmetics in TV versus print media. Or, you could examine ads for the same type of product geared to different groups (e.g., how are cigarettes marketed to men and women? Or cereals targeted to kids versus cereals targeted to adults.). Or, you could determine the target for the advertisement and analyze how the ads are designed to influence this audience. For example, ads directed to men versus those targeted to women. You may want to make use of some of the following online resources: The Ad*Access Project presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/ Many of the more recent TV commercials from Anheuser-Busch are available online: http://www.budweiser.com/wholesale/ The Ivory Project, from the National Museum of American History, contains hundreds of interesting print soap ads from 1838-1998, primarily for Ivory soap but also including other brands. Interesting to track the portrayal of women in particular through these ads: http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/archives/ivory/ A large advertising archive: http://www.adflip.com/ A ton of links to ad sites and other information – be sure you’re looking at actual advertising: http://advertising.utexas.edu/world/index.asp?pageid=Ads And don’t forget – you could tape the Superbowl! Lots of ads there!
Writing your paper.	Your paper should include the following… A brief INTRODUCTION that includes what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. A brief summary describing your sources and how you collected your data. If you use TV commercials, be sure to note the program and the audience that usually sees this program. A DESCRIPTION of the ads. You should summarize the facts. Be sure to include a description of each ad and a statement as to what techniques were used to persuade the audience. For example, for a mouthwash ad you might write… The first mouthwash ad appeared on MTV and was apparently aimed at young men. It showed a young man talking to a pretty girl. As he whispers in her ear her hair starts to curl and her ear morphs into a turtle that quickly hides inside its shell. The boy is clearly humiliated and a voiceover says that to avoid the humiliation of having deadly breath is to use clean tasting broccoli-flavored Green-N-Clean and that using it is healthy too providing essential vitamins for a healthy body. Later the same boy is shown singing a duet with a pretty girl, facing her. He is now buff and little hearts are superimposed over his breath. The girl has an ecstatic look on her face. One of the main techniques used in the ad is fear. You should end this section with a summary of how frequently different techniques were used. An INTERPRETATION and ANALYSIS of your information. Discuss the tactics used in the ads, especially focusing on some kind of comparison (e.g., channel, audience), using concepts we have discussed in class. An analysis of how these tactics are likely to work or not work, and for what audience, based on information in the text. You should conclude with one or two paragraphs with your personal reflections about the assignment. For example, what did you expect to find that you didn’t? To what do you attribute your successes and failures? Why do you make these attributions? Other thoughts and reflections. If you used print advertisements include copies of the articles as an attachment to the paper. If you used a TV commercial, state the date, time and program in which it was shown.
Source	This paper is based on the following source: jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/advertisinganalysis.doc, Accessed January 10, 2007.