Project 1

 Self Handicapping at BHS

Goal

To identify how different social groups “Self-Handicap” at BHS

Directions

-          Find and interview (2) people from (5) different High School cliques

o         Clique examples

§          “Jocks” (IE the Athletic)

§          “Nerds” (IE the Academic)

§          Counter Culture (Goths, burnouts, stoners, individuals who make a point to go against culture)

§          Role Players (Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, etc.)

§          PC people (Computer and Gamers who might prefer virtual reality to reality)

§          Mall Rats (or Chronic Shoppers)

§          Negative Identities

§          Administration (Principals, Deans, Chair People)

§          Teachers (You may even isolate departments- Social Studies, Math, Science, Foreign Language, English, Phys Ed)

-          Find and define what “Self Handicapping” is

-          Get My approval that you have found the correct definition

-          Explain Self-Handicapping to the (10) total individuals

-          Ask them to illustrate what self-handicapping strategies their group might employ

-          If any individual refuses, you MUST find another individual

-          Document all personal info (IE their names and e-mail address must be documented so that I can trace the source if necessary

-          You DO NOT have to give names when presenting

-          Presentation 3-5 minutes

-          Paper: 7 paragraphs

o         1 Intro WITH Thesis (See me for help if necessary)

o         2 Body (Clique 1)

o         3 Body (Clique 2)

o         4 Body (Clique 3)

o         5 Body (Clique 4)

o         6 Body (Clique 5)

o        7 Closure

Project 2

Self-fulfilling Prophecies at BHS

Goal

To identify how different social groups react to “Self-fulfilling Prophecies” at BHS

Directions

-          Find and interview (2) people from (5) different High School cliques

o         Clique examples

§          “Jocks” (IE the Athletic)

§          “Nerds” (IE the Academic)

§          Counter Culture (Goths, burnouts, stoners, individuals who make a point to go against culture)

§          Role Players (Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, etc.)

§          PC people (Computer and Gamers who might prefer virtual reality to reality)

§          Mall Rats (or Chronic Shoppers)

§          Negative Identities

§          Administration (Principals, Deans, Chair People)

§          Teachers (You may even isolate departments- Social Studies, Math, Science, Foreign Language, English, Phys Ed)

-          Find and define what “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy” is

-          Get My approval that you have found the correct definition

-          Explain Self-fulfilling prophecy to the (10) total individuals

-          Ask them to illustrate what self-fulfilling prophecies their group might be accused of

-          If any individual refuses, you MUST find another individual

-          Document all personal info (IE their names and e-mail address must be documented so that I can trace the source if necessary)

-          You DO NOT have to give names when presenting

-          Presentation 3-5 minutes

-          Paper: 7 paragraphs

o         1 Intro WITH Thesis (See me for help if necessary)

o         2 Body (Clique 1)

o         3 Body (Clique 2)

o         4 Body (Clique 3)

o         5 Body (Clique 4)

o         6 Body (Clique 5)

o         7 Closure

Project 3

Write a Children’s Story

Goal

To design a children’s story with Obvious relatable and emulatable actions to readers

Directions

-         Write a short story of reasonable length for children

-         Illustrate it

o       Draw, ink and color

o       Find someone else to Draw, ink and color

o       Download images from the internet

o       Cut out and paste

-         You will need to make the book big enough for all to see (2 feet by 3 feet minimum) or make transparencies

-         Transparencies cost $28 dollars for 25 at Office Max

-         Or Kinko’s can make them for about $1.50 per page

-         Your Story MUST include

o       Aggression

o       Discrimination

o       Altruism

-         You MUST define these in the story

-         Make sure to research at least (6) children’s stories and site them in your paper

-         You stories target group is 10 and younger

-         Be sure to specify what your target audiences age range is

-         Presentation is 3- to 5 minutes

-         Essay is 5 paragraphs

o       Traditional 5 paragraph (Intro, 3 bodies, conclusion)

o       You must include whether any of the acts committed in the story might be emulated by readers

o       Which events would have created impact on readers

o       Whether your story was dangerous and should be withheld from children

o       Present your story like an actual children’s book

Project 4

Design a Public Service Announcement

Goal

To create a commercial and pamphlet that will change peoples perspective on an issue

Directions

-         Imagine that you are a professional specializing in persuasive communications

-         You have been hired to bring about a positive change in public opinion and behavior

-         You can choose from the following or create your own and THEN seek my approval

o       Seat Belts

o       Littering/Recycling

o       Smoking

o       Drinking

o       Discrimination

o       Community Volunteer out reach programs

o       Voting

-         Research the topic (bring in evidence of research, web sites, pamphlets, etc)

-         Use the principles inc lass that underline persuasive techniques

-         Provide tangible evidence of your created campaign (Pamphlets and a video clip)

-         Present copies of the Pamphlets to class

-         Present 3-5 minutes

-         Write 5 paragraph traditional essay

o       Explain goals of campaign

o       Explain course of action of the campaign (IE government assistance, Senators or Congressman who have taken stands o the issue, organizations who have pledged support

Project 5

Conduct an Experiment on Cartoons and Aggression

Goal

To see how cartoons may alter a person’s personality and influence them.

Directions

-          Video tape or rent television cartoon that contains a plethora of violence (Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Transformers, etc.)

-          Video tape or Rent television cartoon that contains NO violence (The Magic School Bus, the Big Red Dog, Arthur, etc.)

-          Recruit 10 participants to watch the Violent Cartoon

-          Recruit 10 DIFFERENT participants to watch the non-violent cartoon

-          You may use anyone, but DO NOT allow them to know what the experiment is

-          Try to have an equal number of Boys to boys and Girls to Girls in each group

-          Immediately after watching the cartoon have participants HAVE writing utensils and blank sheets of paper

-          Directions for post cartoon watching participants: The must write a one paragraph story about a boy named Ron.

-          This is the only directions they get

-          Code the stories from 1- 4 point scale

-          4 = A Bull on Cocaine like aggression

-          1 = Peaceful as Gandhi Sleeping

-          Presentation: 5 – 10 minutes

o         Demonstrates 3 minutes of the Peaceful Cartoon

o         Demonstrate 3 minutes of the violent cartoon

o         Give one Violent paragraph example, give one peaceful paragraph example

-          Write a 5 paragraph traditional essay

o         Include

§          Hypothesis before watching cartoon

§          Conclusion explain if hypothesis was correct

§          Point out differences in age groups, and genders if they appear

Project 6

Conformity Experiment

Goal

To see how often people will conform in order to fit in to society

Directions

-          Find 4 Volunteers that are aware of the experiment (Volunteer 1 -4)

-          Find 10 experimental volunteers who are not aware of the experiment and who will all be tested individually (Volunteer 5)

-          You will do this experiment 10 times, using one unknowledgeable volunteer at a time

-          Set up table where the volunteers 1-4 will sit and make volunteer number 5 sit at the end of the table so that they will always be last in the line of questions

-          Ask the volunteers questions and have them answer one at a time (volunteer 5 always being last)

o         Ask series of 40 questions

o         Questions should be rated 1 – 4 for conformity

§          1 = easy to conform to (“Hmm, that’s pretty close, I’ll go along with it.”)

§           4 = difficult to conform to (“BAAAAAAA, I’m a sheep.”)

o         of the 40 questions only 15 will be conformity testing questions, the other 20 will be regular questions

o         there will be:

§          4 (1)

·          Ex. How many donuts are in a bakers dozen

·           Volunteers 1-4 answer “10”

§          4 (2)

·          EX. What time does the clock say (Real Answer: 10:43)

·          Volunteers 1-4 answer (10:45)

§          4 (3)

·          Ex. What weighs more a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?

·          Volunteers 1-4 answer “A ton of bricks

§          3 (4)

·          Ex. What is faster a Road Runner or a Rooster

·          Volunteers answer a “Rooster”

o         Document every response to the questions by the volunteers

o         Make a not if a volunteer conforms or does not conform to the group

o         Presentation: 3-5 minutes

§          Include the questions asked

§          Include the genders and ages of the volunteers

§          Include your hypothesis on EACH volunteer

§          Explain what criteria you found common in conformists

§          What criteria you found in non-conformists

§          DEFINE your hypothesis before the experiment

o         5 Paragraph traditional Essay

§          Intro

§          Body (Conformist qualities)

§          Body (Non-Conformist qualities)

§          Body ( Questions and people who proved your illustration or disproved it)

§          Conclusion

Project 7

Hallway Politeness

Goal

To observe how courteous people are to those in their immediate environment, and how location and emotion affect that environment

Directions

-          Find 6 different types of relatively high traffic locations for a two part conversation

o         Examples

§          Movie theater Foyer

§          Mall

§          Hallway

§          Street corner

§          Grocery store

§          Target

§          Wal-mart

§          Cafeteria

§          Restaurant

-          2 people will engage in conversation

o         gap in-between conversers should be 5 to 7 feet (in order to allow people to pass between them)

-          1 person will video tape or observe and document responses

o         Document

§          how many people walk through the conversation

§          how many walk around

§          how many walk through and apologize

§          how many walk through and do not apologize

§          how many people comment with rudeness

§          how many hesitate and then speed through

§          how many look to the ground and avoid eye contact

§          how many make eye contact

-          10 minutes of conversation must occur at each location

-          3 locations will be Normal conversation or gossip

o         IE “Did you hear Mary got pregnant with her third kid and she is only 14”

o         “I watched the ultimate fighting contest yesterday, and I think Jimmy the Rooster has to have his left side of his rib cage removed and grafted to this skull”

o         “and I said Hey baby, are there stars on your under pants, cause your butt is outa this world, and then I realized he was deaf…… but he made out with me anyway”

-          3 locations will have an emotional conversation

o         IE “You jerk, I can’t believe you made out with my sister and my mom. What are you  looking for? A notable invitation to the Springer show?” Continue with elevated voice, but be aware children may be around, so avoid vulgarity.

o         “What do you mean you totaled my Corvette? I am going to have to sell all your organs on E-bay to replace that before my dad finds out. I ‘m serious. I am selling your organs.”

o         ‘Why won’t you date me, why are you breaking up with me? I am not good looking enough? I am not smart enough?”

o         “You are beautiful and smart, but yer a frickin psycho. I need a restraining order. You killed my dog and left in my bed? Who does that? Psycho.”

-          Find 6 doored location

o         Examples

§          Mall

§          Video store

§          Restaurant

§          School

§          Rec center

-          Hold the door open for people

-          Document their responses

o         1-4

o         1 = Ignoring you

o         4 = YOUR FANTASTIC, HERE TAKE MY FIRST BORN.

-          Spend 10 minutes at each location

-          Make a point to walk up to the door to open it for people, do not stand their like you work at the door

-          Make copies of your documentation of statistics (Typed or Graphed) for the whole class to see

-          Presentation: 3-5 minute

-          5 paragraph traditional essay

o         Intro (with Hypothesis)

o         Body (3 regular conversations)

o         Body (3 emotional conversations)

o         Body (6 Doored locations)

o         Conclusion