495/2
Section 1
we will explore social psychology in three ways. First, you will reflect on the difference between the Kitty Genovese story told in most social psychology courses and the one told in the documentary The Witness (included in your Unit 2 Learning Resources). You will consider your own experiences as a bystander and how they relate to what you learned in the documentary. And you will share insights from the other social psychology articles provided in your Learning Resources.
Main Entry: Answer Parts 1, 2, and 3
In The Witness, Bill Genovese, Kitty Genovese’s brother, separates fact from fiction when it comes to how his sister’s story was so infamously told. Kitty is the face of the bystander effect, a social psychological phenomenon all psychology students learn about at some point in their education. The story: Kitty was murdered one cold New York night, slowly, her murderer starting and ending the attack at two separate points in time. Her screams were ignored by 38 witnesses who lived in the nearby apartment complex – the very definition of human apathy. But is this story accurate? What don’t we know? And, if we knew it, might it restore some of our faith in humanity?
Part 1: Watch you are not able to watch the entire documentary, you can skip to the following timestamps, each corresponding with one of Bill’s revelations:
- 12:58 – 18:42 & 1:22:30 – 1:23:39
- 14:51 – 15:07
- 27:49 – 29:15
- 34:30 – 37:39
- 38:50 – 41:20
- 45:46 – 56:45
- 56:50 – 1:15:42
As a student of psychology, offer your reaction to at least two (2) of these revelations. Summarize your reaction and explain how this information has changed or not changed your view of the bystander effect.
Part 2: Describe a situation in which you were a bystander.
- What went through your head at the time?
- What was your reaction?
- What factors were at play that influenced your decision to either help or not help?
- How do you think learning about the bystander effect and about Kitty’s story will influence your future decisions? In other words, what will you do with this information?
Part 3: Choose one of the three articles provided regarding new takes on the Milgram, Zimbardo, and Asch studies and discuss your reaction. What questions are you left with and where do you think researchers should go from here to understand obedience and conformity? Propose one or two obedience/conformity-related hypotheses you would test if you were a social psychology researcher.
References
Solomon, J., & Robinson, J. (2015). The Witness [Film]. FilmRise.
(Solomon & Robinson, 2015, 1:23:42)
Gyzrb, T., & Dolinski, D. (2023). You and I are alike, so I will hold back – The effect of directed empathy on the behavior of participants of Stanley Milgram’s obedience paradigm. Acta Psychologica, 234, 1-9.
Gyzrb and Dolinski (2023)
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Brandstetter, J., Racz, P., Beckner, C., Sandoval, E., Hay, J., & Bartneck, C. (2014). A peer pressure experiment: Recreation of the Asch conformity experiment with robots. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Chicago, IL, USA, 1335-1340.
Brandstetter et al. (2023)
495/3
Section 2
Main Entry: Answer Parts 1, 2, and 3
Part 1: Compare and contrast the communal child-rearing practices in Kenyan communities, as described by Weisner in his TEDx talk, with more individualistic practices common in Western societies. How do these differences impact children’s social responsibilities and collaborative skills?
Part 2: Consider what you learned in either Pearson’s or Burke Harris’ TED talk (or both if you are up for it!). How do their observations align with or diverge from other established developmental theories? Here, you can bring in developmental theories from your Lifespan Development course, like Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, or Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. These are just examples, you can compare/contrast any theory you learned about in that course with the observations these speakers make in their talks.
Part 3: For Part 3 of this assignment, choose ONE (1) of the following two questions to answer. Both of which require you to take one of the three online personality assessments located in this unit’s Learning Resources.
- Identify some of the strengths inherent in your personality profile* and discuss how you will leverage those in your career and life moving forward. Given your personality profile, what situations might you encounter that will be challenging? How will you handle those?
- In his TED talk, Brian Little posits that while we do have a personality, we are not “only” our personality. That we will act outside of those prescribed behaviors in service of our “core projects.” Identify one of your “core projects” and discuss ways in which you might act outside your personality to advance this project.
Reference
Weisner, T. (2016, Aug). What is the most important influence on child development [Video]. TEDx UCLA.
