Foundation in

Natural & Built Environments

Social Psychology

[PSY 30203]

Group members: ADAM Tan yen sheng

(0317750)

Aida Junita binti Zulkiflee

(0317766)

ENG SHI YI (0317849)

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KHAIRUL JEFRI bin khairul azhar

neo (0318237)

Group/Session: 2/12p.m. - 3p.m.

Submission Date: 8 december 2014

Table of Contents

Topic Page

1. Acknowledgment 2

2. Abstract 3

3. Introduction 4

4. Method 6

4.1 Participants 6

4.2 Apparatus/Materials 6

4.3 Procedure 7

5. Discussion 9

6. Reference 13

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7. Appendix 14

1. Acknowledgement

Heartfelt gratitude to all the group members – Adam Tan, Aida Junita, Eng Shi Yi and

Khairul Jefri, for all of their cooperation and hard work in completing this assignment. Special

thanks to our Social Psychology lecturer, Mr. Shankar, for his guidance which enabled us to

further understand the concepts used in this assignment. We would also like to thank our

classmates – Woo Shirley, Chan Yi Qin and Samantha Lee, who were involved in helping with

the video filming process.

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2. Abstract

Living in a country where its people are made up of multicultural ethnicity, Malaysians

constantly encounter and share different ideas and perspective in life. While some may be more

open in accepting these differences, others may be less accepting.

Nowadays, with the rapid advancement of technology and the exposure to mass media,

children tend to absorb and learn life values at a faster pace. For our video assignment, we have

decided to depict a classroom scenario in a kindergarten, to demonstrate a child’s cognitive

development in learning.

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3. Introduction

For this video assignment, our group has decided to depict a classroom scenario in a

kindergarten. The concepts we have chosen to apply and integrate in the storyline include first

impression, racism, attitude, aggression, and altruism. In this introduction part of the report,

we will discuss the definition and details of the five concepts used for this video assignment.

First impression is an individual’s initial opinion regarding another person upon meeting

them. First impression comprises of the primary effect and the recency effect, with the former

being the first piece of information one receives which will have the most impact on one’s

impression and the latter being the last piece of information one receives which will have a large

impact on one’s impression.

In social psychology, there are several factors that influence an individual’s first

impression of another individual. One of it includes the Halo Effect – a cognitive bias in which a

positive attribute causes one to attribute other positive qualities to an individual. For instance,

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one may assume that a person who look more attractive have many other good qualities, but this

might be completely wrong in some cases.

Racism is a discrimination directed at a specific racial group. Apart from that, racism is

also considered as the routine of the mistreatment of a person based on his or her membership in

a group on the downside of power. The effects of racism can be from the economic, social,

political as well as personal point of view. On another note, racial prejudice occurs when one

holds a hostile attitude towards a person due to their race.

The term attitude refers to a tendency to evaluate a person, object, or idea with some

degree of approval or disapproval. Additionally, attitudes can vary in tone, be it positive or

negative, and strength – from mild to passionate. Attitudes have several functions which include

knowledge, self/ego – expressive and adaptive. There are also two types of attitude – implicit

attitudes as well as explicit attitudes.

Aggression is a behavior that intends to harm another individual, and can be either a

verbal or a physical action. Aggression is sometimes used to release frustration or address

conflict. The nature of aggression can be divided into three; hostile aggression, instrumental

aggression and relational aggression. Research has shown that females lean more towards

relational aggression (a form of non-physical aggression that involves social exclusion, gossiping

and other more social forms of hostility) than males. Aside from that, males are also more often

the victims of aggression.

Altruism can be defined as behaviours done by an individual for selfless reasons.

Altruism focuses on motivation to help others or want to do good deeds without any reward in

return, whereas duty focuses on a moral obligation towards a specific individual, a specific

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organization or an abstract concept. Pure altruism occurs when an individual gives without

regard to reward or the benefits of recognition. Moreover, altruistic personality consists of the

internal locus of control, belief in a just world, a sense of social responsibility and low

egocentrism.

4. Method

4.1 Participants

i) Khairul Jefri bin Khairul Azhar Neo as Mr. Jefri, a kindergarten teacher

ii) Adam Tan Yen Sheng as Adam, a racist (initially) kindergarten child

iii) Aida Junita binti Zulkiflee as Aida, a Malay kindergarten child

iv) Eng Shi Yi as Shi Yi, as a Chinese kindergarten child

v) Extras – Woo Shirley, Chan Yi Qin and Samantha Lee, as kindergarten children

4.2 Apparatus/Materials

The apparatus and materials used in the making of the video clip include:

i) Props – stationeries which includes paper, notebook, colour pencils

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ii) Digital single-lens reflex camera, Canon 70D – used for filming of video

4.3 Procedure

Setting: A kindergarten classroom. (Classroom E3.10 was used for the filming)

Storyline/Plot (Refer to Appendix on page 14 - 16 for the storyboard frames):

1. The scene starts off with the introduction of the setting – Taylor’s kindergarten.

2. The first scene begins with the introduction of the kindergarten children characters in the

video clip – Adam, Shirley, Yi Qin, Sam, Aida and Shi Yi.

3. The children are seen to either be doing their own work or playing around with paper

planes before class starts.

4. Mr. Jefri (addressed as Mr. Why, the kindergarten teacher) enters the classroom and

introduces himself to the children. After introducing himself, Adam inquisitively asks

Mr. Jefri why he is called Mr. Why. Adam responds positively to Mr. Jefri’s answer

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which gave Mr. Jefri the impression that Adam is an interesting, naïve yet smart and

curious boy.

5. Mr. Jefri then instructs the children to take out a piece of paper and colour pencils for

their in-class activity.

6. All six children take out their stationeries and materials.

7. The girls, Aida and Shi Yi did not have any colouring materials with them but notices

that their classmate, Adam, had a complete set of colour pencils.

8. Shi Yi then asks Adam if she could borrow his colour pencils and Adam happily lends

them to Shi Yi.

9. Then, Aida asks Adam if she could borrow his colour pencils as well but Adam said no

and refuses to lend his colour pencils to Aida. This made Aida upset.

10. One of the classmates, Shirley, witnesses this incident and feels that Adam’s action is

unkind.

11. Class ends for the day and Aida leaves the classroom. Shirley, along with two other

classmates, Sam and Yi Qin, gang up and bullies Adam for being unkind to Aida.

12. Aida returns to the classroom as she forgotten to pack one of her belongings and sees that

her three classmates are bullying Adam.

13. Aida then stops them and says that it is wrong for them to choose the approach of

bullying Adam to handle the situation.

14. The three girls stop and leave the scene. Aida helps Adam by picking up his cap and

consoling him.

15. Adam tries to understand why Aida would help him even after he acted unkindly towards

her. Aida explains her reasoning that they are still classmates and friends regardless.

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16. Adam then realizes that his discrimination towards Aida due to her race is completely

wrong and that Aida is actually a nice person and a good friend.

17. Adam and Aida mend the rift between them and then seen leaving the classroom together

as friends.

5. Discussion

For this video assignment, the five concepts integrated and applied are first impression,

racism, attitude, aggression and altruism.

The first concept, first impression, is applied in the fourth frame.

Upon meeting Adam Tan on the first day of school, Mr. Jefri had a positive first

impression of Adam. The scene started out with Mr. Jefri entering the classroom and

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introducing himself to the class as Mr. Why. Then, Adam inquisitively and innocently asked Mr.

Why why his name is Mr. Why. Pleased by Adam’s question, Mr. Why answered Adam’s

question with another question as a trick. Adam then responded with fondness for Mr. Why.

Adam’s portrayal of an innocent and inquisitive personality gave Mr. Why a positive first

impression of Adam.

The second concept, racism, is applied in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames. The

children were required to use paper and colour pencils for their in-class activity. However, Shi

Yi and Aida did not have any colouring materials with them but notices that Adam had a

complete set of colour pencils.

Shi Yi asked Adam if he could lend his colour pencils to her and he happily offers them

to Shi Yi. However, when Aida asked if she could borrow his colour pencils, Adam refused to

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lend them to her because she is a Malay. This shows racism as Adam favourably lent his colour

pencils to a Chinese but not to a Malay. The mistreatment and discrimination demonstrated by

Adam towards Aida reflects social effect of racism, whereby segregation, leading to ignorance

between groups of people occurred.

In the subsequent scene, upon witnessing Adam’s unkind act towards Aida, Shirley had

the tendency to evaluate Adam with some degree of disapproval, reflecting the third concept –

attitude. This concept is applied in the tenth frame, which clearly shows Shirley’s expression of

disapproval of Adam’s discriminatingly racial act.

In this case, Shirley exhibited an explicit attitude – occurs at a conscious level, is

deliberately formed and easy to self report. From an attitude perspective, Shirley noticed Adam’s

unfair and unkind act and determined that he is an unpleasant boy.

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Next, the concept of aggression can be clearly seen in the eleventh frame. Shirley and the

other two classmates, Sam and Yi Qin, who also witnessed the incident, decided to gang up and

bully Adam. In this incident, the three girls felt that Adam was being unfair and displayed a

direct form of aggression which consists of physical behavior – punching and hitting Adam.

Aggression was also used by them to release their frustration over Adam’s doing in the

form of hostile aggression. Hostile aggression is usually accompanied by strong emotions – in

this case, anger felt by Shirley, with the goal to harm the person, Adam. The type of aggression

displayed by the three girls is also known as expressive view of aggression, which is an

aggression used to express anger.

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Lastly, the concept of altruism is demonstrated by Aida in frames twelve to sixteen.

When Aida returned to the classroom and saw the three girls bullying Adam, she immediately

went over to stop them and help Adam. Aida’s act of kindness shows altruism as she was

concerned for the welfare of Adam and went to his aid for selfless reasons. Altruistic motivation

is also exhibited by Aida in these scenes as her behavior was motivated by the desire to increase

another’s welfare which in this incident is by reducing Adam’s distress, instead of her own.

6. Reference

Boundless Psychology. (2014). “Aggression: Harming.”. Retrieved 3rd December 2014 from

https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/social-

psychology-20/positive-and-negative-social-behaviors-105/aggression-harming-398-

12933/

Greater Good. (n.d.). Altruism Definition. Retrieved 2nd December 2014 from

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/altruism/definition

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McLeod, Saul. (2014). Attitudes and Behaviour. Retrieved 3rd December 2014 from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/attitudes.html

Mio, J. (n.d.). Racism. Retrieved 1st December 2014 from

http://www.csupomona.edu/~jsmio/401/powerpoints/racism.html

Radwan, F. (n.d.). First impression psychology. Retrieved 1st December 2014 from

http://www.2knowmyself.com/first_impression_psychology

7. Appendix

Storyboard Frames

#1

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#2

#3

#4

16

#5 #6

#7

#8 #9

#10

17

#11

#12 & #13 #14

#15 & #16 #17