The purpose of this paper is to make careful observations of ‘real world’ behavior in a public place, and to relate your observations to social psychological theory. First, you must spend time in a public place (i.e., anywhere there’s people – easy to find in NYC!) and make careful observations of people interacting with others. It is important that your presence does not affect the behavior of those you are observing, so make sure that you are being unobtrusive (e.g., they shouldn’t see you staring and taking notes!). Next, you must compile and interpret your observations in terms of the social psych theory we have discussed in class (mostly social perception and self presentation). Be sure to include only the observations that you can link to social psych theory in your paper (i.e., don’t include a bunch of irrelevant observations). Finally, you must interpret your own observations from a social perception perspective (i.e., how your own observations and interpretations are potentially affected or biased by social perception processes). Please write succinctly (try to avoid repeating yourself or saying a lot of nothing, etc.). This paper must be original work otherwise you will receive a failing grade for the class. Please refer to Baruch’s Academic Integrity Policy: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html FORMAT: Papers should be no less than 4 full pages of text, and not exceed 7 pages, in standard APA formatting: 1 inch margins on all sides, 12 point font, double-spaced, etc. Your paper must also have a cover page with your name on it. Be sure not to cheat on the length of the paper, because you will lose points for it! 1. Introduction (approximately 1 paragraph) The intro section should first briefly describe the setting or settings of your observations, and give the reader an idea of what to expect from your paper. A good intro acts like a road map for reading the paper. 2. Observations (approximately 1½ – 2½ pages) This section should include details about: 1. Who you observed (e.g., a group of musicians) 2. Doing what (e.g., playing and soliciting money from people), 3. In what social context (e.g., in the union square subway station with a large crowd of people…) Of course, you could have a number of different observations at different times with different people etc. This is OK, but it would probably be easier for you to write about one set of observations. The more detailed your observations, the more you will have to write about in the next section, but only if your observations are relevant! 3. Interpretation (2-4 pages) a. Analyze in detail how social psychological theory can explain the behaviors you observed. Be sure to define all the psychological theory you talk about, and to carefully explain how what you observed is explained or is related to that theory. b. Explain how your own observations and interpretations may be affected or biased by discussing social perception theory (e.g., attributions, heuristics). Note: if you have many different observations, it may make more sense to describe and then interpret each observation in turn, instead of splitting observations and interpretations into two different sections. 4. Conclusion (approximately 1 paragraph) Include a paragraph at the end of the paper to summarize your arguments, and to tie everything together