Unit 14: Social Psychology Movie Poster Project
For this project you will create a movie poster and a movie review based on one of the social psychology experiments
described in the online articles “Why We do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies” and “Why
Smart People Do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 More Brilliant Social Psychology Studies.”
The experiments are listed below:
Why We do Dumb or Irrational Things:
10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies
1.
2.
3.
The Halo Effect: When Your Own Mind is a Mystery
How and Why We Lie to Ourselves: Cognitive Dissonance
War, Peace and the Role of Power in Sherif's Robbers Cave
Experiment
4. Our Dark Hearts: The Stanford Prison Experiment
5. Just Following Orders? Stanley Milgram's Obedience
Experiment
6. Why We All Stink as Intuitive Psychologists: The False
Consensus Bias
7. Why Groups and Prejudices Form So Easily: Social Identity
Theory
8. How to Avoid a Bad Bargain: Don't Threaten
9. Why We Don't Help Others: Bystander Apathy
10. I Can't Believe My Eyes: Conforming to the Norm
Why Smart People Do Dumb or Irrational Things:
10 More Brilliant Social Psychology Studies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Why You Can’t Help Believing Everything You Read
The Truth About Self-Deception
How Rewards Can Backfire and Reduce Motivation
Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively
Why Thought Suppression is Counter-Productive
The Chameleon Effect
How Other People’s Unspoken Expectations Control Us
When Situations Not Personality Dictate Our Behavior
Finding The Surprising Gaps in Your Self-Knowledge
Stereotypes: Why We Act Without Thinking
Instructions:
1. Read the information provided (on the web sites) about the social psychology experiments, and choose the
experiment you would like to focus on for the project. No more than 2 students can select the same experiment in
each class.
2. Brainstorm how the experiment could be transformed into a movie (plot, type of movie, characters, settings…)
3. Create a movie poster which advertises your movie (see below)
4. Write a review of your movie (see below)
Movie Poster
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Creative movie title (large lettering)
Tagline
Characters (including any prominent psychologists
and participants in the study)
Actors/Actress who will play these characters
Production credits (director, producer, writer,
studio, soundtrack/music, website, etc.)
Color Illustration/picture
Release date (or “coming soon”)
Rating
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Neat, colorful, demonstrates your best work
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See examples on the back 
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1-2 page Movie Review
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Begin with a short statement than answers the
question, “what is the movie about?”
Describe the major events of the film
Describe the key characters of the film
Include a plot summary that describes the main
components of the experiment and the outcome.
Reference social psych terms, concepts and ideas
from Chapter 16.
Kelsey Halfen
Kelsey Halfen