Love Unlimited in Scotland
Watch the video:
Love Unlimited in Scotland
https://vimeo.com/254403369
While watching the video, take notes so that you can base your analysis on observed facts.
An observed fact can be an image of the video, a sentence pronounced by one of the research
participants, or a comment from the presenter. To get credit for this assignment, you must write a
analysis of the video where your main task will be to identify the social psychology concepts that
explain the behaviors of the participants in the study.
Please keep in mind that you are expected to present your perspectives in an academic fashion using
social psychology concepts as references. This necessity can be explained for the five (5) reasons
that follow: In psychology, relying exclusively in personal opinions and experiences is unscientific as
1) personal opinions are idiosyncratic and cannot possibly be objective, 2) what is personal is never
universal or generalizable, 3) personal experiences cannot be measured or 4) proven right or wrong.
Finally, 5) in psychology all perspectives must rely on science as unscientific methods of exploration
are judged subjective and unethical.
Sample Solution
Love Unlimited in Scotland is a video which follows a research project in Scotland exploring the effects of unconditional love and affection on physical and mental health. The video showcases the experiences of participants who were randomly assigned to either receive or give hugs for an eight-week period as a way to explore how this form of social contact can help improve well being. Throughout the course of the experiment, several different social psychology concepts emerge from the data collected.
One concept that is particularly prominent throughout the video is interpersonal attraction, which describes why individuals are drawn to particular people (Myers et al., 2016). This concept helps explain why participants feel so connected with each other after receiving or giving hugs since intimate physical contact releases oxytocin into our bloodstreams which helps promote positive feelings towards others (Brown & Brown, 2017). Furthermore, there are also aspects of self-efficacy present during these interactions as those involved gain confidence from participating in something outside their comfort zone such as hugging strangers (Bandura 1977).
Finally, it’s important to note that there’s evidence here supporting cognitive dissonance theory, which suggests that when presented with information contradicting personal beliefs individuals will attempt to reduce this dissonance by changing their attitude accordingly (Festinger 1957). This explains why many participants experienced shifts in perspectives during the experiment due to having new ideas challenged through discussion or simply observing how others behaved differently than they expected.
