Watch the short documentary “Boys Alone” (link: https://youtu.be/bCePbRdQmbE). After viewing this video, imagine that you have been invited as a psychological consultant to provide a formulation of what transpired in this group of boys during this experiment. Drawing from knowledge of psychological theories, explain those observations which you believe are key in your formulation. State the assumptions you made in generating your formulation as explicitly as possible. Your conclusions regarding the outcome of this experiment should be written in a PERSUASIVE manner, as if you are attempting to convince a naive audience that your conclusions are sound and correct.
The purpose of this formulation is to provide a well-conceived, theoretically grounded account/explanation of a person, group of persons, or event. Formulations always involve a statement of observations and an interpretation of those observations, based on assumptions and theory. Start the paper with a brief description of the experiment and what you believe was the purpose of the experiment. Examine what you think happened and why you came to the conclusion that you did.
This is an exercise in writing, critical synthesis and analysis of behavioral data, and argument presentation. It is important that you articulate the assumptions and theoretical concepts which you employed in forming your opinion. Additional research is not required, but if you choose to pursue outside sources to reference your ideas, these must be cited properly using APA style.
Questions to consider: What key observations did you take note of? Any important insights about social behavior gleaned? Anything happen that surprised you? If so, why was it surprising? Are all of your interpretations connected to specific observations in the video? Are your interpretations grounded in a particular psychological theory? Or do they borrow from more than one theory in psychology? Are there clear alternative interpretations that could be made? If so, why did you reject them in favor of your interpretation? How might the presentation of their behaviors be biased?
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