Constructing Social Reality looks at the process and elements of interpreting reality. You'll explore the power of cognitive control, the Pygmalion effect, the development of prejudice, and how expectations affect behaviors like performance and compliance.

Watch the video and answer the following questions.

Part A

1. In 1968 in Jonestown, over 800 members of The People's Temple committed suicide, killed their own children, and even shot to death others who failed to participate in the mass suicide ordered by Jim Jones. Can you explain how the "power of the situation" could have resulted in such a horror?
2. When trying to understand an unusual situation or something very different from our own world-view, what are two things we should keep in mind?
3. Shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., third grade teacher Jane Elliot sets up her class for "arbitrary discrimination".

Part B

What was done to establish "arbitrary discrimination" in third grade?

How did the children respond in action and emotion?

What did the participants have to say about this experience later as adults?

1. Influencing subjective reality can become a "self-fulfilling prophecy". Tell about Rosenthal's tests conducted with student and teacher classroom expectations. Have you seen this in action (to a positive or negative effect) in your life?
2. According to Rosenthal, what four factors mediate or intervene to keep a "self-fulfilling prophecy" going? In what other setting besides schools do you see these factors operating? Be specific.
3. Aronson and Gonzales worked in Texas following desegregation, designing the "jigsaw classroom" to promote cooperation rather than competition. What were some of the benefits to students? What do you think some of the problems could be?

An extensive Web site for the Stanford Prison Experiment, including day-by-day summaries, as well as images and video clips, is available. http://www.prisonexp.org/.