HPS204 Social Psychology

Assessment Task 1 (AT1): Research Proposal

These assessment guidelines will help you complete AT1 and are split into three sections.

1.    General Information. Overviews the general admin for this assessment (e.g., due date, word count, submission details, etc.). It also provides the learning objectives of this assessment.

2.   Topic Information. Overviews the topic of this assessment and your required materials.

3.    Completing Your Assessment. Brief instructions for what sections are required.

1: General Information

Learning Objectives of the Assessment

AT1 targets the following Unit Learning Objectives:

Handy hint #1. We acknowledge there is a lot of written information to read and digest in these guidelines. For some, it will take a few goes reading this document to absorb all its information. But think of these guidelines as your one-stop-shop for AT1, as it has all the information you need to complete this assessment successfully.

Although this table gives you a brief idea of what skills and content AT1 is trying to teach you, you are probably still wondering what this assessment is all about. Let us elaborate further.

Overview

One thing we hope you learn in this unit is that (social) psychology generates and maintains its knowledge via scientific methods. We generate research questions and conduct studies to help explain the social world. So, understanding how to read and interpret research findings, and learning how to generate studies, is an important part of the scientific processes we use in psychology.

So, what is a research proposal then? A research proposal is a piece of scientific writing that provides an evidence-based justification/argument for a study before it is conducted.

Why doI need write a research proposal? Research proposals are commonplace in psychology (and  science), and those who write them include students, researchers, and psychologists. The skills that research proposals develop are essential to understanding and interpreting psychological content  accurately and are essential to most jobs. These skills include idea generation, reviewing research,  critical thinking, and succinct and clear writing.

We know many students have never written a research proposal before, and so we do not expect  you to knowhow to write one or even think of a study idea completely from scratch. Instead, we will give you a topic, relevant readings, and structured suggestions to help you generate a study idea (see 2: Topic Information). We will also guide you through how to develop and write a research proposal in our seminars (week 1, 3 and 5 seminars).

2: Topic Information

Background Information

One issue that has received growing attention in social psychology is climate change. Human

behaviour contributes to climate change and modifying behaviour to be more sustainable (and

therefore more prosocial) can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. Yet unsustainable

behaviour has continued to rise in several countries, including Australia (despite most Australians

holding pro-climate attitudes). Therefore, social psychologists have tried to determine how best to

increase different types of climate action (e.g. energy conservation, plant-based diets). This includes conducting correlational studies examining what variables or factors are associated with specific

climate actions. Others have conducted experimental studies investigating what type of message is the most effective at increasing individual’s climate action intentions or behaviour.

This is somewhat unsurprising as social psychology has long studied persuasive messages and their impact on attitudes and behaviours (see Topic 6 of the unit). Researchers initially assumed that

providing individuals with facts about why they should modify their behaviour was enough to create desired change (referred to as an informational message). However, messages are often more

effective if they go beyond facts and appeal to individuals’ emotions (referred to as an emotional appeal but also an ‘emotional message’ or ‘frame’). Emotional appeals area type of persuasive

message where a certain emotion is induced by the content within the message in the hopes it will alter one’sattitudes and/or behaviour. These emotional appeals can either induce specific positive emotions (happiness, pride, empathy, hope) or negative emotions (fear, guilt, disgust, anger).

Drawing upon this literature, social psychological research has now begun to investigate whether

inducing specific emotions via persuasive messages, notably hope and/or anger, is an effective way to increase specific types of climate action (especially in the Australian context).

The Study Idea

As alluded to above, research is unclear whether an emotional appeal designed to induce hope and/or anger increases specific types of climate action. This is your research proposal topic.

Please note: You are not allowed to choose your own topic. You must use this topic for AT1.

Given this, you are required to present an argument that a study should be conducted to compare   between two conditions (i.e., two persuasive messages) (A vs B) AND hypothesise which persuasive message will be more effective than the other in increasing a specific type of climate action. The

climate action you choose to focus on as your dependent variable is up to you, but it must be a type of climate action (e.g., plant-based diet, use of renewable energy, etc.).

So, what comparisons can you argue for? Depending on your reading of the literature, you must

choose only one of the following comparisons (and their affiliated research question) to argue for:

1.    (A) Hope VS (B) anger (is a hope appeal or an anger appeal more effective for increasing climate action?)

2.    (A) Hope VS (B) acontrol message (is a hope appeal more effective for increasing climate action than a control message?)

3.    (A) Anger appeal VS (B) acontrol message (is an anger appeal more effective for

increasing climate action than a control message?)

4.    (A) Hope and anger VS (B) acontrol message (are emotional appeals of hope and anger

more effective for increasing climate action than a control message?)

Handy hint #2. Do not decide which comparison you will pick to argue for until after you

have reviewed the literature (at minimum read the set assignment readings – more on that below). This will ensure you pick the comparison that you can argue for the best.

Handy hint #3. We will teach you how to develop written evidence-based arguments in your week 1, 3 and 5 seminars, and strongly encourage attendance (rather than just listening to    the recording) for the best possible performance on this assessment.

Generating your Aim and Hypothesis

For this topic, you must generate and present only one aim and one hypothesis. The Study Aim

Depending on your chosen comparison, you must insert (A) and (B) into the sentence below and

then copy and paste this edited aim directly into your ‘Overview’ AND ‘The Current Study’ section in your research proposal. Edit this aim to ensure it makes logical sense with the comparison you have  selected. You can also change the term ‘climate action’ to the specific climate action you have

decided to focus on if you think this works better (but this is not necessary). The aim to use is:

The aim of the current study is to compare how effective emotional appeals inducing (A) versus/or/and (B) are at increasing climate action.

Handy hint #4. If you are comparing an emotional appeal to a control, it is up to you to

determine what is the control message or condition. The control could be that participants receive no message at all, it could be a different type of (non-emotional) appeal used previously in the literature or even an informational message. Look at the prior research studies in the set assignment readings we have provided you to get ideas.

The Study Hypothesis

For the hypothesis, you will need to develop and present ONE testable hypothesis that is based on

prior relevant literature. This hypothesis should clearly predict which of the two (A orB) will have a stronger effect on the climate action you have decided to specifically focus on. You cannot say that    both conditions (or persuasive appeals) will be equally effective as one another – this does not make sense in the context of hypothesis testing.

Handy hint #5. Be sure to listen to/attend the week 3 seminar to learn how to generate a hypothesis. When coming up with your hypothesis, here are some questions to think about …

•    Do you expect there to be a difference in the effectiveness of A and B?

•    If yes, which emotional appeal (A or B) will be more impactful on the climate action you have decided to focus on?

Assignment Readings to Use (and Source)

In this assessment you must use and cite at least TWO of the references provided below, and

source, use, and cite additional references. Only use the articles you need to build the argument for your selected comparison and its related aim and hypothesis. For example, if you decide to only

focus on hope in your proposal, then you do not need to cite articles about anger (and viceversa).

Provided References

The provided references required are listed below but are not incorrect APA formatting. You can obtain and print a copy of these readings via the units reading list (in Content > Reading List).

1.   van Kleef & Lelieveld (2022). This review article summarises recent literature that examines how emotion is associated with prosocial behaviour. As climate action is about achieving

positive outcomes, any type of climate action can be considered a type of prosocial

behaviour. This article will help you understand the two emotions we have selected for this assessment and how they are associated with different types of prosocial behaviours.

2.    Brosch (2021). This review article discusses the role of emotion in driving climate attitudes and action. It reviews research on several different emotions in the context of climate

change. It also examines emotions in climate communications/interventions (like persuasive messages, which is what you are looking at).

3.   Stanley et al. (2021). This empirical article employs a correlational study design, with

Australian participants. The study presented examines how negative eco-emotions

(including, eco-anxiety, eco-depression, eco-anger) uniquely contribute to individuals’

wellbeing and engagement with climate actions in the Australian context. The climate

actions examined include personal-level actions (e.g., recycling and composting) and

collective-level actions (e.g., protesting). This study outlines the relationship anger appears to have with specific types of climate action.

4.    Hornsey & Fielding (2016) . This empirical article employs a correlational (Study 1) and

experimental (Study 2) study design, with Australian participants. Study 1 shows the

relationship negative (sadness) and positive (hope) emotions have with efficacy and climate action (which the authors refer to as mitigation motivation). Study 2 can be considered a

message framing study. The authors compare a hope appeal (referred to as an optimistic     message), adistress appeal (referred to as a pessimistic message), and a control condition   (referred to as the neutral message) to see which is better at increasing climate action. It is important to note here that they compare three messages where in your study you are arguing to compare between TWO persuasive messages only. Study 2 also provides an example of what a control condition can look like in a message framing study (*hint hint*).

Handy hint #6. Remember that not all information in every article is relevant! Think about  what information you need to support the comparison, aim and hypothesis you are arguing for, and only discuss this information. You should not comprehensively summarise the

specifics of each article you are referencing in one paragraph, one after the other. Instead,

you should use elements of the articles as needed to help build your arguments for why your study is needed and why you have made the hypothesis you have.

Please note: Some of the set readings discuss moderations and mediations. We will explain these

concepts in the Week 2 content (particularly in the Week 2 lecture). However, to be clear, you should not argue for a mediation or moderation in your research proposal, only a direct/main effect.

Additional References

In addition to using and citing the references above, another requirement of this assessment is that  you also find, use, and cite additional journal articles that you consider relevant to the topic. These cannot be books or book chapters – they must be peer-reviewed journal articles.

The additional journal articles should be cited somewhere in-text and provided in your reference list.

You are required to source, use, and cite at least TWO additional journal articles. There is no

maximum for how many articles you can source, and there is no year limit on the articles either.

When it comes to scientific writing, we need to have relevant support/evidence/examples to back

up our claims. So, when looking for additional articles, ask yourself “what do I want to argue and

what evidence do I need to back it up?”. You can also start by looking at the reference list of the set readings too. To further help you, relevant journal articles may refer to topics such as:

•    What is climate change and why should we care about it? What effect does climate change have on society and/or the members of the groups themselves?

•    Why do we need to encourage climate action (e.g., reducing energy consumption, installing solar panels) to help reduce the effect of climate change?

•    What kinds of strategies or interventions – especially persuasive messages – have been   used previously to encourage climate action and how successful have they been? Just be sure to bring it back to emotions and emotional appeals and why these are specifically

important to examine (i.e., consider how important emotions are in predicting climate action specifically and/or prosocial behaviour more generally).

•    Reviews on the effectiveness of emotional appeals for influencing attitudes and behaviours more broadly (you might find that it is good to draw on the persuasion literature beyond

your topic and look at other similar behaviours).

•    Studies that show a link between certain emotions and certain types of prosocial or climate attitudes and/or behaviours.

•    Theoretical papers that may suggest emotions are important motivators of similar types of behaviour and why this maybe the case.

•    An important note is that researchers use different formats for their persuasive messages – essays, writing tasks, images, short paragraphs, and videos (just to name a few). These are   all still considered types of persuasive messages, as their underlying aim is to persuade individuals to change their attitudes and/or behaviours.