HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM

JANUARY SEMESTER 2014
MODULE TITLE
MODULE CODE
MODULE DESCRIPTION

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Psychology of Film
PSY 317
This module will explore how movies illustrate various
psychological issues and phenomena, as well as how
movies reflect the social psychology of different
communities and different eras. This module will also
explore the impact that films have on people
emotionally, cognitively and behaviourally.

LEARNING OUTCOMES :

At the end of the course students will be able to:

A. Knowledge and understanding
Identify and articulate how film content
incorporates psychological phenomena.
Observe how film has a psychological impact
on viewers.
B. Cognitive Skills

A. Transferable Skills
Apply critical and evaluative thinking when
analyzing the content and the impact of films.
C. Practical / Professional Skills/Transferable
Skills
Demonstrate the ability to write and produce a
short film on a given topic in psychology.
PREREQUISITES
REF. SITE
MODULE LEADER

Students must have completed PSY 205 (Social

Psychology)

:
Dr. Goh Chee Leong
gohcl@help.edu.my
Tutors:
Ong Chia Wei: ong.chia.wei@help.edu.my
Reuben Liu: reuben.liu@help.edu.my

MODULE ASSESSMENT

Weekly Blog
Essay
Short Film Project

10%
20%
20%

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Final Examination
CREDIT HOURS

50%

Completed 3 credit hours

Film Genres that will be explored

1

Historical Films

Comedies

Family Dramas

Romantic Films

Action Films

Horror Films

Documentaries

Art films

Film Noir
Psychological Themes that will be explored
Social Influence
Personal Identity
Group Dynamics
Family Systems
Cognitive Dissonance
Love and Romance
Friendship
Intercultural differences
Intelligence and Giftedness
Stages of development
Work and vocation

Prejudice and Discrimination

Violence
Justice
Death and grief
Learning and Conditioning
Motivation and transformation
Loneliness
Conflict
Fear
Psychological Disorders
Therapy and Counselling

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Assessment Details
Weekly Blog (10%)
All students will need to start a 317 academic blog site. Guidelines on how to begin a blog have
been posted in the myacel site.
Your blog site address will need to be emailed to the tutor by Jan 24.
Blog name should follow this format: PSY317yourname. Eg. PSY317CheeLeong.
Every week starting from the week beginning January 20 students will be required to write a
minimum of 1 blog entry on the movie that we have watched in class. This entry will be due
every Tuesday at 12 noon exactly ONE WEEK after the previous weeks film screening.
Your blog entries may take one of many different approaches: you can reflect on parts of the film
that you found interesting or had an impact on you. You can describe how this film illustrates a
particular psychological theory or idea. You can link part of the film to your own life
experiences. You can critique the film, describing what you liked or disliked about the story or
the acting. You can even set up links to other films or TV shows that share similar themes to the
film.
The blog entry should be a minimum of 300 words.
Note that your lecturer, tutor and fellow classmates will be given access to this blog so please use
your discernment when deciding what to write and share.
Essay (20%)
Essay due: March 3 (Monday 5pm)
Select ONE of the movies you have watched in the 317 class and write an essay on ONE of the
following topics.
1. Discuss how the film illustrated theories and concepts in human personality.
2. Discuss how the film illustrated theories and concepts in human development
3. Discuss how the film illustrated theories and concepts in social psychology
4. Discuss how the film illustrated theories and concepts in abnormal psychology
Your essay should include specific examples of the psychological theories and concepts
contained in the film and should include a discussion of whether these theories and concepts
have been accurately illustrated.

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JANUARY SEMESTER 2014
Length 700-1000 words each not including cover page, references and appendices. Students are
required to state the total number of words in the cover page of the assignment.
All assignments are to be submitted to Turnitin for plagiarism checking before final submission.
Go to: http://www.turnitin.com
________________________________________________________________
Short Film (20%)
Students are to form small groups. Each group is to complete a 10 minute short film based on the
theme:
FREEDOM
Group list should be emailed to tutor by Jan 25 5pm. Include group leader in the list.
Furthermore, films will need to incorporate at least one psychological theory in its storyline.
The films will be handed in on March 28 (Friday at 5pm) in the form of a DVD.
Films will be judged on:
= quality of script(story)
= quality of acting
= quality of production
= connection with Theme
2% bonus marks will be assigned to groups who are able to produce a 2 minute photo
montage or documentary on the making of your film.

Examinations (50%)
The final examinations will comprise of essay questions. It will be an open book examination
with students free to reference any books or written materials during the examination.
The examination questions will be based on films watched in the course of the lectures and the
content of the lecture discussions.
__________________________________________________________________

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Department of Psychology Policies
Please note that the policies below apply to all students enrolled for this subject: BPsych
students, BBusPsych students and ADP students. Students from other departments taking
this subject as an elective are bound by all policies stated here except research participation
and attendance at colloquium + other compulsory events.
1. Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, falsifying documents,
and general unethical behaviour. Students who have been found engaging in acts of misconduct
can be referred to the Departmental Assessment Investigative Committee (DAIC) for further
investigation. If found guilty, the following penalties can be meted out at the discretion of the
committee:
1. 0 for assessment
2. F grade for the subject
3. Suspension from the program
4. Expulsion from the program
2. Plagiarism note
All students must use the APA citation style refer to the guide posted on My Acel.
Plagiarism is defined as any unacknowledged use of ideas and material produced by
someone other than the writer him/herself.
Please note that you are NOT to submit an assignment that you have already submitted to
any subject, whether in the same or different semester
All assignments must be submitted to Turnitin. Failure to do so will result in 0 marks for
that particular assignment.
The following rules apply:
1) Any information taken from any source must be cited.
2) If you copy the words (more than 3 words in the same sequence) from the source, this
is called a direct quotation. Quotation marks must be used and this must be
cited.
3) If you re-write or summarize the information in your own words, this is called a
paraphrase. No quotation marks are necessary, but the source must be cited.
Category
Description
Action
Blatant
Complete paragraphs and/or sentences For cases of blatant plagiarism, students
plagiarism
used without in-text acknowledgement may be called before the Dept Assessment
Investigative Committee (DAIC) consisting
Clear intent to plagiarize
of the Head of Department and two Senior
Lecturers. The following decisions can be
made at the discretion of the lecturer and/or
the DAIC:
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Accidental
plagiarism

One or two in-text citations omitted

Quotation marks omitted
Little or no evidence of intent to
plagiarize

Poor
paraphrasing

Material is acknowledged but at best,

the paraphrasing is only limited to a
few words being changed Quotation
marks are also not used)
Little or no evidence of intent to
plagiarize

1. 0 for assignment
2. F grade for the subject
3. Suspension from the program
4. Expulsion from the program
In addition to this, all faculty staff will be
made aware of the students who appear
before the committee. Reference
/recommendation letters will not be
provided for these students.
Maximum 50% of available points
Lecturer discretion
Student to be notified of action. This will be
accompanied by a discussion/consultation
on how the mistake can be avoided in
future.
Maximum 50% of available points
Lecturer discretion
Student to be notified of action. This will be
accompanied by a discussion / consultation
on how the mistake can be avoided in
future.

3. Mid-Term / Class Test Attendance Policy

i.
ii.
iii.

For class tests / mid-terms that are 1 hour or less students are not allowed to enter after /
leave before the first 10 minutes of the test.
For class tests / mid-terms that more than 1 hour students are not allowed to enter after /
leave before the first 30 minutes of the test.
For class tests / mid-terms, students are not allowed to leave in the last 10 minutes of the
test.

4. Barring from Final Examinations

Please note that effective from the Jan 2011 semester, for all Psychology subjects, students must
attempt any assessment within the enrolled subject that is 10% and above, and obtain at least
10% of the total marks for that particular assessment. Failure to do so will result in the student
being barred from Final Examinations for that particular subject.
For example, for a subject that has the following assessment:
Quizzes:
5%
Assignment 1: 10%
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Assignment 2: 15%
Mid-terms:
30%
Final Exams: 40%
If a student does not submit/attend any of the following: Assignment 1 / Assignment 2 / Midterms (and obtain at least 10% of the marks for those assessments), this student will be barred
from sitting for the final examinations of this subject. E.g. if a student attempts Assignment 1 and
receives only 8 marks out of 100 (or 0.8% out of 10% - i.e. less than 10% of the marks for that
assessment), they will be barred from that subjects final examinations.
Please note that students have to submit their assignments within 7 days of the due date (the 7
days include weekends). Assignments submitted after that will not be considered. (i.e. students
who submit assignments later than 7 days after the due date will be barred from final
exams)
5. Late Assignment Deductions
Late submission of assignments will incur a penalty of 2% per day (24 hours) (including
Saturdays and Sundays). This 2% deduction per day is incurred on the total percentage of the
assignment.
For example:
Assignment 1, worth 20% of your total grade, is marked upon 100 marks.
The 2% deduction per day is from the 20% and not from the 100 marks.
If a student submits the assignment 2 days late = 4% deduction = student receives a 16%
maximum for the assignment.
6. Compulsory Participation in Experiments
(This policy applies to all BusinessPsych / BPsych students***)
Please note that it is compulsory for every student to participate in 1 hour of research this
semester: 1 hour in total for the whole semester, regardless of the number of Psychology
subjects you are enrolled in (E.g, a student enrolled in 3 Psychology subjects and a student
enrolled in 1 Psychology subject will have to participate in the same number of hours (1 hour) of
research).
Failure to do so will result in 2% being deducted from each Psychology subject that you are
enrolled in. Please see the Head of Department if you are uncomfortable with attending
experiments and would like to obtain alternative forms of assessment. No bonus marks will be
allocated for participation of more than 1 hour of research.
***For the January 2014 semester, the following students are exempted from this requirement:

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1. BPsych students who are only enrolled in PSY 313 Undergraduate Thesis 2 and no other
Psychology subject.
2. BPsych students who are enrolled in PSY 201. (This does not apply to students with
AE/AA grades for PSY 201).
Important Note: Students must ensure that they attend every experiment that they sign up for.
Failure to attend an experiment will result in the number of hours of that experiment being
deducted from the compulsory hours you have completed. For example, if one signs up for a 2hour experiment but fails to attend this experiment, the compulsory research hours in the system
will be stated as -2 hours. As such, this student will need to participate in a total of 3 hours of
experiments to fulfil the 1 hour compulsory requirement. Please refer to the Department of
Psychology admin staff if you have any questions about this.
7. Ipsy.help.edu.my/experiments
Students may sign up for all experiments at http://ipsy.help.edu.my/experiments. Please note that
the experiments website has been revamped, and each student will need to create a new account.
There are instructions on the main page for all experimenters and participants, so please refer to
the instructions there.
Attention: All Experimenters
Kindly update your participants' attendance latest by Friday, Week 13 (11th April). It is the
experimenters responsibility to ensure that all students who have signed up and attended the
experiment receive a confirmation of attendance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Attention: All Participants
Please double-check your compulsory research participation hours for accuracy. If there are
discrepancies, kindly notify your experimenters to update your attendance. The last day to do this
is Friday, Week 13 (11th April). No changes will be entertained after this.
8. Compulsory Events
In the January 2014 semester, it will be compulsory for all students to attend the following
events:
1. So You Think You Are A Psychologist Saturday 15 Feb 2014
2. Colloquium Saturday 19 April 2014
Failure to do so will result in 2% being deducted from each Psychology subject that you are
enrolled in. Further details about these events will be disseminated closer to the date of the
events.

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JANUARY SEMESTER 2014
Students with valid reasons for being exempted from these events are to consult the following
academic staff:
1. So You Think You Are A Psychologist Mr Alex Lui
2. Colloquium Ms Winnee Cheong
9. Policy on Participation for Group Assessment
1. It is the policy of this department that when group assessments are assigned, each individual in
that group holds the following responsibilities:
1.1

in the case of written assessment, to contribute to the finished product, be it presentation

notes, a research report or a project report. This contribution may include archival
research, drafting, editing or formatting.

1.2

in the case of an oral presentation, to verbally present part of the presentation. No

individual should be exempt from speaking during the oral presentation.

1.3

to be clear on what your specific roles and contributions are to the group effort, as well
as the expectations your group members have in terms of your contributions.

1.4

attend group meetings unless there are legitimate and documented reasons for missing
them.

1.5

attend group meetings with supervisors unless there are legitimate and documented
reasons for missing them

2. Group members have a right to report fellow members for negligence if there are deemed to
have failed in any of the responsibilities listed above.
2.1

Group members are encouraged to raise these complaints with their lecturers and
attempts made to resolve differences before a formal complaint is lodged.

2.2

Negligence (social loafing) reports can be filled in by one or several members of the
group (see attached form) using forms that can be downloaded from the myacel site.

2.3

Negligence reports should be submitted to the course lecturer who will then make a
decision having investigated the issues raised. The group member accused will have an
opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations made.

2.4

If a student is found to be negligent in this matter, a lecturer can penalize them by

deducting any amount of marks from their group assessment marks and/or their
individual assignment marks.

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10. Evaluations
Every semester, there will be 2 evaluation processes for each subject:
1.
Mid-semester evaluations:
These evaluations are held in class and consist of 2 subjective questions. This is so that
lecturers and tutors can receive feedback in the middle of the semester, in order to address
student concerns and make improvements within the same semester.
2.
Compulsory end of semester evaluations:
These evaluations are conducted online and consist of Likert-scale questions as well as 2
subjective questions. The purpose of this is to obtain feedback that will be beneficial for
future semesters.
Students are strongly encouraged to fill in BOTH evaluation forms as feedback is important and
can help the faculty make important decisions about the curriculum and the direction of the
course.

COURSE OUTLINE PREPARED BY: Dr Goh Chee Leong

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