SCS 100 Project 2: Observation Journal Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Your second longer-term assignment in this course is to complete an observation journal, where you will use the previous information collected in your
comparison template to apply social scientific observations to help you to develop a question about the ads that a social scientist might ask. The work you do on
this observation journal will directly support your work on your third course project, the final reflection, which is due later in the course.
This observation journal assignment will assess the following course outcome, which you focused on throughout this theme:
Develop questions about fundamental aspects of human behavior that inform personal assumptions, beliefs and values using evidence from the social
sciences
Prompt
Your second course project is an observation journal. You have already gathered your advertisements and completed your comparison template to determine
the social science approaches that are relevant to your ads. For this assignment you will use that information to write an observation journal that will ask you to
draw conclusions from the ads and, eventually, devise a social science question that you might like to investigate. The critical elements of this assessment will be
evaluated in your observation journal.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed and will be graded using the rubric at the end of this document:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Explain why you chose these advertisements for social scientific and personal study. For instance, what aspects of them intrigued you and made you
curious?
Explain the assumptions and observations about human interactions and behaviors you made about the advertisements. These are some questions you
might want to consider in your explanation:
a. Who do you believe the audiences for the ads might be?
b. What messages do you think the ads are sending?
c. What do you think the nature of the relationship is between or among the people in the ads?
d. What relationship(s) do you see between or among the people and the product or service being advertised?
e. How effective are the ads in influencing your own consumer decisions?
Identify topics in this course that are relevant to the human behaviors in your advertisements and explain how they are relevant. This is your social
science evidence for your observations. For instance, what ideas and people have you studied so far that apply to your observations?
Taking all of your observations and objective conclusions about human behavior in your advertisements into account, assume the role of a social
scientist. What question would you ask about the advertisements that you, as a social scientist, could seek to answer? What observations and objective
conclusions lead you to this question?
Supporting Work and Resources
The observation journal is due in learning block 4-3. Throughout this theme, there are three opportunities to work directly on different elements of the
observation journal.
1. In learning block 2-4, you submitted your comparison template. You will use this to create your observation journal.
2. In learning block 4-2, you participated in a discussion using the ads you chose in support of your summative work. You can use your answers from this
discussion when completing your observation journal.
3. In learning block 4-3, you will work to finalize your observation journal and submit it to your instructor for grading. This learning block also includes an
Observation Journal Checklist that you can use to ensure you have met all the requirements of this project. You can also review the Observation Journal
Exemplar for guidance in how to complete this assignment. Your instructor is available to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have as
you work to finalize your observation journal.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: This submission will contain your completed observation journal in Blackboard. Submit your observation journal as a Microsoft Word
document.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information,
review these instructions.
Critical Elements
Chose
Assumptions and
Observations
Topics
Exemplary (100%)
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
details demonstrate insight into
the connection between the
social scientific and the
personal
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
details demonstrate a mature
awareness of human
interactions and behaviors
Proficient (85%)
Explains why advertisements
were chosen for social scientific
and personal study
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
connection between topics and
ads shows a strong grasp of the
social science evidence
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads
Needs Improvement (55%)
Explains why advertisements
were chosen, but social
scientific and personal
connections are overly
generalized
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads, but is
overly generalized
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads,
but is overly generalized or has
inaccuracies
Not Evident (0%)
Does not explain why
advertisements were chosen
Value
23.75
Does not explain the
assumptions and observations
about human interactions and
behaviors made about the ads
23.75
Does not explain how topics
from the course are relevant to
the human behaviors in the ads
23.75
Question
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
connections between question,
observations, and conclusions
demonstrate insight into social
scientific study
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
supported by observations and
conclusions about human
behavior in the ads
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
but lacks support from
observations and conclusion
about human behavior in the
ads or is overly generalized
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
Does not pose a question a
social scientist could seek to
answer
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
Total
23.75
5
100%
SCS 100 Theme 2: Project 2 Exemplar
Article Choice
I chose the advertisements that I did because I was interested in how they related gender to
food. Each advertisement is marketing a certain food: gelato, candy bars, or ice cream. Each
advertisement depicts either females alone or females in specific gender roles. I was also
intrigued by the advertisements because I am female and I enjoy eating chocolate. When I have
had a hard day I enjoy coming home and indulging in dessert to comfort myself. Some of the
advertisements portray women as having a desire for sweets, which made me question my own
tendency to desire sweet foods after a hard day at work.
Assumptions and Observations
Audience. Each advertisement has a specific audience to which it appeals. Each
advertisement depicts mostly white actors and actresses. The intended audience of these
advertisements are people who use food as reward. The audience for these advertisements
would most likely be people from a westernized civilization who have excess food to use for
pleasure or reward. For example, people who live in countries where there is not easy access to
plentiful amounts of food would not have the same relationship to food as the people depicted in
these advertisements. There are other aspects of the advertisements that make me think the
intended audience is white and westernized. For example, the marriage in the Milky Way
advertisement appears to be a traditional Christian wedding, based on the presence of a priest
and the decoration of the church. The Freddo Ice Cream advertisement depicts children, all of
them white, and represents a democracy in which people are elected to government positions.
The Celebration advertisement is also showing individuals—all of whom are also white—who
again are using food as a way of celebrating. Finally, the Antonio Federici advertisement is
depicting a white nun being sinful by eating chocolate, which again seems to be portraying a
relationship between indulgence and food. I believe the relationship of food as indulgence is a
more westernized and privileged notion. Based on my observations, I believe the intended
audience for most of these advertisements are middle-class, white women.
Message. The message the advertisements are sending all seem to be about the
relationship between people and food. For the Federici advertisement, the message is that
women use rich, sweet food for indulgence and as a “guilty pleasure.” The advertisement even
seems to relate the indulgence of this sweet food with sin by showing a nun who is pregnant.
The Freddo Ice Cream advertisement is also showing a relationship between food and people.
In this advertisement, I observed that the girls are the ones serving food, while the boy is the
one running for office. This advertisement seems to portray a stereotype of women serving
men. It also is showing a relationship between women being the ones to handle the serving and
maybe even the preparation of food. The Celebration advertisement’s message again appears to
show a relationship between women celebrating with food. The ad even shows the girls
celebrating other’s misfortune, thereby seeming to portray females as selfish. The Milky Way
advertisement also depicts a woman as being selfish by indulging in chocolate, which makes
her late for her own wedding. A common message is showing gender stereotypes as they relate
to women and food.
Relationship between people. I believe that in most of these advertisements, the most
important relationship depicted between people is the relationship between sinful females and
others. For example, in the Antonio Federici advertisement, one thinks of an innocent nun who
has sinned. Females are supposed to be innocent and this advertisement taps into the hidden
desires of females. I believe these advertisements also show women as weak compared to their
desires; for example, the women in the Celebration advertisement care only about winning and
do not care about their injured competitor. Although the Freddo Ice Cream advertisement
depicts a different type of gender stereotype, it is still important. The Freddo advertisement
shows females serving males and acting in less important or secondary roles. The relationship
between genders is the most important relationship I observe in these advertisements.
Relationship with product. In each of the advertisements, the relationship that I chose
to focus on is the relationship between women and food. The Freddo Ice Cream advertisement
shows females in the traditional secondary role of serving and preparing food, while the male is
in the primary role of running for office. The other three advertisements all portray women as
being selfish and indulgent when they engage in eating sweet food. The relationship is that a
woman cannot help herself and indulges in the guilty pleasure of a sweet food.
Effectiveness. For me, the least effective advertisement is the Celebration
advertisement, because it depicts females acting in an obviously selfish way by showing them
celebrating when their competitor is injured. The Milky Way advertisement also shows a
woman acting selfishly, but the ad does it in a less obvious way; the consequence of her selfish
behavior is not celebrating another person getting hurt, but that people have to wait for her
wedding. Therefore, the Milky Way advertisement is more effective than the Celebration
advertisement. I also believe the obviousness of the message impacts the effectiveness of the
Antonio Federici advertisement, because if the nun were not pregnant, the message of indulging
and being sinful would be less obvious, and would therefore be more effective for me. Finally,
the Freddo Ice Cream advertisement very obviously depicts stereotypical gender roles; for me,
it is hard to look past that and focus on the product. Overall, the advertisements that make a less
obvious attempt at getting their message across seem to be the most effective.
Social Science Evidence
To back up my observations about the relationship between women and food, which in these
advertisements I observed to represent gender stereotypes of women in servile roles and as
being weak and unable to resist their desires, I looked for evidence within the course so far.
My interest in the portrayal of the women in these advertisements seems to fit both within the
psychological and sociological fields. In Theme 1, we learned that gender stereotypes can be
examined through the idea of the “social construction” of these topics, meaning that society
creates and reinforces the category of gender. In Theme 1, we learned that psychology is the
study of the mind and behavior (American Psychological Association, n.d.) and even though
gender roles may be socially constructed, the behavior of engaging in those gender roles is
very interesting to me.
We learned about perception in Theme 2. Perception plays a big role in these advertisements
because it helps to explain why we perceive what we do from these advertisements. The halo
effect is described as “a bias in which our overall impression of a person (a figurative halo)
colors our judgments of that person’s character” (Baumann Foundation, 2013). The halo effect
comes into play in multiple advertisements. For example, in the Antonio Federici
advertisement, we see a nun who has sinned and we start to make assumptions about all the
other choices in her life. We also do this with the Celebration and Milky Way advertisements.
The depiction of females choosing to indulge within the advertisements leaves the audience
making assumptions about the females’ overall weaknesses and tendency to give into their
desires. Confirmation bias can also be used to describe why we perceive what we do from these
advertisements. Confirmation bias is described as seeking and/or interpreting evidence in a way
that is congruent with one’s existing beliefs or expectations (Nickerson, 1998). Gender
stereotypes already exist; therefore, we are more likely to interpret the advertisements in line
with the gender stereotypes with which we are familiar. According to confirmation bias, we see
the Freddo Ice Cream advertisement as confirming societal gender stereotypes that women are
secondary to men. Even though these cognitive biases happen automatically, we learned in
Theme 2 that they influence our opinions and emotions about situations.
Question
The Theme 1 overview describes one of the big questions in psychology as “What motivates
individuals to act in certain ways?” I used this question, along with the evidence about cognitive
biases, to help inform my own question about gender stereotypes. I am also using my own
experiences because in my household I do more of the cleaning, while my husband does the
lawn work. These behaviors fit into stereotypical gender roles of women doing more of the
cleaning and cooking and men doing more of the yard work. Although my experience is
different than the gender stereotypes portrayed in the advertisements, these behaviors still fit
into the theme of gender stereotypes. I created a question a social scientist might ask using both
the information from the course and my own experiences. Based on this information, my social
science question is: How do cognitive biases influence our behaviors to adhere to gender
stereotypes?
References
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Definition of psychology. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/about/
The Baumann Foundation. (2013). The halo effect: Why angels and devils walk the earth. Retrieved from
http://www.beinghuman.org/article/halo-effect
Nickerson, R. S. (1998). Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General
Psychology, 2(2), 175–220.
SCS 100 Project 2: Observation Journal Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Your second longer-term assignment in this course is to complete an observation journal, where you will use the previous information collected in your
comparison template to apply social scientific observations to help you to develop a question about the ads that a social scientist might ask. The work you do on
this observation journal will directly support your work on your third course project, the final reflection, which is due later in the course.
This observation journal assignment will assess the following course outcome, which you focused on throughout this theme:
Develop questions about fundamental aspects of human behavior that inform personal assumptions, beliefs and values using evidence from the social
sciences
Prompt
Your second course project is an observation journal. You have already gathered your advertisements and completed your comparison template to determine
the social science approaches that are relevant to your ads. For this assignment you will use that information to write an observation journal that will ask you to
draw conclusions from the ads and, eventually, devise a social science question that you might like to investigate. The critical elements of this assessment will be
evaluated in your observation journal.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed and will be graded using the rubric at the end of this document:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Explain why you chose these advertisements for social scientific and personal study. For instance, what aspects of them intrigued you and made you
curious?
Explain the assumptions and observations about human interactions and behaviors you made about the advertisements. These are some questions you
might want to consider in your explanation:
a. Who do you believe the audiences for the ads might be?
b. What messages do you think the ads are sending?
c. What do you think the nature of the relationship is between or among the people in the ads?
d. What relationship(s) do you see between or among the people and the product or service being advertised?
e. How effective are the ads in influencing your own consumer decisions?
Identify topics in this course that are relevant to the human behaviors in your advertisements and explain how they are relevant. This is your social
science evidence for your observations. For instance, what ideas and people have you studied so far that apply to your observations?
Taking all of your observations and objective conclusions about human behavior in your advertisements into account, assume the role of a social
scientist. What question would you ask about the advertisements that you, as a social scientist, could seek to answer? What observations and objective
conclusions lead you to this question?
Supporting Work and Resources
The observation journal is due in learning block 4-3. Throughout this theme, there are three opportunities to work directly on different elements of the
observation journal.
1. In learning block 2-4, you submitted your comparison template. You will use this to create your observation journal.
2. In learning block 4-2, you participated in a discussion using the ads you chose in support of your summative work. You can use your answers from this
discussion when completing your observation journal.
3. In learning block 4-3, you will work to finalize your observation journal and submit it to your instructor for grading. This learning block also includes an
Observation Journal Checklist that you can use to ensure you have met all the requirements of this project. You can also review the Observation Journal
Exemplar for guidance in how to complete this assignment. Your instructor is available to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have as
you work to finalize your observation journal.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: This submission will contain your completed observation journal in Blackboard. Submit your observation journal as a Microsoft Word
document.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information,
review these instructions.
Critical Elements
Chose
Assumptions and
Observations
Topics
Exemplary (100%)
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
details demonstrate insight into
the connection between the
social scientific and the
personal
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
details demonstrate a mature
awareness of human
interactions and behaviors
Proficient (85%)
Explains why advertisements
were chosen for social scientific
and personal study
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
connection between topics and
ads shows a strong grasp of the
social science evidence
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads
Needs Improvement (55%)
Explains why advertisements
were chosen, but social
scientific and personal
connections are overly
generalized
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads, but is
overly generalized
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads,
but is overly generalized or has
inaccuracies
Not Evident (0%)
Does not explain why
advertisements were chosen
Value
23.75
Does not explain the
assumptions and observations
about human interactions and
behaviors made about the ads
23.75
Does not explain how topics
from the course are relevant to
the human behaviors in the ads
23.75
Question
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
connections between question,
observations, and conclusions
demonstrate insight into social
scientific study
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
supported by observations and
conclusions about human
behavior in the ads
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
but lacks support from
observations and conclusion
about human behavior in the
ads or is overly generalized
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
Does not pose a question a
social scientist could seek to
answer
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
Total
23.75
5
100%
SCS 100 Theme 2: Observation Journal Checklist
Did you . . .
Explain why you chose your advertisements for social scientific and
personal study? What aspects intrigued you and made you curious?
Explain the assumptions and observations about human interactions and
behaviors that can be made about the ads?
Identify topics in this course that are relevant to the human behaviors in
your advertisements?
Explain how these topics are relevant?
Pose a question a social scientist could seek to answer?
Support your question with observations and conclusions about human
behavior in the ads?
Complete a spelling and grammar check?
Yes
No
SCS 100 Theme 1: Comparison Template
Ad 1: Diaderm Anti-Wrinkle
Ad 2: Garnier: Hide Yesterday
Cream
1. Question(s) related to
how individuals are
represented in the ads
Why is the woman in the
picture ageless and beautiful?
Why does the man seem
happy even though he is
aging?
What assumptions are we
supposed to make about the
different forms of the young
man?
Why does the young woman
seem nervous?
Does the ad encourage
people to perceive the older
woman as inferior to the
older male?
2. Questions related to
how groups and group
behavior are
represented in the ad
3. Questions related to
how culture and cultural
identity are represented
(or not represented) in
the ad
Are women more concerned
with youthful beauty than
men?
Why are men more likely to
greet other males in a room
before speaking to a female?
Do men care about getting
wrinkles as they age?
Are males more likely to
engage in reckless behavior
the day before an important
engagement?
Is this ad an accurate
depiction of cultural
expectation of beauty that
have been set for women?
Is the introduction of parent
to a spouse a significant event
in other cultures?
Ad 3: Schlaage Locks: Ex-
Ad 4: Carlsberg Beer: If
Girlfriend
Carlsberg Did Fitting Rooms
Why is woman shown as
being violent?
Why do cultures often
associate women with
obsessive shopping habits?
Why did the man choose a
public place to breakup with
the woman?
Can shopping experience that
is tailor to the man change his
overall opinion of shopping?
Does the woman’s action
warrant the man’s need to
change his locks?
Are women more likely to
become violent after a
breakup?
Why are most of the
Carlsberg fitting room
workers women?
Why are men the only
patrons in the fittings room?
Would women from other
cultures find this commercial
offensive?
Is domestic violence against
Why is there not a more
diverse group of people
shown in the ad?
Are women from other
cultures more likely to be
associated with domesticservice based jobs?
men a high concern in other
cultures?
4. How do the ads
compare to each other?
5. What overall
observations might a
social scientist be
interested in
studying in relation
to the themes
present in these
advertisements?
What larger
questions about
human interactions
might they ask?
Would this ad be perceived as
inviting by men from other
cultures?
The group of ads that I have selected all the seems to target middle class to upper-class white men or women. The ads also
seem to display cultural stereotypes that have been placed on women. For example, the woman in the first ad is shown as
youthful because of her use of the anti-wrinkle cream, which is symbolic to vanity. It also plays on the stereotypical idea of
beauty that society has placed on women which can also be seen in the Carlsberg advertisement as the woman tries on the
outfit in the mirror. The Garnier and the Carlsberg Beer ads both depict women as lower or even servants to men. Lastly, the
Schlaage Lock commercial portrays the woman as vindictive and violent after finding out about the breakup.
I think that social scientist will be interested in the way that women in the ads are portrayed in stereotypical ways. However, I
also think that social scientist would also be interested in the lack of diversity in the ads.
Based on my observations, a social scientist might ask the following questions:
• Do men and women express feelings of anger differently after a breakup?
• Are the ads reinforcing cultural stereotypes, regarding, female behavior and appearance?
• Does the appearance of female characters in an ad influence a male’s decision to purchase the product?
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