In this essay, students will apply their knowledge of theory associated with culture and cultural groups and (hypothetically) apply it to a group in such a way that is plausible, and likely to help the group succeed in collective-action and socio-cultural problems.

The student must assume the position of a ‘consultant’ who has been hired by a movie director / novelist to help make their movie more authentic and scientifically accurate. Students must draw on their understanding of culture and psychology to propose a range of strategies to ensure that a hypothetical social group can survive and thrive over multigenerational time. There are three movies/topics the student may choose from.

• You are responsible for dictating how a group of post-apocalyptic survivors will endure after a global cataclysmic event, with respect to common and expected social and environmental problems.

Describe a likely and reasonable set of psychological solutions to common problems that would be encountered by a group of people in this setting. In each case, the following conditions are present:

• The group is between 1000 – 1500 people strong, and includes families and people from multiple generations.

• This group cannot communicate with any outgroups.

• This group is diverse, and includes people from different faiths, ethnicities, nationalities. You may assume that they all share a common language.

• Natural resources are unreliable or seasonal. The group must anticipate periods of both abundance and scarcity.

• The group must survive for at least 200 years, and as such, it can be expected that those who are present after 200 years will have had no direct contact with those who first arrived. That is, social learning is important, as will be social structures associated with families.

• The group must be prepared for new individuals arriving who wish to enter into the group. They may also have to be prepared for individuals in the group defecting and leaving the group.

The student must address several key factors:

• How the group will bond and subsequently form and maintain a shared social identity.

• How the group will address issues of cooperation, defection, norms, and/or morality.

• How formal or informal institutions within the group will facilitate social learning and transmission of important information with minimal loss or error.

• How family units are structured, and a justification for this decision

• What the social hierarchy will look like.

• How the group will integrate new members (if at all).

This essay will contain creative elements, but all decisions must be based on, and defended with, peer-reviewed literature drawn from the course and further afield. Students are strongly advised to draw on real world examples in order to illustrate and inform the reader.