The document describes a misunderstanding between friends. Michael thinks Gwen is nice based on her looks and name. Adam sees Gwen throwing out trash with what looks like a hand and assumes she murdered someone, likely her missing friend Yuna. Adam tells Michael, but Michael refuses to believe it due to confirmation bias. When Adam confronts Gwen, Yuna appears, revealing it was all a misunderstanding.

1. Group Members: Darren Loong Chi Yoong [0318029]
Janice Lee Juen Yung [0318695]
Nur Aqilah Syaza [0317731]
William Goh Ming Hann [0317949]
Submission Date: 8th December 2014

2. The Misunderstanding

3. Summary
 Michael thinks Gwen’s personality is very nice because
of her looks and her name.
 One evening, Adam (Michael’s best friend) saw Gwen
throwing rubbish away and a hand fall off.
 He assumed that she murdered someone.
 Gwen has been alone for 2 weeks and her best friend,
Yuna did not show up at all.
 Adam assumed that she murdered Yuna and told
Michael about it. Michael was pissed and unfriend him.
 Adam confronted Gwen after a lecture about her
murdering Yuna.
 However, Yuna appeared and finally the truth is out.

4. Concepts

5. Confirmation Bias
 Michael believes that Gwen has nice
personality.
 Confirmation bias is shown because Michael
does not believe that Gwen has murdered
someone because she is beautiful and it
contradicts the schema he made.
 Therefore, he ignores it.

7. Attribution Bias
 Attribution bias is explaining of behaviours
in terms of internal and dispositional factors.
 Michael thinks that Gwen is a good girl
because of her looks and her behaviour in
class.

9. Stonewalling
 Stonewalling is a refusal to communicate.
 Michael decided not to be friends with
Adam anymore.
 He thinks that Adam is talking nonsense.
 Michael could not stand with his words
anymore.

11. Situational Attribution
 Adam saw Gwen throwing a rubbish bag and a
hand dropped out.
 He assumed Gwen has killed someone and most
likely is her best friend, Yuna because Gwen
has been alone for 2 weeks already.
 Therefore, he went to confront Gwen because
Yuna went missing for 2 weeks.
 Situational attribution refers to understanding a
behaviour as being caused by the situation that
the individual is in.

13. Persuasion
 Adam persuades Michael to believe in what
he says.
 Adam asked Michael to trust what he saw
with his naked eyes – he saw Gwen
throwing rubbish away and a hand dropped
out from the garbage bag when he was on
the way to his car.