So, you are enrolled in behavioral science and assigned to a project team, but still don't have much of an idea what you are supposed to be doing. You introduce yourself to the other members of your group, and they similarly tell you that they are Tom (the other boy), Samantha, Josephine, and Tamara (the three girls).
"So," you ask, trying to get things moving forward, "Does anyone know what the project needs to focus on?"
Samantha was the first to respond. "Didn't you read the brochure? It laid it out in that. We need to agree a project to study behaviors, but clearly need to steer clear of the obvious topics that have been done before. So we need something original, but which meets the brief. The fact that you haven't even read the brochure isn't going to help us at all!"
"OK, I'm sorry. I was a bit busy. Besides I didn't think it was going to spell out the project topics, just introduce the new department."
"Yeah, well." Sam replies. "We still need to think of something for the project..."
You spend the next 30 minutes talking over a variety of different behaviors that you think could be displayed and potentially measured but with little real success.
"So whose behavior are we trying to study?" Tamara asks.
"Um, I don't understand." Jo responds. ""Aren't we just supposed to be measuring behaviors?"
Tammy tries to elaborate. "Yes, but most behaviors are in response to something. So my little sister behaves like a 9 year old because she is a 9 year old, but people around her also behave in a particular way, knowing that she is a 9 year old. If she behaved like a 3 year old, would that affect how people treated her?"
"Yeah, they'd say 'act your age'" Tom chips in. "I get that a lot from my mom."
"OK, so what do you do then?" Tammy asks.
"Well, generally stop mucking about and do what I'm supposed to..."
Tammy continues with her idea. "So if your mom didn't say anything, you'd carry on mucking about?"
"Well, guess so, for a while anyway."
"So if you mom was to actually treat you as if you were a 10 year old all the time?" Tammy prompts.
"Um, dunno. Guess if I could get away with it, I'd probably carry on acting like a 10 year old."
"Yes!" Tammy exclaims with a flourish. "So what we have is behaviors which can be controlled by the actions of others! What we need to do is think of examples we could try out, and then measure the affects."
"What - like me acting like a 10 year old? "Tom asks.
"Well, sort of, but we need to work out how to manage the behaviors by both people. Guess your mom wouldn't really want you running riot at home - besides we need to keep everything inside the group if we can."
"So Tom acts like a 10 year old around us, but we let him?" Jo asks.
Tammy concludes her initial proposal. "Not exactly, but on those lines. This will involve role play. We will each of us in the group to take on different roles to interact with each other, one to set expectations, and then see how the other responds. But we need to make each scenario as realistic as possible to get the best reactions. So, ideas in the hat!"
So you all now consider different roles based around the idea that Tammy has put forward, and compile a list of possible behavioral pairings regardless of how practical they would be: teacher and student, boss and employee, master and slave, adult and young child; boyfriend and girlfriend, siblings, dominatrix and submissive partner, mother and baby...
A couple are rapidly struck from the list (teacher and student first to go), and Tammy questions who added the dominatrix.... perhaps one for the back burner. You are all feeling like having some fun with this, and agree you would need to be a bit different to get it noticed and therefore (hopefully) a decent grade. So you all agree that you will focus on three ideas:
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