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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1
What is Social Psychology? ..................................................................................................................... 1
Social Psychology and Personality ......................................................................................................... 3
Social Psychology and Common Sense ................................................................................................... 5
Relying on our Common Sense ................................................................................................... 5
What are the Limitations of Common Sense? .................................................................................. 5
A Brief History of Social Psychology...................................................................................................... 8
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World .................................................................................... 10
Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 11
Key Terms.............................................................................................................................................. 12
References .............................................................................................................................................. 12
Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ................................................... 13
The Research Hypothesis....................................................................................................................... 13
Building on Existing Research ...................................................................................................... 14
Exploring the Implications of a Theory .......................................................................................... 14
Sampling and Generalization ................................................................................................................. 15
Samples and Populations ................................................................................................................ 15
Probability sampling ..................................................................................................................... 15
Sampling Bias and Non-probability Sampling ............................................................................... 16
Sample Size and Margin of Error .................................................................................................. 16
Observational Research.......................................................................................................................... 17
Correlational Research ........................................................................................................................... 18
The Survey Method................................................................................................................................ 20
Interviews........................................................................................................................................ 21
Questionnaires ................................................................................................................................ 21
Experimental Research .......................................................................................................................... 22
The Role of Ethics in Research.............................................................................................................. 23
Ethical Treatment of Human Participants....................................................................................... 23
Is Deception Justified?.................................................................................................................... 25
The Ethics of Communicating With the Public .............................................................................. 26
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World .................................................................................... 26
Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 27
Key Terms ............................................................................................................................................. 27
References .............................................................................................................................................. 28
Chapter 3: SOCIAL COGNITION .......................................................................................................... 29
Schemas: The Building Blocks of Thinking .......................................................................................... 30
Which Schemas Get Activated ............................................................................................................. 31
Negative Effects of Schemas ................................................................................................................. 32
Deadly Consequences of Schemas......................................................................................................... 34
Positive Effects of Schemas ................................................................................................................... 35
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World ................................................................................... 36
Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 38
Key Terms ............................................................................................................................................. 38
References .............................................................................................................................................. 38
Chapter 4: SOCIAL PERCEPTION ....................................................................................................... 41
Nonverbal Communication .................................................................................................................... 41
You Can (and do) Judge a Book by its Cover........................................................................................ 43
Culture Influences Implicit Personality Theories ........................................................................... 43
Causal Attributions ................................................................................................................................ 45
Kelley’s Covariation Theory .......................................................................................................... 45
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The Correspondence Bias ...............................................................................................................
The Two-Step Process.....................................................................................................................
The Role of Individualistic versus Collectivist Culture in Making Attributions ...........................
Potentially Problematic Social Attributions ...........................................................................................
The Actor-Observer Bias ................................................................................................................
Self-serving Attributions.................................................................................................................
False Consensus .............................................................................................................................
False Uniqueness.............................................................................................................................
Illusory Correlation ........................................................................................................................
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World.....................................................................................
Summary ................................................................................................................................................
Key Terms .............................................................................................................................................
References ..............................................................................................................................................
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Chapter 5: THE SELF: UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES IN RELATION TO OTHERS ............53
How Do We Come to Know Ourselves? ............................................................................................... 53
Developing a Self-concept ..................................................................................................................... 54
Using Others For Comparison ........................................................................................................ 54
Learning From Our Culture ............................................................................................................ 55
Observing Our Own Behavior ........................................................................................................ 56
Introspection.................................................................................................................................... 57
Exerting Self-control ...................................................................................................................... 58
How Do We Present Ourselves to Others? ............................................................................................ 58
Impression Management ................................................................................................................. 59
The Self-esteem Debate ......................................................................................................................... 60
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World..................................................................................... 61
Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 62
Key Terms ............................................................................................................................................. 63
References .............................................................................................................................................. 63
Chapter 6: CONSISTENCY AND RATIONALIZATION ....................................................................65
Eating Grasshoppers, Telling Lies, and Other Tales of Dissonance ...................................................... 65
Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency..................................................................................................... 66
Effort Justification........................................................................................................................... 67
Post-decision dissonance................................................................................................................. 68
Reducing Dissonance ...................................................................................................................... 69
A “New Look” at Cognitive Dissonance Theory............................................................................ 70
Alternatives to Dissonance Theory ........................................................................................................ 70
Self-Affirmation Theory ................................................................................................................. 70
Self-Perception Theory ................................................................................................................... 71
Beyond Internal Consistency: Rationalizing the World Around Us ...................................................... 71
Heider’s Balance Theory................................................................................................................. 71
Belief in a Just World...................................................................................................................... 72
System Justification Theory............................................................................................................ 72
Terror Management Theory ............................................................................................................ 73
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World..................................................................................... 73
Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 75
Key Terms ............................................................................................................................................. 76
References .............................................................................................................................................. 76
Chapter 7: ATTITUDE AND ATTITUDE CHANGE ...........................................................................79
Attitudes and Their Function.................................................................................................................. 79
Implicit and Explicit Attitudes ........................................................................................................ 80
Routes to Persuasion .............................................................................................................................. 82
Elaboration Likelihood Model ........................................................................................................ 82
Heuristic-systematic model.............................................................................................................
Heuristics ........................................................................................................................................
Need for cognition and need for affect ...........................................................................................
Psychological Reactance .......................................................................................................................
Attitude Change Through Fear ..............................................................................................................
Subliminal Persuasion............................................................................................................................
Attitude Change Through Intuition........................................................................................................
Applying Social Psychology: Resisting Persuasion...............................................................................
Summary ................................................................................................................................................
Key Terms .............................................................................................................................................
References ..............................................................................................................................................
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Chapter 8: CONFORMITY, OBEDIENCE, AND COMPLIANCE .................................................... 93
I’m Doing the Same Thing You Are Doing – Is That Conformity? ...................................................... 93
Is Conformity Good or Bad? ................................................................................................................. 94
Informational Social Influence............................................................................................................... 94
An Experiment on the Importance of Being Right ......................................................................... 94
Four Conditions Conducive to Informational Influence ................................................................ 95
Some Words of Caution.................................................................................................................. 95
Normative Social Influence ................................................................................................................... 96
Violate Social Norms at Your Own Peril ....................................................................................... 97
When Are People Most Likely to Conform to Normative Social Influence?................................. 97
Violating Social Norms (and Getting Away With It) ............................................................................ 98
Earning the Right to be Different ................................................................................................... 98
Minority Influence- Trying to Change the Group From Within..................................................... 98
What Kinds of Persons are Most Susceptible to Normative Influence?......................................... 99
Obedience to Authority ........................................................................................................................ 100
What is the Relationship Between Conformity and Obedience?.................................................. 100
A Famous (and controversial) Study of Obedience ..................................................................... 100
Variations on the Same Theme ..................................................................................................... 101
Attempts to Solicit Compliance .......................................................................................................... 102
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World .................................................................................. 104
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 105
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 106
References ............................................................................................................................................ 106
Chapter 9: PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: WHAT MAKES PEOPLE HELP? .................................... 109
Why We Help Others ........................................................................................................................... 109
The Case for Nature ...................................................................................................................... 109
Social Exchange............................................................................................................................ 110
Empathy and Altruism .................................................................................................................. 111
Are Some Kinds of Persons More Helpful Than Others?.................................................................... 111
The Role of Gender....................................................................................................................... 111
Mood ............................................................................................................................................. 112
Belief in a Just World ................................................................................................................... 112
Need for Approval ........................................................................................................................ 112
Empathy ........................................................................................................................................ 113
The Power of the Situation .................................................................................................................. 113
The Good Samaritan ..................................................................................................................... 113
Bystanders – When More is Not Merrier...................................................................................... 114
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World .................................................................................. 116
Things you can do to promote altruism in yourself and others ................................................... 116
Things you can do to increase the odds that you will get help if needed ..................................... 116
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 117
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Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 117
Videos................................................................................................................................................... 117
References ............................................................................................................................................ 117
Chapter 10: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR .............................................................................................119
The Nature of Aggression .................................................................................................................... 119
Biology of aggression ................................................................................................................... 119
Nature and nurture......................................................................................................................... 120
Self-control........................................................................................................................................... 120
The Evolution of Aggression ............................................................................................................... 122
Aggression and Culture ........................................................................................................................ 123
Social learning of aggression ........................................................................................................ 123
Catharsis .............................................................................................................................................. 125
Provoking and Enhancing Aggression ................................................................................................ 127
Temperature .................................................................................................................................. 127
Alcohol.......................................................................................................................................... 127
Punishment.................................................................................................................................... 128
Justifying Aggression ........................................................................................................................... 128
Applying Social Psychology in Order to Reduce Aggression ............................................................. 129
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 130
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 130
References ............................................................................................................................................ 131
Chapter 11: INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION ................................................................................133
Why Do We Have a Need to Belong?.................................................................................................. 133
The Need to Belong ...................................................................................................................... 133
Loneliness ..................................................................................................................................... 134
Ostracism ...................................................................................................................................... 134
The Nature of Attraction: Why Do I Like This Person, but Not That Person?.................................... 135
Proximity and Mere Exposure ...................................................................................................... 135
Reciprocity .................................................................................................................................... 135
Similarity....................................................................................................................................... 135
Physical Attractiveness ................................................................................................................. 136
Evolutionary Perspective on Attraction ........................................................................................ 137
Becoming Intimate: What’s Love Got to Do with It? .......................................................................... 138
Types of Relationships.................................................................................................................. 138
Theories of Relationships..................................................................................................................... 138
Social Penetration Theory ............................................................................................................. 139
Social Exchange Theory ............................................................................................................... 139
Equity Theory ............................................................................................................................... 140
What is Love? (Baby Don’t Hurt Me) ................................................................................................ 141
Sternberg’s triangle theory............................................................................................................ 141
Passionate Love............................................................................................................................. 141
Companionate Love ..................................................................................................................... 142
Applying Social Psychology in “Today’s World” ............................................................................... 142
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 143
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 144
References ............................................................................................................................................ 144
Chapter 12: GROUP PROCESSES .......................................................................................................149
The Nature of Groups........................................................................................................................... 149
Defining Groups............................................................................................................................ 149
Why do we Join Groups? ......................................................................................................... 150
The Development and Structure of Groups .................................................................................. 150
The Social Aspects of Performance ..................................................................................................... 151
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Social Facilitation: How the Presence of Others Influences our Performance............................. 151
Explaining Social Facilitation Effects .......................................................................................... 152
Social Loafing: Why Does Working in Groups Often Lead to a Reduction in Individual Effort?
153
Group Decision Making....................................................................................................................... 155
The Stages of Group Decision Making......................................................................................... 155
Group Polarization ........................................................................................................................ 157
Groupthink .................................................................................................................................... 159
Pressures toward Uniformity
.................................................................................................. 159
Causes of Groupthink ................................................................................................................... 160
Preventing Groupthink.................................................................................................................. 161
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World ................................................................................. 161
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 163
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 163
References ............................................................................................................................................ 164
Chapter 13: PREJUDICE ....................................................................................................................... 167
Stereotyping: The Cognitive Basis of Prejudice .................................................................................. 168
Origins of Stereotypes .................................................................................................................. 168
Maintaining Stereotypes ............................................................................................................... 170
Stereotype Activation ................................................................................................................... 171
Prejudice: The Affective Component .................................................................................................. 172
Competition and Threat as Sources of Prejudice.......................................................................... 172
Prejudice as a Self-Esteem Booster .............................................................................................. 172
Contemporary Prejudice ...................................................................................................................... 174
Three Theories of Contemporary Prejudice.................................................................................. 175
Prejudice and Implicit Attitudes ................................................................................................... 176
The Effect on the Target ...................................................................................................................... 176
Stereotype Threat .......................................................................................................................... 177
Reducing Prejudice .............................................................................................................................. 177
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World .................................................................................. 178
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 178
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 179
References ............................................................................................................................................ 179
Chapter 14: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, STRESS, AND YOUR HEALTH ....................................... 183
Stress and Your Health ........................................................................................................................ 183
What is Stress and How do we Measure it?.................................................................................. 183
Coping With Stress .............................................................................................................................. 185
Social Support in Coping with Stress ........................................................................................... 186
Other Variables Related to Coping ............................................................................................... 186
Applying Social Psychology in Today’s World (Prevention & Treatment) ........................................ 188
Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 191
Key Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 191
References ............................................................................................................................................ 191
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