Download Chapter 16: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 16: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other
vocabulary
How familiar are you with American idioms? Match each item in column A with the
appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context
given below. Answers are given on pages 102-103.
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
a. looks
b. to jump to
1. of personal value or importance
2. to put in a position with arms and legs
opened wide
3. a reciprocal relationship
4. a collaborator; a co-conspirator
5. people who are very much alike
6. to agree with
7. an innocent person blamed for a wrong-doing
8. to make clear details, specifics
9. extremely happy
10. songs and slogans
11. finally, after everything is considered
12. a perfect man, without faults
13. physical appearance
14. to conclude too quickly
c. a scapegoat
d. a jingle
e. birds of a feather
f. cloud nine
g. a knight in shining armor
h. in the long run
i. to go along with
j. in someone’s best interests
k. an accomplice
l. to spell out
m. to spread-eagle
n. a two-way street
Sentence context
a. Looks are the primary factor in our initial feelings of attraction, liking and romantic
love. (p. 620)
b. Why do we tend to jump to internal personal explanations? (p. 622)
c. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Hitler used Jews as scapegoats Germans
could blame for their economic troubles. (p. 628)
d. It also explains why modern advertisers tend to run highly redundant ad campaigns,
with familiar faces and jingles. (p. 632)
e. In other words, “Birds of a feather flock together.” (p. 632)
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f. When you think of romantic love, do you think of falling in love, a magical
experience that puts you on cloud nine? (p. 634)
g. Our beautiful princess isn't supposed to snore. And our knight in shining armor
doesn't look very knightly flossing his teeth. (p. 634)
h. In the long run, however, romantic love's most important function might be to keep
us attached long enough to move on to companionate love. (p. 634)
i. Would you stick with your convictions and say line B, regardless of what the others
have answered? Or would you go along with the group? (p. 637)
j. The learner was an accomplice of the experimenter and simply pretended to be
shocked. (p. 643)
k. In fact, most people conform most of the time because it is in their best interest and
everyone else's to do so. (p. 643)
l. Some roles are very specifically spelled out and regulated (police officer), whereas
others are assumed through informal learning and inference (father). (p. 644)
m. When you open the door, several uniformed police officers take you outside, spreadeagle you against a police car, frisk you, and inform you that you are being arrested.
(p. 644)
n. Could it be that aggressive children just tend to prefer violent television and
videogames? Research suggests it is a two-way street. (p. 650)
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
As you have no doubt learned, the passive voice in English is used to emphasize the
recipient of an action, to make generic explanations and statements, or if the agent (or
actor) is unknown or unimportant. Frequently, it is used in definitions of key terms and
concepts. Study the examples below, giving close attention to the form and structure of
the verb. Also, note that in the cases where the agent is expressed, it follows in an
adverbial statement with by.
This is called the foot-in-the-door technique.
The fire was started when government armored vehicles stormed the building.
Social psychologists study how an individual's behavior is influenced by other
people.
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We've all been subjected to this tactic by friends and family.
The subjects may have been seduced by the gradual nature of the increasing
demands.
Read over the paragraph below. Then, fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb
in parentheses. When you have finished, check your answers with the answer key.
Perhaps the most famous experiment of the role of group membership and
conformity __________ (call) the Stanford prison experiment. It __________
(conduct) by Phillip Zimbardo. In this study, 20 well-adjusted young college men
__________ (pay) $15.00 a day for participating in a simulation of prison life.
Approximately half of the participants __________ (select) to be prisoners and
the remainder __________ (designate) as guards. The results are shocking, even
today: prisoners __________ (expect) to obey even the most degrading orders and
__________ (punish) strongly if they did not. After only six days, the experiment
__________ (terminate), given the extreme psychological changes evidenced by
the participants.
Finding key information
In previous chapters, we have looked at cause-effect relationships. In these kinds of
relationships, there is an identifiable cause and a direct effect which can be traced to this
cause. However, real life situations are not always this simple. Especially in the social
sciences, where there is not always a direct cause-effect relationship between two factors,
writers must be careful about the way in which they present information. In presenting
their ideas, authors often use words which qualify what they are saying and allow room
for disagreement. These qualifying words include certain modal verbs such as may or
might, along with other verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Study the sentences below, in which the qualifying words are indicated in bold-faced
type:

People also tend to see more diversity among members of their own ingroup and less
amoung the outgroup. This bias can be particularly dangerous.

People with low self-esteem may be less confident of their opinions, but they also
tend to be less confident of their opinions and are therefore harder to persuade.
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
When groups are strongly cohesive, they generally share a strong desire for
agreement. This desire may lead them to ignore important information or points of
view.

Given that lowered serotonin is related to alcohol abuse, overeating, depression, and
obsessive-compulsive disorders, it may be that serotonin has something to do with
suppressing impulsive behaviors.
In the following paragraph from page 591 the author discusses cultural differences in
proximity. Because they are making a generalization, they are very careful to express this
as a tendency rather than a fact. Identify the qualifying language which they use by
circling the appropriate words. When you are finished, you may check your answers in
the answer key section.
Why do some people like to stand closer than others? There are a number of
possible explanations. First, culture and socialization have a lot to do with
personal space. People from Mediterranean, Moslem, and Latin American
countries tend to maintain smaller interpersonal distances than North Americans
and Northern Europeans (Axtell, 1991: Steinhart, 1986). Children also tend to
stand very close to others until they are socialized to recognize and maintain a
greater personal distance (Shea, 1981). Second, certain relationships, situations,
and personalities affect interpersonal distances. Friends stand closer than
strangers (Ashton and Shaw, 1980), women tend to stand closer than men
(Harnett et al., 1970), and violent prisoners require approximately three times
the personal space of nonviolent prisoners (Gilmour and Walkey, 1981).
Examining structural clues
The authors of this text often use analogies, which are a type of comparison, to help
explain new concepts or ideas. In an analogy, a comparison is usually made to something
you already know that functions in a similar manner to the new idea being presented.

One signal that the author is going to make an analogy is the phrase just as: Just as
women are often blamed for being raped, minorities are often blamed for their
poverty and lower class standing.

Another signal used to introduce an analogy is like:
Like a basket of newborn kittens, there is nothing more appealing than a dewy-eyed
poster child with crutches and a brave smile.
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Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which contain an analogy and write these sentences in
the spaces provided. Study your sentences to see if they follow the patterns noted above.
1.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of American idioms
a. 13;
m. 2;
b. 14;
n. 3
c. 7;
d. 10;
e. 5;
f. 9;
g. 12;
h. 11;
i. 6;
j. 1;
k. 4;
l. 8;
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Perhaps the most famous experiment of the role of group membership and conformity
was called the Stanford prison experiment. It was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo. In this
study, 20 well-adjusted young college men were paid $15.00 a day for participating in a
simulation of prison life. Approximately half of the participants were selected to be
prisoners and the remainder were designated as guards. The results are shocking, even
today: prisoners were expected to obey even the most degrading orders and were strongly
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-102-
punished if they did not. After only six days, the experiment was terminated, given the
extreme psychological changes evidenced by the participants.
Finding key information
Why do some people like to stand closer than others? There are a number of
possible explanations. First, culture and socialization have a lot to do with
personal space. People from Mediterranean, Moslem, and Latin American
countries tend to maintain smaller interpersonal distances than North Americans
and Northern Europeans (Axtell, 1991: Steinhart, 1986). Children also tend to
stand very close to others until they are socialized to recognize and maintain a
greater personal distance (Shea, 1981). Second, certain relationships, situations,
and personalities affect interpersonal distances. Friends stand closer than
strangers (Ashton and Shaw, 1980), women tend to stand closer than men
(Harnett et al., 1970), and violent prisoners require approximately three times
the personal space of nonviolent prisoners (Gilmour and Walkey, 1981).
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
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