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Transcript
Social Psychology 17 Social Psychology Learning Objectives Chapter Outline Key Concepts Key Contributors Teaching the Chapter Lecture/Discussion Suggestions Classroom Activities Experiencing Psychology Critical Thinking Questions Video/Media Suggestions References Sources of Biographical Information Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 17.1 Describe the domain of social psychology. (p. 479) 17.2 Explain what is meant by social cognition, distinguish between dispositional and situational attributions, and explain three dimensions that have been offered to explain the attributional process. (p. 480) 17.3 List and describe two biases that enter into the attribution process. (p. 480-481) 17.4 List and describe three factors that influence the process of person perception. (p. 481-483) 17.5 List and describe four factors that influence our liking for another person. (p. 483-484) 17.6 Distinguish between the important features of two theories of romantic love, briefly summarizing any research that supports them. (p. 484-486) 17.7 Summarize the scientific evidence in support of the factors that promote romantic love. (p. 486) 257 Chapter Seventeen 17.8 Define attitude and explain the three components of an attitude. (p. 487) 17.9 Describe the ways in which our attitudes influence our behavior and how our behavior influences our attitudes. (p. 487-488) 17.10 Describe the elaboration likelihood model and how the qualities of the source, message, and audience influence the persuasion process. (p. 488-490) 17.11 Distinguish between prejudice and discrimination, and then summarize the factors that have been found to promote and reduce prejudice. (p. 490-492) 17.12 Define group and groupthink, and then summarize the factors that promote groupthink and criticism toward the concept. (p. 492-493) 17.13 Explain the resolution of the controversy that surrounded the concept of social facilitation, and then explain the concept of social loafing. (p. 493-494) 17.14 Describe two types of social influence and explain the significance of the obedience research. (p 494-498) 17.15 Distinguish between prosocial and altruistic behavior. (p. 498-499) 17.16 Explain the bystander intervention model, describing the five steps. (p. 499-501) 17.17 Define aggression and describe the theories that attempt to account for aggressive behavior, emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of each theoretical approach. (p. 502-503) 17.18 Explain the role deindividuation plays in group violence. (p. 503) Extended Chapter Outline I. Social Cognition Psychologists who study social cognition are concerned with how we perceive, interpret, and predict social behavior. A. Causal Attribution Causal attribution is the cognitive process by which we infer the causes of both our own and other people’s social behavior. 1. Dimensions of Causal Attribution Weiner identified three dimensions that govern the attribution process: internal-external, stable-unstable, and controllable-uncontrollable. 2. Biases in Causal Attribution Because humans are somewhat irrational and subjective, we exhibit biases in the causal attributions we make. a. The Fundamental Attribution Error This is our tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to dispositional factors. b. Self-Serving Bias This is the tendency to make dispositional attributions for one’s successes and situational attributions for one’s failures. 258 Social Psychology B. Person Perception Person perception is the process of making judgments about the personal characteristics of others. 1. Stereotypes A stereotype is a social schema that incorporates characteristics, which may be positive or negative, supposedly shared by almost all members of a group. 2. First Impressions A first impression functions as a social schema to guide our predictions of a person’s behavior and our desire to interact with that person. 3. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The self-fulfilling prophecy is the tendency for one person’s expectations to influence another person to behave in accordance with them. II. Interpersonal Attraction While forming impressions of other people, we also might develop interpersonal attraction toward some of them. A. Liking Several factors influence who we like. 1. Proximity Research has consistently supported the importance of proximity in the development of friendships. 2. Familiarity The mere exposure effect states that the more we interact with particular people, the more we tend to like them. 3. Physical Attractiveness We tend to like physically attractive people more than physically unattractive people. 4. Similarity Life’s circumstances simply put us in settings where we are likely to associate with people who share our attitudes. B. Romantic Love There were few scientific studies of romantic love until the 1970s. 1. Theories of Love Berscheid and Hatfield distinguish between passionate and companionate love. The twofactor theory of romantic love is based on Schacter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion. 2. Promoting Romantic Love Among the most important factors in promoting romantic love are similarity, sense of humor, equity. III. Attitudes An attitude is an evaluation, containing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components, of an idea, event, object, or person. A. Attitudes and Behavior Attitudes may not always accurately predict behavior, and behavior may sometimes affect our attitudes. 1. The Influence of Attitudes on Behavior Attitudes that are strongly held or personally important are better predictors of behavior. Attitude-behavior consistency is also affected by the specificity of the attitude. 2. The Influence of Behavior on Attitudes The influence of behavior on attitudes is explained by cognitive dissonance theory and selfperception theory. 259 Chapter Seventeen B. The Art of Persuasion Persuasion is the attempt to influence the attitudes of other people. The elaboration likelihood model states that persuasive messages can take a central route or a peripheral route. 1. The Sources and Persuasion The source of the message is more likely to be persuasive if it is credible, has expertise, is trustworthy, and is attractive. 2. The Message and Persuasion Simply acknowledging the other side of an issue, while strongly supporting your own, is at times more effective. 3. The Audience and Persuasion Important audience factors are intelligence and personal importance of the message. C. Prejudice Prejudice is a positive or negative attitude toward a person based on her or his membership in a particular group. D. Factors that Promote Prejudice Learning plays an important role. People also exhibit favoritism to their own kind. 1. Factors that Reduce Prejudice Prejudice may be reduced when there is equal status and social contact. IV. Group Dynamics A group is a collection of two or more persons who interact and have mutual influence on each other. A. Groupthink in Decision Making Groupthink is the tendency of small, cohesive groups to place unanimity ahead of critical thinking in making decisions. B. Group Effects on Performance One of the first topics to be studied by social psychologists was the influence of groups on the task performance of their members. 1. Social Facilitation Social facilitation refers to the improvement in a person’s task performance when in the presence of other people. 2. Social Loafing Social loafing is a decrease in the individual effort exerted by group members when working together on a task. C. Social Influence The groups we belong to influence our behavior in ways that range from subtle prodding to direct demands. 1. Conformity Conformity is behaving in accordance with group norms with little or no overt pressure to do so. 2. Obedience Obedience is the following of orders given by an authority. V. Prosocial Behavior Prosocial behavior refers to helping others in need. A. Altruism Altruism is the helping of others without the expectation of a reward. B. Bystander Intervention Bystander intervention refers to the act of helping someone who is in immediate need of aid. 1. Noticing the Victim To intervene in an emergency, you must first notice the event or the victim. 260 Social Psychology 2. Interpreting the Situation as an Emergency The same event may be interpreted as an emergency or a nonemergency. 3. Taking Personal Responsibility As the number of bystanders increases, the likelihood of a bystander intervening decreases. 4. Deciding on a Course of Action The decisions to intervene depends, in part, on whether the bystander feels competent to meet the demands of the situation. 5. Taking Action “Bystander calculus” might explain why bystanders who believe that intervening in an emergency would place them in danger are less likely to intervene. VI. Aggression Aggression is verbal or physical behavior aimed at harming another person. A. Theories of Aggression Both physiology and experience are important factors in aggression. 1. Aggression as the Product of Physiology The earliest theories of aggression claimed that it was instinctive. Evolutionary psychology assumes there is a hereditary basis for aggression and other social behaviors. 2. Aggression as the Product of Experience Most researchers look to life experiences as the main determinants of aggression. B. Group Violence Group violence is promoted by deindividuation, the process by which group members become less aware of themselves as individuals and less concerned about being socially evaluated. 261 Chapter Seventeen Key Concepts social psychology Social Cognition causal attribution fundamental attribution error person perception self-fulfilling prophecy self-serving bias social cognition social schema stereotype Interpersonal Attraction companionate love passionate love Attitudes attitude cognitive dissonance theory elaboration likelihood model persuasion prejudice self-perception theory Group Dynamics conformity foot-in-the-door technique group groupthink obedience social facilitation social loafing Prosocial Behavior altruism bystander intervention negative state relief theory prosocial behavior Aggression aggression deindividuation frustration-aggression hypothesis Key Contributors Social Cognition Harold Kelley Bernard Weiner Interpersonal Attraction Ellen Berscheid Elaine Hatfield Attitudes Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark Leon Festinger Irving Janis Bibb Latané Stanley Milgram Robert Zajonc Group Dynamics Solomon Asch John Darley Aggression Leonard Berkowitz Sigmund Freud 262 Social Psychology Teaching the Chapter One way to begin this chapter is to ask students what they’re doing right now and why. Point out that their behavior is partly determined by situational factors. Are they sitting quietly listening because everyone else is? Because an authority (you) demands it? Ask students to talk about what other factors might be influencing their present behavior. We try to make sense of our world through causal attributions. When we see someone, something, or some event, we try to make sense of it. We like the world to be predictable. For instance, we want the behavior of others to be dispositional so we know what they’ll do or be like in the future (fundamental attribution error), and we want groups of people to be the same so when we meet other members in the future we’ll know what they’re like (stereotypes). And, of course, we want our behavior to be predictable, to make sense, and we’re uncomfortable if it doesn’t (cognitive dissonance). The research conducted on uninvolved bystanders, conformity, and obedience holds great interest for students. Many students believe that they would be more willing than other bystanders to get involved, and believe they would be less conforming and obedient than others. This often makes for an interesting class discussion (count the number of students wearing blue jeans to class). Discuss the legal implications that pertain to some forms of bystander involvement. The ethical issues raised by the Asch and Milgram experiments make for lively discussion. Although Milgram’s experiment is not likely to be replicated, in the recent past Americans have experienced a series of events that may have implications for obedience to authority. These events include the civil disobedience that characterized the early days of the civil rights and the Vietnam War protest movement, the Watergate incident, and the consumerism movement. For example, do we still put medical doctors and professors on a pedestal? Would we still be as obedient as the participants in Milgram’s study? Students are also fascinated by the details of the Zimbardo prison experiment, but sometimes miss the main point: social situations are a powerful influence on our behavior. Ask students to consider all the roles that they play, e.g., student, friend, partner, employee, athlete. Now ask students to imagine a world where everyone has been destroyed, except for them. They are all alone. Who are they? This is difficult to imagine because so much of our day is taken up with our roles. When we tell adolescents to “be yourself!” what do we mean? Is it possible to be someone devoid of social influence? The material pertaining to interpersonal attraction is also received with great interest by most students. One approach is to ask the class whether an understanding of the psychology of interpersonal attraction is sufficient to manipulate somebody into “falling in love.” If so, how could this be accomplished? What information relating to interpersonal attraction could be used by computerized dating services? Lecture/Discussion Suggestions 1. Functions of Attitudes. Katz has defined the functional approach to attitudes as “. . . the attempt to understand the reasons people hold the attitudes they do… at the level of motivation.” (Katz, 1960). To predict attitude change, one must know what psychological needs are being met. Katz has categorized the major functions of attitudes. The four most commonly used are the following: Ego-defensive: protection is offered from real or imagined threats. These threats may be internal or external. Generally speaking, such threats come from feelings of inferiority, i.e., ethnic prejudice. These attitudes are extremely resistant to change. Knowledge-based: the result of structuring, organizing, and understanding the world around them. These attitudes help organize what might otherwise be confusing information. Most 263 Chapter Seventeen 2. come directly from cultural roots (stereotypes). These attitudes are usually quite easy to change by giving adequate information. Instrumental: usually develop because of their utility in the environment. For example, objects that punish us usually elicit negative attitudes and vice versa. These attitudes are usually learned through direct contact. They are relatively easily changed with relevant experience. Value-expressive: allow a person to express basic values or a concept of self. These usually provide self-affirmation and serve to confirm one’s identity. Some examples are political attitudes of liberalism and work attitudes expressing fundamental value of quality. These attitudes are extremely long-lasting and resistant to change through any sources. The Dormitory Environment. Environmental psychologists have found some interesting results when they compared residents of traditionally-styled college dormitories (long corridor, a single lounge, and bathroom located off the corridor) with residents of a suite-design dorm (three or four rooms clustered around a lounge and bathroom shared only by the residents of that suite). According to researchers Baum and Valins (1977), residents of single-corridor dorms spend less time in the dorms, express greater desire to avoid interaction with other residents, and feel that they have less control over what happens in their dormitory than residents of suite-design dorms. Furthermore, when freshmen living in both types of dorms were brought to a laboratory where they were asked to wait with other students, the residents of single-corridor dorm rooms initiated fewer conversations, sat at a greater physical distance from the other students, and spent less time looking at the faces of other students (Baum, Harper, & Valins, 1975). Lahey, B. B. (1989). Research report-Environmental psychology: Psychological aspects of architecture and interior design. Psychology: An Introduction 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown. 3. Resisting Groupthink and Polarization. The following topic could also be included in the section on altruism. It makes a particularly good lead into the study of groups; specifically, what leads people in a group to break away from or resist groupthink and polarization? The answer is internalized norms of behavior or external inducement. Perry London has done an interesting investigation of Germans who risked life and property to help the Jews escape Nazi occupation. London sought to determine if certain characteristics of personality traits led to such helping. He recorded conversations with 42 rescued Jews and 27 rescuers. One result of the study was insight into the extreme difficulty of defining altruistic behavior. Some rescuers were paid large sums of money, whereas others paid out their entire life savings. Are both truly altruistic? Would they even fit the definition of prosocial? Situational factors were implicated in whether people intervened. For example, one wealthy German who devoted 4 years to the effort began because his secretary pleaded with him to save her Jewish husband. London did find three characteristics that tended to identify individuals that remained committed to the cause for long periods: A spirit of adventure Identification with an empathic parental model A sense of being on the margin socially; social marginality is a sense of identification with the oppressed London, P. (1970). The rescuers: Motivational hypotheses about Christians who saved Jews from the Nazis. In J. Macaulay & L. Berkowitz (Eds.), Altruism and helping behavior. New York: Academic Press. 264 Social Psychology 265 Chapter Seventeen 4. Top-Ten Attributes. Robin Gilmour (1988) found that men and women, when asked to list and rank desirable attributes in the other gender, produced dramatically different lists. Attributes women most sought in a man 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Attributes most sought by men in a woman a record of achievement leadership qualities skill at his job earning potential a sense of humor intellectual ability attentiveness common sense athletic ability good abstract reasoning 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. physical attractiveness ability in bed warmth and affection social skill homemaking ability dress sense sensitivity to others’ needs good taste moral perception artistic creativity You might ask your class to prepare a similar list (before divulging the results of Gilmour’s survey). Alternatively, read any of the above attributes to the class and have them predict which top ten list it is from. Source: Data from R. Gilmour, “Desirable and Negative Qualities” in P. March (Ed.), Eye to Eye, Salem House Publishers, Topsfield, MD, p. 197. 5. Effect of Black Racial Stereotypes on Whites. A recent study by Richard Petty of Ohio State found that priming non-Black students to think of Black stereotypes, by writing a fictional story about “Tyrone,” affected their performance on questions from the math portion of the GRE. Similarly, previous researchers have found that when students are primed to think of the elderly, they acted in a more elderly manner, such as walking more slowly, even when they believed the experiment was over. In this study, students who included more stereotypical images in their essays about “Tyrone” did worse on the test. Petty notes that this isn’t a measure of racism. Rather, he believes it is a temporary identification with the person the participant has written about. Grabmeier, J. (2001). Racial stereotypes hurt academic performance – in whites. The Ohio State University. Retrieved April 14, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/units/research/archive/racster.htm 6. The Development of Prosocial Behavior. According to Nancy Eisenberg, a psychologist at Arizona State University, a baby as young as 10 to 14 months of age will look upset when someone else falls down or cries. In the second year, a child may begin providing rudimentary comfort to others, such as by patting the head of another who appears to be in pain. At 3 or 4 years of age, prosocial behavior is more common. One group of researchers, who observed twenty-six 3- to 5-year-olds during 30 hours of free play recorded about 1,200 acts of sharing, helping, comforting, and cooperating. According to Hoffman, the inborn mechanism that forms the basis for altruism is empathy, which he defines as feeling something more appropriate to someone else’s situation than to your own. According to Hoffman, empathy becomes increasingly more sophisticated as we grow. Initially, infants, unable to draw boundaries between themselves and others, occasionally react to another’s distress as if they themselves had been hurt. At 18 months children can distinguish between themselves and others but continue to assume that others’ feelings will be similar to their own. By age 2 or 3, children begin to understand that others react differently. Older children can feel another’s life condition, understanding that his or her distress may be chronic or recognizing that the distress may come from social discrimination. 266 Social Psychology According to Ervin Staub, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts, prosocially oriented people have three defining characteristics: they have a positive view of people in general, they are concerned about others’ welfare, and they take personal responsibility for how other people are doing. Each of these is affected by the kind of culture one lives in. According to Staub, “It is difficult to lead a competitive, individualistic life without devaluing others to some extent.” Is raising children to triumph over others a good way to extinguish their inclination to help? Kohn, A. (1988, October). Beyond selfishness. Psychology Today, 22 (10), 34–38. 7. How to Become a Cult Leader. Pratkanis and Aronson (1992) have listed seven suggestions for creating and maintaining a cult. They are: 1. Create your own social reality. All sources of outside information should be removed. Isolate members physically, censor mail, and prevent visits by friends and relatives. 2. Establish an ingroup composed of True Believers and an outgroup of the Unredeemed. There should be constant reminders about the superiority of the ingroup. 3. Generate commitment through dissonance reduction. Maintain obedience through escalating the sense of commitment. 4. Establish the attractiveness and credibility of the cult leader. Mythical stories about the accomplishments of the leader should be passed from member to member. 5. Send current members out to recruit new members. This attracts new members while encouraging the current members to engage in self-generated persuasion. 6. Keep members from thinking undesirable thoughts. New recruits should not be alone where they might begin to think for themselves. Chanting and singing are good techniques to prevent undesirable thoughts. 7. Fixate members’ vision on a phantom. Keep mentioning a promised land and/or the vision of a better world. By focusing on a future phantom, you can provide a sense of purpose and mission as well as a powerful incentive to keep working. To further your discussion of this, ask students to differentiate between the techniques used in cults (“New Religious Movements,” by those who research them to eliminate the negative connotation) and techniques used in other groups such as a family or a basketball team. For the most part, the techniques are the same. Pratkanis, A., & Aronson, E. (1992). Age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion. New York: W. H. Freeman. 8. Cults. Americans generally consider cult members to be alienated, vulnerable people; they are often portrayed by the media as “weird,” “mentally deficient” or dangerous. Although various types of cults have existed in other nations throughout history, the kinds of confrontation and mass suicide/murder seen at Jonestown, Guayana, or Waco are rare occurrences. Michael Ross (1983) tested the entire population (42 people) of the Hare Krishna Temple in Melbourne, Australia. He administered the MMPI, the Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire, and other psychometric tests. Ross found that all subjects scored within the “normal” range. Although he found a slight decline in mental health after 1-1/2 years of being a Krishna, he also found slight improvement after three years. 267 Chapter Seventeen Ross, M. W. (1983). Clinical Profiles of Hare Krishna Devotees. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140 (4). 9. Conducting Research in Other Countries. Conducting research in other countries often means researchers must use different instruments than are used in the U.S. Gething and Wheeler (1992) found this to be the case when they were attempting to measure attitudes toward the disabled in Australia. Some Australian participants felt so uncomfortable with the instrument that many left the questions unanswered. Other respondents tore up the questionnaires or expressed their anger physically or verbally. The authors discovered that the American questionnaires expected people to generalize their statements, and that bothered some of the Australians. The researchers devised a new instrument that did not call for generalizations from the respondents. Getting, L. & Wheeler, B. (1992). The interaction with disabled person scale: A new Australian instrument to measure attitudes towards people with disabilities. Australian Journal of Psychology, 44 (2): 75. Classroom Activities 1. Persuasion. Bring in several magazines, each with a different target audience. Divide the class into groups, and give each group one magazine. Each group is to locate five ads and discern the impact of the source, the message, and the audience for each ad. For example, is the source credible, trustworthy, or attractive? Is the argument presented one-sided or two-sided? Based on the magazine, is the target audience thought to be highly intelligent and how important might the ad’s message be to the target audience? 2. Bystander Intervention. The text notes five steps to the process of bystander intervention: noticing the victim, interpreting the situation as an emergency, taking personal responsibility, deciding on a course of action, and taking action. Divide the class into groups and have them imagine that they were alone with a friend when the friend suddenly lost consciousness. With no phone in sight, the student runs out to the street seeking help. There are several groups of people walking along the sidewalk. What can the student do to ensure that all five steps are met so their friend receives help? Have each group report their course of action to the class. Experiencing Psychology: A study of personal advertisements As noted earlier, there are gender differences in the characteristics women and men prefer when they are seeking a romantic partner. In this exercise you will record data about age preferences in mate selection, analyze it statistically, and discuss it in the context of what you learned from reading this chapter. You should work in a group of three to four students and should agree on hypotheses about what you will find. Method Materials Choose one of the Web sites listed below to serve as a source for your data. Each of the sites below is the home page of a metropolitan newspaper that provides access to the personal advertisement area of their classified section. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/ Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/ Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/ Miami New Times: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/class/index.html New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ Phoenix New Times: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/ San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/ 268 Social Psychology Village Voice: http://villagevoice.com/ Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Select 15 to 20 advertisements in each of the following categories: men seeking women, women seeking men, men seeking men, and women seeking women. Each of your advertisements must contain the following information: the advertiser’s age, the advertiser’s sex, the sex of the desired partner, and the exact age range desired. Do not include any advertisement that is ambiguous on any of these criteria. Prepare four coding sheets, one for each of the advertiser categories (i.e., heterosexual men and women, gay men, and lesbians). Each coding sheet should have three columns: one for the advertiser’s age, one for average age of desired partner, one for a difference score you will compute. Procedure Record your data for each of the advertisements you selected using the following procedure. Record the advertiser’s age. Then compute an average age of desired partner by adding the minimum and maximum age in the range and divide by 2. For example, if an advertiser specified an age range of 20 to 30, the average age of desired partner would be 25. Then compute a difference score, the advertiser’s age minus the average age of desired partner, and record this score on your data sheet. A negative score indicates the advertiser is seeking an older partner; a positive score indicates the advertiser is seeking a younger partner. Results Calculate group means for the difference scores for each of the four advertiser categories. Group means should be used for drawing a graph showing the difference scores for each of the four advertiser categories (see Chapter 2 and Appendix B). Discussion Discuss whether your results agree with your hypotheses. Do the results support what you read in the chapter? Do the results support any of the theories discussed in the chapter? Were there any differences between men and women? Where there any differences between the heterosexual women and men, gay men, and lesbians? Are there any other conclusions that can be reached from the data? As a researcher, you should also note any shortcomings of the study and things you would change to improve it. Finally, you should suggest a research study that would be a logical offshoot of this study. Critical Thinking Questions 1. If you were an advertiser, how should you apply the research information on persuasion to influence the behavior of consumers? 2. Describe at least two situations in which you (or an acquaintance) committed attribution errors. 3. In what ways does our society benefit from having members who conform and who are obedient? In what ways are conformity and obedience potentially dangerous to our society? 4. Can stereotypes be eliminated? Can they be changed? Why or why not? 5. Can cognitive dissonance theory and self-perception theory coexist? Explain your answer. 6. Can such seemingly intangible experiences as falling in love (and staying in love) be quantified and explained experimentally? How can (or should) this information be used by members of our society? 269 Chapter Seventeen 7. Describe the types of attributions you have observed someone use to help explain the dissolution of a relationship. What purposes were served by these attributions? 8. Will our knowledge of interpersonal attraction ever reach a point at which we can accurately predict which individuals will like or love each other? Why or why not? 9. Based on your reading of the text, what can you personally do to reduce prejudice, both your own and that of others? 10. What is the difference between leading and controlling? Video/Media Suggestions Beyond hate (Insight Media, 1991, 88 minutes) This powerful program chronicles the impact of hate on its victims. Using interviews with Elie Wiesel, Jimmy Carter, Nadine Gordimer, Myrlie Evers, Nelson Mandela, and Nesse Godin, as well as perpetrators of hate, it explores bases of hate and its psychological mechanisms. Should be a part of every school, university, and public library collection…Highest Recommendation.” — Video Rating Guide Chemistry of love (Insight Media, 1997, 60 minutes) Some contemporary scientific studies show that lust, love, and fidelity have more to do with biology and evolution than with emotion and conscious thought. Focusing on hormones, brain chemistry, and the mental templates that determine sexual arousal, this PBS video examines the scientific mysteries of romantic love and sexual attraction. Produced by WETA. A class divided (Insight Media, 1985, 60 minutes) This award-winning PBS Frontline documentary is the follow-up to the classic blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment conducted by Jane Elliott in her Iowa elementary classroom. Fifteen years after the original experiment, Elliott interviews her former students to evaluate the long-term effects of this experiment in the psychology of stereotyping. The video also shows the experiment conducted in a prison environment, where the results supported the original findings. Produced by Yale University Films. Emmy Award. The credibility factor (CRM Films, 1990, 22 minutes) Distinguishes between effective and ineffective leaders and discusses how to build credibility and fulfill the expectations of followers. Discovering psychology 20: Constructing social reality (Annenberg/CPB Project, 1990, 30 minutes) Focuses on the various factors that contribute to our interpretation of reality. Shows that knowledge of the psychological processes involved can help us to become more independent and empathetic. Gender and relationships (Insight Media, 1990, 30 minutes) Explaining why human emotional interactions and attachments are so complex, this video stresses that even the most respected authorities remain uncertain about which factors influence people’s feelings of love, affection, and sexual attraction. It examines some of the most beguiling mysteries of the ages: What is love? What makes sexual behavior “normal” or “abnormal”? Do men and women differ in their sexual motives and behavior? Group dynamics in the electronic environment (Insight Media, 1996, 30 minutes) Reviewing psychological experiments on group behavior, this video examines group dynamics in cyber-communication. It differentiates between synchronous communication and asynchronous communication and probes social and contextual factors. Groupthink (Revised edition) (CRM, 1990, 22 minutes) Discusses the role played by groupthink in the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Killing screens: Media and the culture of violence (Insight Media, 1994, 40 minutes) This video addresses psychological, political, social, and developmental effects of media violence. George Gerbner explains the negative effects as desensitization to and encouragement of real violence. Recommended, Video Librarian. Listening after Littleton (Insight Media, 1999, 60 minutes) The Columbine High School shooting prompted questions across America about the safety of schools and possible strategies for recognizing and addressing warning signs of violence. This video presents a forum in which parents, students, and teachers discuss what can be done to prevent future tragedies. 270 Social Psychology Maintaining self-esteem against all odds (Insight Media, 1993, 41 minutes) Exploring the ways in which people maintain dignity, optimism, and a sense of self-worth in the face of social discrimination or misfortune, this video explains some of the methods people use to protect their self-esteem. It presents the findings of two social psychologists who reveal that, paradoxically, victims of prejudice sometimes end up with higher self-esteem than other people. Marriage as bastion of racism and sexism (Insight Media, 1993, 50 minutes) The prevalence of racism and sexism in American society may be manifest most insidiously in people’s marital choices. This video examines statistics that show how the majority of American marriages reinforce the social status quo: interracial marriages are rare and women typically marry men who are older, better educated, and more powerful than they are. May-December love (Insight Media, 1999, 50 minutes) Exploring the psychology of the May-December romance, this video features the stories of love relationships with unusual age gaps. It questions the significance of the biological and psychological factors that usually motivate people to seek mates of their own age and addresses societal disapproval of significant age differences in romantic relationships. Overcoming prejudice (Insight Media, 1996, 59 minutes) This documentary examines the origins of prejudice, discussing how it can be learned at home, can be a result of fear or ignorance, or can be a reaction to mistreatment. It considers the adverse effects of prejudice and includes the testimony of people who have overcome their own prejudices. Patterns of abuse: Exploding the cycle (Insight Media, 1999, 23 minutes) Addressing the aggression and violence with which some people respond to internal or external pressures, this video focuses on the link between abuse of animals and abuse of other people. It considers different forms of violence, examines relationships between abusers and victims, and describes intervention tactics. Quiet rage: The Stanford prison experiment (Insight Media, 1990, 50 minutes) This video documents the landmark study of the power of social situations in which Philip Zimbardo created a mock prison, dividing students into two groups — prisoners and guards. The video shows how the behavior of the groups rapidly conformed to their assigned roles. It includes updated footage of Zimbardo escorting current college students through the mock prison. The color footage fades to black and white as original archival footage takes viewers through the chronology of this xperiment Roadrage: Havoc on the highway (Insight Media, 1998, 20 minutes) Aggressive driving tactics such as tailgating, weaving, and making illegal lane changes can inspire honking, cursing, and even spitting from others on the road. This video examines road rage, identifies and analyzes conflagratory driving situations, and offers expert commentary explaining why otherwise temperate people lose control of their anger while driving. Sexual attraction (Insight Media, 1997, 48 minutes) Integrating commentary of psychologists, biologists, and anthropologists with real-life case studies, this video examines human sexual attraction. It explores the relationship between sexual desire and procreative drive and considers the implications of monogamy and love at first sight. It also discusses pheromones. Silent witnesses: The Kitty Genovese murder (Insight Media, 1999, 50 minutes) In 1964, Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered in a New York City neighborhood. Thirty-eight neighbors heard her screams and some watched as the killer stabbed her under a street light, disappeared, and then returned to mutilate and rape her. They did nothing to help her. This video grapples with the disturbing question of human apathy in the face of atrocity. Social psychology (Insight Media, 1990, 30 minutes) This program discusses several research studies and findings on stereotyping and prejudice, attribution theory, and the power of social roles. A study of genocide and ethnic cleansing (Insight Media, 1998, 30 minutes) Hosted by Norman Naimark, this video examines the psychological and strategic motivations of groups of people whose goal is to exterminate, rather then simply conquer, their enemies. The uncommon sense of social psychology (Insight Media 1994, 2 volumes, 154 minutes total) This series consists of six lectures presented by Linda George of Duke University. Explaining why she feels that much of what is known about human behavior is wrong, she presents the results of studies on everyday behavior. Understanding prejudice (Insight Media, 1992, 90 minutes) Psychiatrist Price M. Cobbs explains how prejudice and stereotyping are natural human functions, developed for coping with a threatening environment. He describes the principles of ethnotherapy and encourages the oppressed to move from blaming others to mastering their situations. 271 Chapter Seventeen Virus of violence (Insight Media, 1999, 60 minutes) This video features the commentary of David Grossman, an expert in the field of human aggression and the roots of violence and violent crime. Grossman believes the desensitization of children to violence through video games is directly responsible for the recent outbreak of school shootings. References Arber, S. (1991). Class, paid employment and family roles: Making sense of structural disadvantage, gender, and health status. (Special issue: Health in “Crisis”? Critical Problems in Health and Health Care.) Social Science and Medicine, 32 (4), 425–437. Aronson, E. (2000). Nobody left to hate: Teaching compassion after Columbine. New York: W. H. Freeman. Aronson, E. & Patnoe, S. (1997). The jigsaw classroom: Building cooperation in the classroom. New York: Longman. Berkowitz, L. 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