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Copyright, iv
Preface, xxiii
About the Authors, xxxiv
Special Tips for Students, xxxvi
Chapter 1. Introducing Social Psychology, 2
What Is Social Psychology?, 6
Try it!: Explicit and Implicit Values, 6
The Power of Social Interpretation, 7
Connections: , 8
How Else Can We Understand Social Influence?, 9
Journalists, Instant Experts, and Social Critics, 9
Philosophy, 11
Social Psychology Compared with Personality Psychology, 11
Try it!: Social Situations and Behavior, 12
Social Psychology Compared with Sociology, 13
The Power of Social Influence, 15
Underestimating the Power of Social Influence, 15
The Subjectivity of the Social Situation, 16
Where Construals Come From: Basic Human Motives, 19
The Self-Esteem Approach: The Need to Feel Good about Ourselves, 20
Justifying Past Behavior, 20
Suffering and Self-Justification, 20
The Social Cognition Approach: The Need to Be Accurate, 22
Social Cognition, 22
Expectations about the Social World, 23
Additional Motives, 24
Social Psychology and Social Problems, 24
Chapter 2. Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research, 28
Social Psychology: An Empirical Science, 30
Try it!: Social Psychology Quiz: What’s Your Prediction?, 31
Formulating Hypotheses and Theories, 32
Inspiration from Earlier Theories and Research, 32
Hypotheses Based on Personal Observations, 32
The Observational Method: Describing Social Behavior, 34
Archival Analysis, 34
Try it!: Archival Analysis: Women, Men, and the Media, 35
Limits of the Observational Method, 36
The Correlational Method: Predicting Social Behavior, 36
Surveys, 38
Connections: Random Selection in Political Polls, 38
Limits of the Correlational Method: Correlation Does Not Equal Causation, 39
Try it!: Correlation and Causation: Knowing the Difference, 41
The Experimental Method: Answering Causal Questions, 42
Independent and Dependent Variables, 43
Internal Validity in Experiments, 44
External Validity in Experiments, 46
Generalizability across Situations, 46
Generalizability across People, 47
Replications, 48
Cross-Cultural Research, 48
The Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist, 50
Basic versus Applied Research, 51
Ethical Issues in Social Psychology, 52
Guidelines for Ethical Research, 52
Chapter 3. Social Cognition: How We Think about the Social World, 56
On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking, 58
People as Everyday Theorists: Automatic Thinking with Schemas, 59
Stereotypes about Race and Weapons, 59
The Function of Schemas: Why Do We Have Them?, 61
Schemas as Memory Guides, 62
Which Schemas Are Applied? Accessibility and Priming, 63
The Persistence of Schemas After They Are Discredited, 66
Making Our Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, 67
Limits of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, 70
Cultural Determinants of Schemas, 70
Try it!: Avoiding Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, 71
Mental Strategies and Shortcuts, 72
How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic, 73
How Similar Is A to B? The Representativeness Heuristic, 75
Connections: Personality Tests and the Representativeness Heuristic, 76
The Power of Unconscious Thinking, 77
Try it!: Reasoning Quiz, 77
Controlled Social Cognition: High-Effort Thinking, 80
Mentally Undoing the Past: Counterfactual Reasoning, 82
Thought Suppression and Ironic Processing, 83
Improving Human Thinking, 84
Try it!: How Well Do You Reason?, 85
The Amadou Diallo Case Revisited, 86
Chapter 4. Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People, 90
Nonverbal Behavior, 93
Try it!: Using Your Voice as a Nonverbal Cue, 94
Facial Expressions of Emotion, 94
Evolution and Facial Expressions, 94
Why Is Decoding Sometimes Inaccurate?, 96
Culture and the Channels of Nonverbal Communication, 97
Multichannel Nonverbal Communication, 99
Connections: The E-Mail Dilemma; Communicating Without Nonverbal Cues, 100
Gender and Nonverbal Communication, 100
Implicit Personality Theories: Filling In the Blanks, 101
Culture and Implicit Personality Theories, 102
Causal Attribution: Answering the “Why” Question, 104
The Nature of the Attribution Process, 104
The Covariation Model: Internal versus External Attributions, 106
Try it!: Listen as People Make Attributions, 106
The Correspondence Bias: People as Personality Psychologists, 108
The Role of Perceptual Salience in the Correspondence Bias, 110
The Two-Step Process of Making Attributions, 112
Culture and the Correspondence Bias, 112
Connections: Attributions about 9/11, 115
The Actor/Observer Difference, 116
Perceptual Salience Revisited, 116
The Role of Information Availability in the Actor/Observer Difference, 117
Self-Serving Attributions, 118
Try it!: Self-Serving Attributions in the Sports Pages, 118
Culture and Other Attributional Biases, 120
How Accurate Are Our Attributions and Impressions?, 121
Chapter 5. Self-Knowledge: How We Come to Understand Ourselves, 124
The Nature of the Self, 126
Functions of the Self, 127
Organizational Function of the Self, 127
Self-Regulation: The Executive Function, 128
Cultural Differences in Defining the Self, 128
Try it!: A Measure of Independence and Interdependence, 129
Gender Differences in Defining the Self, 130
Try it!: A Measure of Relational Interdependence, 131
Knowing Ourselves Through Introspection, 132
Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory, 132
Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Telling More than We Can Know, 135
Try it!: Measure Your Private Self-Consciousness, 136
The Consequences of Introspecting about Reasons, 138
Knowing Ourselves by Observing Our Own Behavior, 139
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation, 140
The Overjustification Effect, 140
Preserving Intrinsic Interest, 141
Connections: How Should Parents Praise Their Children?, 142
Understanding Our Emotions: The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion, 143
Finding the Wrong Cause: Misattribution of Arousal, 145
Interpreting the Social World: Appraisal Theories of Emotion, 147
Using Other People to Know Ourselves, 148
Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others, 148
Knowing Ourselves by Adopting Other People’s Views, 150
Impression Management: All the World’s a Stage, 152
Culture, Impression Management, and Self-Enhancement, 154
Chapter 6. The Need to Justify Our Actions: The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction, 158
Maintaining a Stable, Positive Self-Image, 160
The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, 160
Self Affirmation, 162
Why we overestimate the pain of disappointment, 163
Rational Behavior versus Rationalizing Behavior, 163
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions, 164
Distorting Our Likes and Dislikes, 164
The Permanence of the Decision, 165
Creating the Illusion of Irrevocability, 166
Try it!: The Advantage of Finality, 166
The Decision to Behave Immorally, 167
How Dissonance Affects Personal Values, 168
Justifying Your Effort, 169
Try it!: Justifying Actions, 170
The Psychology of Insufficient Justification, 171
Counterattitudinal Advocacy, 171
Counterattitudinal Advocacy, Race Relations, and Preventing AIDS, 173
The Power of Mild Punishment, 174
Does Self-Persuasion Last?, 176
Not Just Tangible Rewards or Punishments, 177
Good and Bad Deeds, 178
The Ben Franklin Effect, 178
Try it!: Good Deeds, 178
Hating Our Victims, 180
Connections: Was Osama bin Laden Capitalizing on Dissonance?, 182
Culture and Dissonance, 183
Some Final Thoughts on Dissonance: Learning from Our Mistakes, 183
Heaven’s Gate Revisited, 185
Chapter 7. Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings, 188
The Nature and Origin of Attitudes, 191
Where Do Attitudes Come From?, 191
Cognitively Based Attitudes, 192
Affectively Based Attitudes, 192
Behaviorally Based Attitudes, 194
Try it!: Affective and Cognitive Bases of Attitudes, 194
Explicit versus Implicit Attitudes, 195
How Do Attitudes Change?, 196
Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior: Cognitive Dissonance Theory Revisited, 196
Persuasive Communications and Attitude Change, 198
The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion, 199
The Motivation to Pay Attention to the Arguments, 200
The Ability to Pay Attention to the Arguments, 202
How to Achieve Long-Lasting Attitude Change, 202
Try it!: The Need for Cognition, 203
Emotion and Attitude Change, 203
Fear-Arousing Communications, 203
Emotions as a Heuristic, 205
Emotion and Different Types of Attitudes, 206
Culture and Different Types of Attitudes, 207
Resisting Persuasive Messages, 208
Attitude Inoculation, 208
Being Alert to Product Placement, 209
Resisting Peer Pressure, 210
When Persuasion Attempts Boomerang: Reactance Theory, 211
When Will Attitudes Predict Behavior?, 211
Predicting Spontaneous Behaviors, 212
Predicting Deliberative Behaviors, 212
Specific Attitudes, 213
Subjective Norms, 214
Perceived Behavioral Control, 214
The Power of Advertising, 214
Connections: Do Media Campaigns to Reduce Drug Use Work?, 215
How Advertising Works, 216
Subliminal Advertising: A Form of Mind Control?, 217
Debunking the Claims about Subliminal Advertising, 218
Laboratory Evidence for Subliminal Influence, 219
Try it!: Advertising and Mind Control, 221
Advertising, Cultural Stereotypes, and Social Behavior, 221
Chapter 8. Conformity: Influencing Behavior, 226
Conformity: When and Why, 229
Informational Social Influence: The Need To Know What’s “Right”, 231
The Importance of Being Accurate, 233
When Informational Conformity Backfires, 234
When Will People Conform to Informational Social Influence?, 236
When the Situation Is Ambiguous, 237
When the Situation Is a Crisis, 237
When Other People Are Experts, 237
Resisting Informational Social Influence, 237
Try it!: Informational Social Influence and Emergencies, 238
Normative Social Influence: The Need to Be Accepted, 239
Conformity and Social Approval: The Asch Line Judgment Studies, 240
The Importance of Being Accurate, Revisited, 243
The Consequences of Resisting Normative Social Influence, 244
Try it!: Unveiling Normative Social Influence by Breaking the Rules, 245
Normative Social Influence in Everyday Life, 246
Social Influence and Women’s Body Image, 246
Social Influence and Men’s Body Image, 249
Connections: Have I Got a Song for You: Social Influence and Music Preferences, 250
When Will People Conform to Normative Social Influence?, 251
When the Group Size Is Three or More, 252
When the Group Is Important, 252
When One Has No Allies in the Group, 252
When the Group’s Culture Is Collectivistic, 253
Try it!: Fashion: Normative Social Influence in Action, 253
Gender Differences in Conformity, 254
Resisting Normative Social Influence, 255
Minority Influence: When the Few Influence the Many, 256
Connections: The Power of Propaganda, 257
Using Social Influence to Promote Beneficial Behavior, 258
The Role of Injunctive and Descriptive Norms, 259
Obedience to Authority, 260
The Role of Normative Social Influence, 264
The Role of Informational Social Influence, 264
Other Reasons Why We Obey, 265
Conforming to the Wrong Norm, 266
Self-Justification, 266
The Loss of Personal Responsibility, 267
It’s Not about Aggression, 267
Chapter 9. Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups, 270
What Is a Group?, 272
Why Do People Join Groups?, 272
The Composition and Functions of Groups, 273
Social Norms, 273
Social Roles, 274
Prison Abuse at Abu Ghraib, 275
Gender Roles, 276
Try it!: What Happens When You Violate a Role?, 276
Group Cohesiveness, 277
Groups and Individuals’ Behavior, 277
Social Facilitation: When the Presence of Others Energizes Us, 277
Simple versus Difficult Tasks, 279
Arousal and the Dominant Response, 279
Why the Presence of Others Causes Arousal, 280
Social Loafing: When the Presence of Others Relaxes Us, 281
Gender and Cultural Differences in Social Loafing: Who Slacks Off the Most?, 282
Deindividuation: Getting Lost in the Crowd, 283
Deindividuation Makes People Feel Less Accountable, 284
Deindividuation Increases Obedience to Group Norms, 285
Deindividuation in Cyberspace, 285
Group Decisions: Are Two (or More) Heads Better Than One?, 286
Process Loss: When Group Interactions Inhibit Good Problem Solving, 286
Failure to Share Unique Information, 287
Groupthink: Many Heads, One Mind, 288
Avoiding the Groupthink Trap, 290
Connections: Was the Decision to Invade Iraq a Result of Groupthink?, 291
Group Polarization: Going to Extremes, 292
Try it!: Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire, 292
Leadership in Groups, 293
Leadership and Personality, 293
Leadership Styles, 294
The Right Person in the Right Situation, 294
Gender and Leadership, 295
Conflict and Cooperation, 296
Social Dilemmas, 297
Increasing Cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, 298
Try it!: The Prisoner’s Dilemma, 298
Other Kinds of Social Dilemmas, 299
Using Threats to Resolve Conflict, 299
Effects of Communication, 301
Negotiation and Bargaining, 301
Chapter 10. Interpersonal Attraction: From First Impressions to Close Relationships, 304
What Causes Attraction?, 307
The Person Next Door: The Propinquity Effect, 307
Try it!: Mapping the Effect of Propinquity in Your Life, 308
Computers: Long-Distance Propinquity, 309
Similarity, 310
Opinions and Personality, 310
Interpersonal Style, 311
Interests and Experiences, 311
Reciprocal Liking, 312
Physical Attractiveness and Liking, 313
What Is Attractive?, 314
Connections: What Is a Beautiful Face?, 314
Cultural Standards of Beauty, 315
The Power of Familiarity, 317
Assumptions about Attractive People, 317
Theories of Interpersonal Attraction: Social Exchange and Equity, 319
Social Exchange Theory, 319
Equity Theory, 320
Close Relationships, 321
Defining Love, 321
Companionate versus Passionate Love, 321
Try it!: The Passionate Love Scale, 323
Culture and Love, 324
Love And Relationships, 325
Evolution and Love: Choosing a Mate, 326
Attachment Styles in Intimate Relationships, 328
Connections: This Is Your Brain . . . In Love, 329
Attachment Style Combinations, 331
Social Exchange in Long-Term Relationships, 332
Equity in Long-Term Relationships, 334
Ending Intimate Relationships, 336
The Process of Breaking Up, 336
The Experience of Breaking Up, 338
Chapter 11. Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help?, 342
Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help?, 344
Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes, 344
Kin Selection, 345
The Reciprocity Norm, 345
Learning Social Norms, 345
Try it!: Does the Reciprocity Norm Work?, 346
Social Exchange: The Costs and Rewards of Helping, 347
Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping, 348
Personal Qualities and Prosocial Behavior: Why Do Some People Help More than Others?, 351
Individual Differences: The Altruistic Personality, 351
Gender Differences in Prosocial Behavior, 353
Cultural Differences in Prosocial Behavior, 353
The Effects of Mood on Prosocial Behavior, 355
Effects of Positive Moods: Feel Good, Do Good, 355
Try it!: Feel Good, Do Good?, 355
Negative-State Relief: Feel Bad, Do Good, 356
Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behavior: When Will People Help?, 357
Environment: Rural versus Urban, 357
Residential Mobility, 358
The Number of Bystanders: The Bystander Effect, 359
Noticing an Event, 360
Interpreting the Event as an Emergency, 361
Assuming Responsibility, 363
Knowing How to Help, 363
Deciding to Implement the Help, 363
The Nature of the Relationship: Communal versus Exchange Relationships, 364
How Can Helping Be Increased?, 366
Increasing the Likelihood that Bystanders Will Intervene, 366
Positive Psychology and Prosocial Behavior, 367
Connections: Increasing Volunteerism, 368
Try it!: The Lost Letter Technique, 369
Chapter 12. Aggression: Why Do We Hurt Other People? Can We Prevent It?, 372
What is Aggression?, 374
Is Aggression Inborn or Learned?, 375
Is Aggression Instinctual? Situational? Optional?, 375
The Evolutionary Argument, 375
Try it!: Fighting and its Attractiveness, 376
Aggression among the Lower Animals, 377
Aggression and Culture, 378
Changes in Aggression across Time, 378
Regionalism and Aggression, 379
Neural and Chemical Influences on Aggression, 380
Gender and Aggression, 381
Does Culture Make a Difference?, 381
Violence Among Intimate Partners, 382
Alcohol and Aggression, 382
Pain, Discomfort, and Aggression, 383
Try it!: Heat, Humidity, and Aggression, 384
Social Situations and Aggression, 384
Frustration and Aggression, 384
Being Provoked and Reciprocating, 386
Aggressive Objects as Cues, 387
Try it!: Insults and Aggression, 387
Imitation and Aggression, 389
Violence in the Media: TV, Movies, and Video Games, 390
Effects on Children, 390
What about Adults?, 392
The Numbing Effect of TV Violence, 393
How Does Media Violence Affect Our View of the World?, 394
Why Does Media Violence Affect Viewers’ Aggression?, 394
Does Violence Sell?, 395
Violent Pornography and Violence against Women, 395
How to Reduce Aggression, 397
Does Punishing Aggression Reduce Aggressive Behavior?, 397
Using Punishment on Violent Adults, 397
Connections: Curbing Schoolyard Bullying, 398
Catharsis and Aggression, 399
The Effects of Aggressive Acts on Subsequent Aggression, 400
Blaming the Victim of Our Aggression, 401
The Effect of War on General Aggression, 403
What Are We Supposed to Do with Our Anger?, 403
Venting versus Self-Awareness, 404
Defusing Anger through Apology, 405
The Modeling of Nonaggressive Behavior, 405
Training in Communication and Problem-Solving Skills, 405
Building Empathy, 406
Connections: Teaching Empathy in School, 407
Could the Columbine Massacre Have Been Prevented?, 408
Chapter 13. Prejudice: Causes and Cures, 412
Prejudice: The Ubiquitous Social Phenomenon, 415
Prejudice and Self-Esteem, 416
A Progress Report, 416
Prejudice Defined, 417
Stereotypes: The Cognitive Component, 417
Sports, Race, and Attribution, 418
Try it!: Stereotype and Aggression, 418
Stereotypes, Attribution, and Gender, 419
Discrimination: The Behavioral Component, 421
Discrimination against Homosexuals, 422
What Causes Prejudice?, 422
The Way We Think: Social Cognition, 424
Social Categorization: Us versus Them, 424
In-Group Bias, 424
Out-Group Homogeneity, 426
The Failure of Logic, 427
The Persistence of Stereotypes, 427
The Activation of Stereotypes, 429
Automatic and Controlled Processing of Stereotypes, 430
The Justification-Suppression Model of Prejudice, 433
The Illusory Correlation, 433
Can We Change Stereotypical Beliefs?, 434
How We Assign Meaning: Attributional Biases, 435
Dispositional versus Situational Explanations, 435
Stereotype Threat, 437
Expectations and Distortions, 438
Blaming the Victim, 439
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, 440
Prejudice and Economic Competition: Realistic Conflict Theory, 441
Economic and Political Competition, 441
The Role of the Scapegoat, 443
The Way We Conform: Normative Rules, 444
When Prejudice Is Institutionalized, 444
“Modern” Prejudice, 446
Subtle and Blatant Prejudice in Western Europe, 447
Subtle Sexism, 447
How Can Prejudice be Reduced?, 448
The Contact Hypothesis, 448
When Contact Reduces Prejudice: Six Conditions, 449
Why Early Desegregation Failed, 451
Connections: Cooperation and Interdependence: The Jigsaw Classroom, 452
Why Does Jigsaw Work?, 454
Try it!: Jigsaw-Type Group Study, 455
The Gradual Spread of Cooperative Learning, 455
Connections: A Letter From “Carlos”, 456
Chapter 14. Making a Difference with Social Psychology: Attaining a Sustainable Future, 458
Applied Research in Social Psychology, 463
Capitalizing on the Experimental Method, 463
Assessing the Effectiveness of Interventions, 464
Potential Risks of Social Interventions, 465
Social Psychology to the Rescue, 465
Using Social Psychology to Achieve a Sustainable Future, 466
Resolving Social Dilemmas, 466
Conveying and Changing Social Norms, 468
Try it!: Reducing Littering with Injunctive Norms, 469
Making It Easy To Keep Track of Consumption, 471
Making Energy Loss Vivid, 472
Introducing a Little Competitiveness, 473
Inducing Hypocrisy, 474
Removing Small Barriers to Achieve Big Changes, 475
Try it!: Changing Environmentally Damaging Behaviors, 476
Happiness and a Sustainable Life Style, 477
What Makes People Happy?, 477
Satisfying Relationships, 477
Flow: Becoming Engaged in Something You Enjoy, 478
Helping Others, 478
Money, Materialism, and Happiness, 479
Do People Know What Makes Them Happy?, 479
Chapter 15. Social Psychology and Health, 482
Stress and Human Health, 484
Resilience, 485
Effects of Negative Life Events, 486
Try it!: The College Life Stress Inventory, 487
Perceived Stress and Health, 488
Feeling in Charge: The Importance of Perceived Control, 490
Increasing Perceived Control in Nursing Homes, 491
Disease, Control, and Well-Being, 493
Knowing You Can Do It: Self-Efficacy, 494
Explaining Negative Events: Learned Helplessness, 495
Coping With Stress, 498
Gender Differences in Coping with Stress, 498
Social Support: Getting Help from Others, 499
Personality and Coping Styles, 501
Try it!: Social Support, 501
Try it!: The Life Orientation Test, 502
Opening Up: Making Sense of Traumatic Events, 504
Prevention: Promoting Healthier Behavior, 505
Preventable Health Problems, 505
Social Psychological Interventions: Targeting Safer Sex, 506
Try it!: Changing Your Health Habits, 509
Chapter 16. Social Psychology and the Law, 512
Eyewitness Testimony, 515
Why Are Eyewitnesses Often Wrong?, 516
Acquisition, 516
Storage, 520
Retrieval, 522
Judging Whether Eyewitnesses Are Mistaken, 524
Does Certainty Mean Accuracy?, 524
Responding Quickly, 525
The Problem with Verbalization, 525
Judging Whether Witnesses Are Lying, 526
Try it!: The Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony, 526
Can Polygraph Machines Tell if People are Lying?, 527
Try it!: Lie Detection, 528
Can Eyewitness Testimony Be Improved?, 528
The Recovered Memory Debate, 529
Juries: Group Processes in Action, 530
How Jurors Process Information during the Trial, 531
Confessions: Are They Always What They Seem?, 532
Deliberations in the Jury Room, 535
Jury Size: Are Twelve Heads Better than Six?, 536
Why Do People Obey The Law?, 537
Do Severe Penalties Deter Crime?, 537
Try it!: Are You Aware of the Penalties for Federal Crimes?, 539
Procedural Justice: People’s Sense of Fairness, 540
Glossary, 544
References, 550
Credits, 606
Name Index, 609
Subject Index, 621

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