Exploring Social Psychology

by Myers, David

Edition:

5th

ISBN13:

9780073370644

ISBN10:

0073370649

Format:

Paperback

Pub. Date:

10/28/2008

Publisher(s):

McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

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Summary

This brief, modular introduction to social psychology offers streamlined focus on issues such as belief and illusion, prejudice and diversity, and love and hate. The brevity of each of the book's 31 stand-alone modules makes this the perfect text for covering the core concepts in the field. By introducing social psychology in an essay format and by writing in a voice that is both solidly scientific and warmly human,Exploring Social Psychologyis able to reveal social psychology as an investigative reporter might, by providing a current summary of important social phenomena, by showing how social psychologists uncover and explain such phenomena, and by reflecting on their human significance. The new edition includes discussion of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath as an illustration of hindsight bias and availability heuristic, the Iraq War and belief perseverance, and terrorism and group polarization.

Preface	p. xvi
Introducing Social Psychology	p. 1
Doing Social Psychology	p. 3
Forming and Testing Theories	p. 4
Correlational Research: Detecting Natural Associations	p. 6
Correlation and Causation	p. 6
Experimental Research: Searching for Cause and Effect	p. 9
Control: Manipulating Variables	p. 9
Random Assignment: The Great Equalizer	p. 10
The Ethics of Experimentation	p. 10
Generalizing From Laboratory to Life	p. 12
Did You Know It All Along?	p. 15
Social Thinking	p. 21
Self-Concept: Who Am I?	p. 23
At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self	p. 23
Self and Culture	p. 25
Self-Knowledge	p. 27
Explaining Our Behavior	p. 28
Predicting Our Behavior	p. 28
Predicting Our Feelings	p. 29
The Wisdom and Illusions of Self-Analysis	p. 32
Self-Serving Bias	p. 35
Explaining Positive and Negative Events	p. 35
Can We All Be Better than Average?	p. 36
Focus On: Self-Serving Bias-How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways	p. 38
Unrealistic Optimism	p. 39
False Consensus and Uniqueness	p. 40
Self-Esteem Motivation	p. 42
Reflections on Self-Esteem and Self-Serving Bias	p. 44
The Self-Serving Bias as Adaptive	p. 44
The Self-Serving Bias as Maladaptive	p. 45
The Power of Positive Thinking	p. 47
Locus of Control	p. 48
Learned Helplessness Versus Self-Determination	p. 49
The Costs of Excess Choice	p. 50
Reflections on Self-Efficacy	p. 51
The Power of Positive Thinking	p. 51
The Dark Side of Self-Esteem	p. 53
The Fundamental Attribution Error	p. 57
The Fundamental Attribution Error in Everyday Life	p. 59
Why Do We Make the Attribution Error?	p. 61
Perspective and Situational Awareness	p. 61
Cultural Differences	p. 63
How Fundamental Is the Fundamental Attribution Error?	p. 64
The Powers and Perils of Intuition	p. 67
The Powers of Intuition	p. 68
The Limits of Intuition	p. 69
We Overestimate the Accuracy of Our Judgments	p. 70
Remedies for Overconfidence	p. 73
Constructing Memories	p. 74
Reconstructing Our Past Attitudes	p. 74
Reconstructing Our Past Behavior	p. 76
Reasons for Unreason	p. 77
Our Preconceptions Control Our Interpretations	p. 78
We Are More Swayed by Memorable Events than by Facts	p. 80
We Misperceive Correlation and Control	p. 82
Illusory Correlation	p. 82
Illusion of Control	p. 82
Our Beliefs Can Generate Their Own Confirmation	p. 83
Do Teacher Expectations Affect Student Performance?	p. 84
Do We Get What We Expect from Others?	p. 85
Conclusions	p. 87
Behavior and Belief	p. 89
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?	p. 89
Does Behavior Influence Attitudes?	p. 90
Role Playing	p. 91
Saying Becomes Believing	p. 92
The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon	p. 93
Evil Acts and Attitudes	p. 94
Interracial Behavior and Racial Attitudes	p. 96
Brainwashing	p. 97
Why Does Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?	p. 98
Clinical Intuition	p. 101
Illusory Correlations	p. 101
Hindsight	p. 102
Self-Confirming Diagnoses	p. 103
Clinical Versus Statistical Prediction	p. 105
Implications for Better Clinical Practice	p. 106
Clinical Therapy: The Powers of Social Cognition	p. 107
Social Cognition and Depression	p. 107
Distortion or Realism?	p. 108
Is Negative Thinking a Cause or a Result of Depression?	p. 109
Social Cognition and Loneliness	p. 112
Social Cognition and Anxiety	p. 114
Social-Psychological Approaches to Treatment	p. 116
Inducing Internal Change Through External Behavior	p. 116
Breaking Vicious Cycles	p. 117
Social Influence	p. 121
Human Nature and Cultural Diversity	p. 123
Evolution and Behavior	p. 123
Culture and Behavior	p. 125
Cultural Diversity	p. 126
Cultural Similarity	p. 128
Gender, Genes, and Culture	p. 131
Gender Difference	p. 132
Independence Versus Connectedness	p. 132
Social Dominance	p. 134
Aggression	p. 136
Sexuality	p. 137
Evolution and Gender: Doing What Comes Naturally?	p. 138
Gender and Mating Preferences	p. 139
Reflections on Evolutionary Psychology	p. 140
Gender and Hormones	p. 142
Culture and Gender	p. 142
Gender Roles Vary with Culture and Time	p. 143
Conclusions: Biology and Culture	p. 144
How Nice People Get Corrupted	p. 147
Asch's Studies of Conformity	p. 147
Milgram's Obedience Experiments	p. 149
What Breeds Obedience?	p. 153
Institutional Authority	p. 155
Reflections on the Classic Studies	p. 155
Behavior and Attitudes	p. 156
The Power of the Situation	p. 158
The Fundamental Attribution Error	p. 159
Two Routes to Persuasion	p. 161
The Two Routes	p. 161
The Elements of Persuasion	p. 163
Who Says? The Communicator	p. 163
What Is Said? The Message Content	p. 165
To Whom Is It Said? The Audience	p. 167
The Two Routes to Persuasion in Therapy	p. 171
Indoctrination and Inoculation	p. 173
Cult Indoctrination	p. 174
Attitudes Follow Behavior	p. 176
Persuasive Elements	p. 177
Group Effects	p. 178
Resisting Persuasion: Attitude Inoculation	p. 180
Stimulate Commitment	p. 180
Real-Life Applications: Inoculation Programs	p. 181
Implications	p. 184
The Mere Presence of Others	p. 187
The Mere Presence of Others	p. 187
Crowding: The Presence of Many Others	p. 189
Why Are We Aroused in the Presence of Others?	p. 190
Evaluation Apprehension	p. 191
Driven by Distraction	p. 191
Mere Presence	p. 192
Many Hands Make Diminished Responsibility	p. 193
Many Hands Make Light Work	p. 193
Social Loafing in Everyday Life	p. 196
Doing Together What We Would Never Do Alone	p. 199
Deindividuation	p. 199
Group Size	p. 200
Physical Anonymity	p. 201
Arousing and Distracting Activities	p. 203
Diminished Self-Awareness	p. 204
How Groups Intensify Decisions	p. 207
The Case of the "Risky Shift"	p. 207
Do Groups Intensify Opinions?	p. 209
Group Polarization Experiments	p. 209
Group Polarization in Everyday Life	p. 210
Explaining Group Polarization	p. 214
Informational Influence	p. 214
Normative Influence	p. 215
Groupthink	p. 216
Symptoms of Groupthink	p. 217
Groupthink in Action	p. 219
Preventing Groupthink	p. 220
Power to the Person	p. 223
Interacting Persons and Situations	p. 224
Resisting Social Pressure	p. 225
Reactance	p. 225
Asserting Uniqueness	p. 226
Minority Influence	p. 227
Consistency	p. 228
Self-Confidence	p. 229
Defections from the Majority	p. 229
Is Leadership Minority Influence?	p. 230
Social Relations	p. 233
The Challenge of Diversity	p. 235
What Is Prejudice?	p. 236
How Pervasive Is Prejudice?	p. 237
Racial Prejudice	p. 237
Gender Prejudice	p. 240
The Roots of Prejudice	p. 245
Social Sources of Prejudice	p. 245
Unequal Status	p. 245
Discrimination's Impact: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy	p. 246
Stereotype Threat	p. 247
Social Identity	p. 249
Ingroup Bias	p. 250
Conformity	p. 251
Emotional Sources of Prejudice	p. 252
Frustration and Aggression: The Scapegoat Theory	p. 252
Personality Dynamics	p. 253
Cognitive Sources of Prejudice	p. 255
Categorization	p. 256
Distinctiveness	p. 258
Attribution: Is It a Just World?	p. 261
The Nature and Nurture of Aggression	p. 265
Theories of Aggression	p. 267
Is Aggression an Instinct?	p. 267
Neural Influences	p. 267
Genetic Influences	p. 268
Blood Chemistry	p. 268
Psychological Influences on Aggression	p. 270
Frustration and Aggression	p. 270
The Learning of Aggression	p. 273
Environmental Influences	p. 275
Reducing Aggression	p. 278
Catharsis?	p. 278
A Social Learning Approach	p. 280
Does the Media Influence Social Behavior?	p. 283
Pornography and Sexual Violence	p. 283
Distorted Perceptions of Sexual Reality	p. 284
Aggression Against Women	p. 285
Television	p. 287
Television's Effects on Behavior	p. 288
Media Influences: Video Games	p. 292
The Games Kids Play	p. 292
Effects of the Games Kids Play	p. 293
Who Likes Whom?	p. 297
Proximity	p. 298
Interaction	p. 298
Anticipation of Interaction	p. 298
Mere Exposure	p. 299
Focus On: Liking Things Associated with Oneself	p. 301
Physical Attractiveness	p. 303
Attractiveness and Dating	p. 303
The Matching Phenomenon	p. 305
The Physical-Attractiveness Stereotype	p. 306
Who Is Attractive?	p. 308
Similarity Versus Complementarity	p. 311
Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together?	p. 311
Do Opposites Attract?	p. 312
Liking Those Who Like Us	p. 313
Self-Esteem and Attraction	p. 314
Our Need to Belong	p. 314
The Ups and Downs of Love	p. 319
Passionate Love	p. 320
A Theory of Passionate Love	p. 321
Variations in Love	p. 322
Companionate Love	p. 323
Maintaining Close Relationships	p. 325
Equity	p. 325
Self-Disclosure	p. 327
Ending Relationships	p. 331
Who Divorces?	p. 332
The Detachment Process	p. 333
Causes of Conflict	p. 337
Social Dilemmas	p. 337
The Prisoner's Dilemma	p. 338
The Tragedy of the Commons	p. 339
Resolving Social Dilemmas	p. 341
Competition	p. 343
Perceived Injustice	p. 344
Misperception	p. 345
Mirror-Image Perceptions	p. 346
Shifting Perceptions	p. 348
Blessed Are the Peacemakers	p. 351
Contact	p. 351
Does Desegregation Improve Racial Attitudes?	p. 352
When Does Desegregation Improve Racial Attitudes?	p. 353
Cooperation	p. 355
Common External Threats	p. 355
Superordinate Goals	p. 357
Cooperative Learning	p. 357
Communication	p. 359
Bargaining	p. 359
Mediation	p. 359
Arbitration	p. 362
Conciliation	p. 363
When Do People Help?	p. 367
Why Do People Help?	p. 369
When Do People Help?	p. 369
Number of Bystanders	p. 370
Noticing	p. 371
Interpreting	p. 372
Assuming Responsibility	p. 373
Social Psychology and the Sustainable Future	p. 377
Enabling Sustainable Living	p. 379
New Technologies	p. 380
Reducing Consumption	p. 380
The Social Psychology of Materialism and Wealth	p. 381
Increased Materialism	p. 381
Wealth and Well-Being	p. 383
Materialism Fails to Satisfy	p. 386
Toward Sustainability and Survival	p. 389
References	p. 392
Credits	p. 504
Name Index	p. 507
Subject Index	p. 525
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