Essentials of Social Psychology 2010 Textbook PDF

“A well written, well structured introductory textbook covering the most current literature in the field. “... no doubt the most creative, exciting, and inspired textbook Throughout the chapters, compl...

“A well written, well structured introductory textbook covering the most current literature in the field. “... no doubt the most creative, exciting, and inspired textbook Throughout the chapters, complex phenomena are described and explained in a comprehensible way on the market. It reminded me of how exciting it is to learn.” that applies directly to the students’ everyday lives.” Dr Torun Lindholm, Stockholm University Dr Bjarne Holmes, Heriot-Watt University Essentials of Social Psychology “By journey’s end the reader will have accumulated a comprehensive understanding of contemporary, international social psychology, and critically, will have enjoyed the trip as well.” Dr John Kremer, Queen’s University, Belfast Do computer games that portray violence make people more aggressive; or are they a harmless outlet for frustrations? Can we study love scientifically; or should we pack the statistics away and leave it to the poets? What makes people obey authority, even when they believe the consequences are likely to be destructive or harmful? Essentials of Social Psychology provides an insight into questions such as those above as it guides the reader through the foundations of social psychology. Key concepts and theories are explained with clarity, debates and controversies are brought to life and the wider practical relevance of the subject is emphasised throughout. A range of pedagogical features are included to help you consolidate your understanding and appreciate the relevance of social psychology in the real world: Research classic boxes describe classic studies and draw out their implications and continuing relevance. Research and applications boxes highlight more contemporary developments in social psychological research and their practical applications. Real world boxes look at the everyday relevance of social psychology, providing extended examples of theories and concepts in action. Literature, film and TV sections demonstrate how social psychological concepts are dealt with in popular media. This is a clear, concise, academically rigorous, and above all accessible introduction to the main phenomena, theories and findings of social psychology. It is the ideal resource for those studying the subject for the first time, or as part of a more general programme of study. Hogg & Vaughan Essentials of Social Psychology comes with MyPsychLab, an interactive online study resource available from EB W www.mypsychlab.co.uk. Take a test to get a personalised study plan and explore video and audio activities, animations and additional question material to consolidate and further your understanding. Essentials of Michael Hogg is Professor of Social Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. Graham Vaughan is Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland. Social Psychology © Corbis Premium RF/Alamy s u n loc Cover image: ce k r re s o u va l ACCESS CODE u a b le INSIDE ng on l i n e le a r ni ONCE OPENED THIS PACK CANNOT BE RETURNED FOR A REFUND www.pearson-books.com Michael A. Hogg & Graham M. Vaughan CVR_HOGG9328_01_SE_CVR_final.indd 1 26/10/09 16:25:11 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page i “This is a well written, well structured introductory textbook covering the most current literature in the field. Throughout the chapters, complex phenomena are described and explained in a comprehensible way that applies directly to the students’ everyday lives. The authors manage to provide both in breadth and depth across this wide and fascinating discipline.” Dr Torun Lindholm, Stockholm University “Hogg and Vaughan’s book is clear in its explanations and contemporary in its examples. An excellent text in both its critique and analysis, I will be recommending this as the ideal core text to parallel my teaching for undergraduate students in social psychology.” Paul Muff, University of Bradford “Hogg and Vaughan have managed to yet again produce a great social psychology book. The text should prove useful for students who wish to learn about the key aspects of social psychology. It is an engaging read that clearly and concisely introduces the reader to the world of social psychology!” Dr Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Anglia Ruskin University “Hogg and Vaughan successfully capture the essence of what is all around, all the time and what concerns us all: social psychology. Each topic is captivating and the format is easy-to-grasp yet instructive. I strongly recommend this volume.” Professor Pär Anders Granhag, Göteborg University “Essentials of Social Psycholology is no doubt the most creative, exciting, and inspired textbook on the market. It reminded me of how exciting it is to learn.” Dr Bjarne Holmes, Heriot-Watt University “For any introductory psychology text to succeed it must strike the right balance between academic rigour and accessibility for the naïve reader. The authors of Essentials of Social Psychology have drawn of their wealth of writing experience to walk this tightrope with considerable aplomb, producing a book that leads you by the hand through the contemporary landscape of social psychology in a way that never feels overly challenging or daunting. Pitched with the introductory market always in mind, by journey’s end the reader will have accumulated a comprehensive under- standing of contemporary, international social psychology, and critically, will have enjoyed the trip as well.” Dr John Kremer, Queen’s University Belfast “This is a very comprehensive volume and, compared to many competitors, has increased relevance to contemporary issues, including more than enough material to generate hours of critical discussion about the role of (social) psychology in the contemporary world. It’s not only a good text book for students but a useful reference work for postgraduates and academic staff.” Dr Ron Roberts, Kingston University A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page ii We work with leading authors to develop the strongest educational materials in psychology bringing cutting-edge thinking and best learning practice to a global market. Under a range of well-known imprints, including Prentice Hall, we craft high-quality print and electronic publications which help readers to understand and apply their content, whether studying or at work. To find out more about the complete range of our publishing, please visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk. A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page iii Essentials of Social Psychology Michael A. Hogg Claremont Graduate University Graham M. Vaughan University of Auckland A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page iv Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM20 2JE England and Associated Companies throughout the world Visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk First published 2010 © Pearson Education Limited 2010 The rights of Michael Hogg and Graham Vaughan to be identified as authors of this Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. All trademarks used therein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners. ISBN 978-0-13-206932-8 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hogg, Michael A., 1954– Essentials of social psychology / Michael A. Hogg, Graham M. Vaughan. -- 1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-13-206932-8 (pbk.) 1. Social psychology. I. Vaughan, Graham M. II. Title. HM1033.H644 2010 302--dc22 2009036150 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 Typeset in 10/12.5 Sabon by 30 Printed and bound by Rotolito Lombarda, Italy The publisher's policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests. A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page v Brief contents Contents vii List of figures and tables xv Guided tour xviii Preface xxv About the authors xxix Publisher’s acknowledgements xxx Chapter 1 What is social psychology? 1 Chapter 2 Social thinking 24 Chapter 3 Self, identity and society 62 Chapter 4 Attitudes and persuasion 92 Chapter 5 Conformity and social change 122 Chapter 6 People in groups 152 Chapter 7 Prejudice and intergroup relations 192 Chapter 8 Hurting other people 228 Chapter 9 Helping other people 260 Chapter 10 Attraction and close relationships 286 Chapter 11 Culture and communication 320 Glossary 351 References 361 Author index 405 Subject index 413 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page vi A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page vii Contents List of figures and tables xv Guided tour xviii Preface xxv About the authors xxix Publisher’s acknowledgements xxx Chapter 1 What is social psychology? 1 What is social psychology? 2 Levels of explanation 3 Doing social psychology 5 Science 6 Testing hypotheses 6 Experiments 8 Other research methods 10 Doing research ethically 12 A short history of social psychology 14 The early days 14 Social psychology as science 15 Europe 18 Back to the future 19 Summary 20 Literature, film and TV 21 Guided questions 21 Learn more 22 Chapter 2 Social thinking 24 Forming impressions of people 26 Which impressions are important? 28 Schemas and categories 32 Categories and prototypes 32 Categories and stereotypes 34 How we use and acquire schemas 35 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page viii viii CONTENTS Perceiving and remembering people 37 Social encoding 37 Memory for people 38 Social inference 41 The illusory correlation 41 Short cuts in making inferences 42 Seeking the causes of behaviour 43 How do we attribute causality, why is it important? 43 Causal attribution in action 46 Biases in attributing motives 48 From acts to dispositions: correspondence bias 48 The actor–observer effect 50 False consensus 50 Self-serving biases 50 Explaining our social world 52 Intergroup attribution 52 Social representations 55 Rumour 55 Conspiracy theories 55 Summary 57 Literature, film and TV 58 Guided questions 59 Learn more 60 Chapter 3 Self, identity and society 62 The self in history 64 The psychodynamic self 65 The self: ‘I’ or ‘We’? 65 The self and social interaction 66 Self-awareness 68 Self-knowledge 69 Self-schemas 70 Learning about the self 70 Social comparison and self-knowledge 72 Self-regulation 73 Many selves, multiple identities 75 Distinguishing selves and identities 76 The search for self-coherence 77 Self-motives 77 Self-assessment and self-verification 78 Self-enhancement 78 Self-esteem 81 Individual differences 83 In pursuit of self-esteem 84 Self-presentation 86 Strategic self-presentation 86 Expressive self-presentation 88 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page ix CONTENTS ix Summary 88 Literature, film and TV 89 Guided questions 90 Learn more 90 Chapter 4 Attitudes and persuasion 92 What are attitudes? 94 Attitudes have a structure 94 Attitudes have a purpose 95 Where do attitudes come from? 95 Experience 95 Sources of learning 96 Self-perception theory 97 How attitudes are revealed 97 Clues from our body 97 Action clues 97 Implicit attitudes 98 Can attitudes predict actions? 99 When attitudes are accessible 100 When attitudes are strong 101 Attitudes and being rational 103 Attitudes can change: experiencing dissonance 105 Effort justification 106 Induced compliance 107 Free choice 110 The science of persuasion 110 Communicating persuasively 111 Dual-process routes to persuasion 114 Elaboration–likelihood model 114 Heuristic–systematic model 115 Resisting persuasion 116 Reactance 116 Forewarning 117 The inoculation effect 117 Summary 119 Literature, film and TV 120 Guided questions 121 Learn more 121 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page x x CONTENTS Chapter 5 Conformity and social change 122 Norms 124 How norms form 125 Conformity 127 Yielding to the majority 127 Who conforms? 129 Culture and conformity 130 Context and conformity 130 Influence processes 130 Compliance 133 Tactics for enhancing compliance 133 Obedience to authority 137 Milgram’s obedience studies 138 Factors influencing obedience 140 Some ethical considerations 142 Minority influence and social change 143 Beyond conformity 143 Being consistent 144 Being included 146 Is minority influence actually different? 147 Summary 148 Literature, film and TV 149 Guided questions 150 Learn more 150 Chapter 6 People in groups 152 What are groups? 154 The presence of others 155 Performing in public 155 Loafing in groups 159 How groups work 162 Group cohesion 162 Group socialisation 163 Group structure 166 Why do people join groups? 170 Leadership 172 Great leaders 173 Theories about kinds of leaders 174 Leaders lead groups 178 Trust, justice and leadership 180 Men, women and leadership 180 Decision making in groups 181 Rules for making decisions 181 Group memory 182 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xi CONTENTS xi Brainstorming 184 Groupthink 184 Group polarisation 186 Juries are groups too 187 Summary 189 Literature, film and TV 190 Guided questions 191 Learn more 191 Chapter 7 Prejudice and intergroup relations 192 The nature of prejudice and discrimination 194 What is prejudice? 195 What is discrimination? 196 Two ‘isms’: race and gender 198 Racism 198 Sexism 200 Self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotype threat 203 Ultimate discrimination: violence and genocide 205 Prejudice and individual differences 206 The authoritarian personality 206 Politically-based theories 207 Intergroup relations and social unrest 208 Relative deprivation 209 Collective protest and social change 211 Realistic conflict theory 212 Social identity theory 214 Minimal groups 214 Social identity and intergroup relations 217 Improving intergroup relations 218 Educating for tolerance 219 Contact between groups 220 Superordinate goals 222 Groups that negotiate 222 Summary 224 Literature, film and TV 225 Guided questions 226 Learn more 226 Chapter 8 Hurting other people 228 What is aggression? 230 Defining aggression 230 Measuring aggression 231 What do the major theories say? 231 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xii xii CONTENTS Biological theories of aggression 232 Psychodynamic theory 232 Ethology 233 Evolutionary theory 233 Limitations of biological arguments 234 Social theories of aggression 234 Frustration and aggression 234 Arousal and aggression 236 Learning to be aggressive 237 Role of the mass media 238 Mass media 238 Memory gets to work 241 Responding to erotic images 242 Personal and situational variations 244 Personality and hormonal effects 244 Alcohol and the social context 245 Disinhibition, deindividuation and dehumanisation 246 Situations that trigger aggression 248 Societal influences 249 Gender variation 249 Cultural variation 252 War: aggression on a grand scale 253 Reducing aggression 255 Letting off steam 255 Community solutions 255 Summary 257 Literature, film and TV 258 Guided questions 259 Learn more 259 Chapter 9 Helping other people 260 What is prosocial behaviour? 262 Prosocial behaviour can be varied 262 Biological approaches 263 A phenomenon of nature? 263 Do helpers feel empathic? 264 Social approaches 266 Learning to be helpful 267 The impact of attribution 268 Norms for helping 269 Bystander apathy 270 Helping in an emergency 272 Who are the helpful people? 274 Gender differences 274 Competence: ‘have skills, will help’ 274 Living in big cities 276 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xiii CONTENTS xiii What motivates people to be prosocial? 277 The keys to being helpful 277 Promoting prosocial behaviour 278 Volunteers: the ultimate helpers 281 Summary 282 Literature, film and TV 283 Guided questions 283 Learn more 284 Chapter 10 Attraction and close relationships 286 Attractive people 288 Evolution and attraction 289 The role of our genes 289 What increases liking? 291 Proximity 291 Familiarity 292 Similarity 293 Social matching 293 Attraction and rewards 296 A reinforcement approach 296 Relationships as a social exchange 296 Social exchange, equity and justice 299 Attachment 301 Affiliation 301 Attachment styles 303 Close relationships 305 What is love? 305 Love and romance 306 Love and marriage 309 Gay and lesbian relationships 311 Relationships that work (and those that don’t) 311 Maintaining relationships 311 Does your partner meet your ideals? 312 Relationship breakdown 313 Summary 316 Literature, film and TV 316 Guided questions 317 Learn more 318 Chapter 11 Culture and communication 320 Culture 322 Defining and studying culture 322 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 14:33 Page xiv xiv CONTENTS Culture’s impact on thought and action 323 Individualism, collectivism and the self 327 Two psyches, two selves 328 Acculturation 329 Multicultural societies 330 Communication 332 Origins of language 332 Language, thought and society 333 Language and culture 335 Communicating without words 339 Expressing our emotions 339 Eye contact 343 Postures and gestures 344 Up close and personal 345 Concluding thoughts 347 Summary 347 Literature, film and TV 348 Guided questions 349 Learn more 349 Glossary 351 References 361 Author index 405 Subject index 413 Supporting resources Visit www.mypsychlab.co.uk for valuable learning resources. MyPsychLab for students Complete student self-assessment and revision centre including diagnostic tests, a customised study plan, multiple choice and essay questions Media library for quick access to video and audio resources of interviews with experts, re-enactments of classic experiments, and extended examples of social psychological concepts in action. Annotated links to relevant websites for further research Key term flashcards and an online glossary For instructors Comprehensive Instructor’s Manual Extensive test bank of question material PowerPoint slides Additional video and audio-based Media Assignments For more information please contact your local Pearson Education sales representative or visit www.mypsychlab.co.uk A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xv List of figures and tables List of figures 1.1 Social psychology and some close scientific neighbours 4 1.2 How social psychologists use the scientific method 7 2.1 Impressions of a hypothetical person, based on central and peripheral traits 30 2.2 Categories organised by level of inclusiveness 36 2.3 Person memory organised by person or by group 40 2.4 Achievement attributions as a function of locus, stability and controllability 45 2.5 Attributing a likely cause to an experimentally induced emotion 47 2.6 The correspondence bias: attributing attitudes in the absence of freedom of choice 49 2.7 Self-handicapping: choosing a drug depends on a puzzle’s solvability 52 3.1 Private self or public self? Effect of seeming to be either emotionally responsive or not responsive (stable) 68 3.2 The overjustification effect 71 3.3 Priming the ideal self can lead to dejection, whereas priming the ‘ought’ self can lead to agitation 74 3.4 Self-enhancement bias: rating one’s driving as above average 81 3.5 How positive feedback about self and viewing a death video can reduce anxiety 85 4.1 When is an attitude accessible? 102 4.2 The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) 104 4.3 Losing weight after expending psychological effort 107 4.4 Reducing incentives can make a boring task seem more interesting 108 4.5 Eating fried grasshoppers is easier when a military officer is more brusque 109 4.6 Mediating cognitive processes in protection motivation theory 114 4.7 The elaboration–likelihood model of persuasion 115 4.8 An inoculation defence can be effective in resisting an attack on one’s attitude 118 5.1 Newcomb’s 1965 Bennington study: how liberal norms affected voting preferences in the 1936 US presidential election 125 5.2 Experimental induction of a group norm 126 5.3 Sample lines used in conformity experiment 128 5.4 Conformity among men and women in relation to tasks that are sex-stereotyped 129 5.5 Conformity rates drop when a supporter is present, even one who is incompetent 131 5.6 Three classic techniques for inducing compliance 134 5.7 The foot-in-the-door technique: complying when an impossible request is followed by one that is possible 135 5.8 Milgram’s shock generator 139 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xvi xvi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES 5.9 Predicted versus actual levels of shock given to a victim in Milgram’s study 139 5.10 Conforming to a consistent minority 145 5.11 Majority versus minority influence on attitudes: change can be public or private 147 6.1 Zajonc’s drive theory of social facilitation 156 6.2 Having an audience can help on an easy task but hinder on a difficult task 157 6.3 Losses in motivation and coordination in groups pulling ropes 160 6.4 Losses in motivation and coordination in groups making noise 160 6.5 Individual effort varies with the attractiveness of the task and the size of the group 161 6.6 A model of the process of group socialisation 165 6.7 When an initiation is severe a group can become more attractive 166 6.8 Using LPC scores to plot variations in group performance relationship-oriented versus task-oriented leaders 176 6.9 A leader is seen as more effective when the group is salient and the leader is prototypical of the group 179 6.10 Antecedents, symptoms and consequences of groupthink 185 7.1 White teachers’ evaluations of student essays of varying quality as a function of student race 197 7.2 Decline over time of White derogation of African Americans 199 7.3 Trait ratings can be affected by knowing a person’s sex and employment status 202 7.4 The J-curve hypothesis of relative deprivation 210 7.5 Realistic conflict theory 213 7.6 Belief structures and strategies for improving social identity 217 8.1 Applying the excitation-transfer model of aggression 236 8.2 How children learn aggression through mere observation 239 8.3 Tendency to aggress before and after watching a violent film 241 8.4 ‘Unconscious’ effects of the media: a neo-associationist analysis 242 8.5 Effect of viewing pornographic films on lenience in sentencing 243 8.6 Alcohol, social pressure and willingness to give shock to a passive opponent 246 8.7 The baiting crowd: an exercise in deindividuation and frustration 248 8.8 Relationship between rate of assaults and outdoor temperature 249 8.9 US juvenile arrest rates for aggravated assault by sex, 1980–2004 250 8.10 Wars, massacres and atrocities of the twentieth century: deaths exceeding one million people 254 9.1 Helping kin who are either healthy or sick: life-or-death versus everyday situations 264 9.2 Differences between men and women in empathising with a distressed teenager 267 9.3 The effects of reward and punishment on children’s willingness to be generous 268 9.4 Deciding whether to help in Latané and Darley’s cognitive model 273 9.5 Helping an opposite-sex stranger as a function of sexual arousal 275 9.6 Effect of population level on willingness to help a stranger 277 10.1 Being attractive can lead to better essay grades 289 10.2 What makes a face attractive? 291 10.3 Attraction and the reinforcing effects of background features 297 10.4 Equity theory applied to equitable and inequitable relationships 300 10.5 The triangle of love 310 10.6 When things go wrong: phases in dissolving an intimate relationship 315 11.1 Effect of culture on explaining the causes of behaviour 325 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xvii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES xvii 11.2 Variations in size of conformity effect across cultures 325 11.3 Four paths to acculturation 330 11.4 Types of assimilation and multiculturalism 331 11.5 When is a language vital? 337 11.6 The facial affect programme: expressing an emotion 342 11.7 Cross-cultural success at matching primary emotions 342 List of tables 1.1 Levels of explanation in social psychology 4 3.1 Self and self-attributes are related to levels of identity: social identity versus personal identity 76 3.2 Characteristics of people with high and low self-esteem 84 3.3 How do you interact with other people? 86 6.1 Social decisions schemes: ways that a group can reach a decision 182 10.1 Characteristics of three attachment styles 304 11.1 Rankings of twenty nations on individualism–collectivism 328 11.2 Western and Eastern cultural models of the self 329 11.3 Four zones of space in social interaction: how close is comfortable? 346 A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 13:55 Page xviii Guided tour Chapter 5 Conformity and social change What to look for  The origin and purpose of norms  Why people conform to a majority view  Variations in conformity  Processes underlying social influence  Tactics for gaining compliance  Extreme obedience  How minorities bring about social change Each chapter begins with What to look for – Essentials of Social Psychology is accompanied by a quick outline of the key terms, concepts and MyPsychLab, which contains a wealth of online resources theories to be covered in the chapter. designed to support and extend your learning and enrich your journey through the text. Wherever you see this icon: visit www.mypsychlab.co.uk, EB W where you will find additional resources, including video and audio clips, expanding on the topic in question. Focus questions 1. A neighbourhood group in the United Kingdom proposes to send the children of new immigrants into a special school, where first they can learn to speak English and later continue the rest of EB W their education. The group says that this is for the good of the children. Would you have any concerns about this? See some real-life footage of negative comments about minority groups in Chapter 7 of MyPsychLab at www.mypsychlab.co.uk. 2. Erasmus is Dutch and very traditional in his politics and religion. He does not like the Mollucans, who came to the Netherlands years ago from Indonesia. He recalls how they highjacked a train at De Punt in 1977. But actually, he doesn’t like any immigrants. How might you explain his views? 3. Jean and Alison have been close school friends. When they first arrive at university they are assigned to different but adjoining halls of residence. The halls have very different cultures and are in fierce competition with each other. What will happen to their friendship, and why? 4. Inspired by Eliza Doolittle’s success in My Fair Lady, Katrina is determined to attend a speech production class. If she can get close to speaking posh she might be able to leave her working class background behind. What must she be thinking? Focus questions are a series of thought-provoking statements, questions and vignettes that are designed to get you thinking about some of the areas that social Source: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Press Association Images psychology can shed light on. As you read through each chapter, you will be asked to reflect back on these questions to see how your new understanding of social psychology might inform, and possibly change, your initial reactions. You will find additional resources to accompany this feature, including video and audio clips, on the MyPsychLab at www.mypsychlab.co.uk. A01_HOGG9328_01_SE_FM.QXD:Layout 1 20/10/09 10:55 Page xix GUIDED TOUR xix 240 CHAPTER 8 HURTING OTHER PEOPLE 292 CHAPTER 10 ATTRACTION AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS injuries sustained by the victim. Again, an aggressor may be portrayed as the good features, such as the location of a staircase, can also affect the process of making guy and go unpunished for acts of violence. Social learning theory has taken a acquaintances and establishing friendships. strong position on this point: children will readily mimic the behaviour of a model People who live close by are accessible, so that interacting with them requires who is reinforced for aggressing, or at least escapes punishment (Bandura, 1973). little effort and the rewards of doing so have little cost. Consider your immediate There has been considerable debate about whether violent video games can also neighbours: you expect to continue interacting with them and it is better that you have harmful effects on children (see Box 8.3 and then consider how you would are at ease when you do so rather than feeling stressed. deal with the third focus question). If at the outset you think that you are more likely to interact with John rather than Brian it is probable that you will anticipate (perhaps hope!) that you will like John more (Berscheid, Graziano, Monson & Dermer, 1976). In the first focus ques- Research and applications 8.3 tion, who will Carol like more, David or Paul? Proximity became a hazier psychological concept during the twentieth century. Do gory video games make young people more aggressive? The potentially negative impact of having a ‘long-distance lover’ is lessened by a phone call, an email, or better still by video contact such as ‘skyping’ (see the review by Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Can we actually pursue a relationship on the The effects of violence in video games have been contained aggression as an immediate objective or the net? (See Box 10.2.) frequent debated. Some say violent games make long-term strategy. children more aggressive, and social learning theory In a large-scale study a variety of both aggressive and is sympathetic to this view. We noted in Box 8.2, for non-aggressive video games played by Dutch children, example, that young children might even imitate cartoon characters. Others believe that children may Emil van Schie and Oene Wiegman (1997) found: Familiarity experience the benefits of catharsis from playing the  no significant relationship between time spent Familiarity Proximity generally leads to greater familiarity – a friend is rather like your gaming and subsequent levels of aggression; As we become more games, by venting some energy and then relaxing. favourite pair of shoes, something that you feel comfortable about. Further, Robert familiar with a stimulus We have already called into question the efficacy  video gaming did not replace children’s other Zajonc (1968) found that familiarity enhances liking just as repeatedly presenting (even another person), of catharsis. leisure activities; we feel more stimuli increases liking for them – the basic mere exposure effect as used by adver- Will children become desensitised to the comfortable with it and tisers to have us feel familiar with new products. Familiarity can account for why  the time spent gaming was positively correlated consequences of acting aggressively in real-life we like it more. we gradually come to like the faces of strangers if we encounter them more often with the child’s measured level of intelligence. situations by playing out violent scenes? Certainly, the content of the games themselves is of some concern. However, they also found that game playing was Sociologist Tracy Dietz (1998) found that nearly 80 per negatively correlated with behaving prosocially, a topic cent of thirty-three popular video games at that time covered in Chapter 9. Real world 10.2 Meeting on the net Access to a computer and the Internet allows people to Jacobson (1999) investigated impression formation in Learning to be aggressive. meet, form friendships, fall in love, live together or get comparing online expectation with offline experiences: Social learning theory argues married. A cyberspace relationship does not necessarily that is, when people who had met online actually met that violent video games provide stop there, and some online friends actually meet. in person. He found significant discrepancies – people models for behaving had often formed erroneous impressions about In cyberspace, traditional variables that you would find aggressively. characteristics such as talkativeness (‘they seemed so interesting about someone else are often missing, such Source: Pearson Online Database (POD) quiet in person’) and expansiveness (‘they seemed so as seeing, hearing and touching them. Even so, cyber- relationships can progress rapidly from knowing little terse online but were very expressive offline’). People about the other person to being intimate; equally, online often constructed images based on stereotypes, they can be ended very quickly, literally with the ‘click such as the vocation of the unseen person. One of a button’. participant reported: From the outset, Internet-mediated relationships I had no idea what to expect with Katya. From differ markedly from offline relationships. A first her descriptions I got the impression she would meeting via the Internet does not give access to the be overweight, kinda hackerish, but when we usual range of physical and spoken linguistic cues that met, I found her very attractive. Normal sized, help to form an impression, unless the use of digital nice hair, not at all the stereotypical programmer. cameras to exchange images and live video over the Internet increases. (Jacobson, 1999, p. 13) Research and applications boxes emphasise the wider relevance of Real world boxes present everyday examples of social psychology in social psychological insights, giving detailed examples of contemporary action, applying social psychological principles to familiar real world research and practice in social psychology and related areas, such as scenarios. organisational, health and criminal justice settings. ATTITUDES CAN CHANGE: EXPERIENCING DISSONANCE 109 186 CHAPTER 6 PEOPLE IN GROUPS colleagues (Zimbardo, Weisenberg, Firestone & Levy, 1965) tackled this culinary Post-decisional of groupthink were associated with cohesiveness – but only where cohesion repre- question. The participants were asked to eat grasshoppers by an authority figure conflict sented group-based liking, not friendship or interpersonal attraction. whose interpersonal style was either positive (warm) or negative (cold). According The dissonance A radical suggestion is that groupthink is not a group process at all, just an associated with to the induced compliance variation of cognitive dissonance, post-decisional aggregation of individual coping responses to excessive stress (Callaway, Marriott behaving in a counter- conflict (and consequent attitude change) should be greater when the communi- attitudinal way. & Esser, 1985). Because group members are under decision-making stress they cator is negative – how else could one justify behaving voluntarily in a Dissonance can be adopt defensive coping strategies and inadequate procedures to make decisions, counter-attitudinal way? Read what happened in this study in Box 4.4, and check reduced by bringing the which are symptomatic of groupthink. Individuals’ suggestions and ideas are too the results in Figure 4.5. attitude into line with often simply endorsed by other members because they are under pressure, and a Inducing people to act inconsistently with their attitudes is not an easy task and the behaviour. group’s decisions suffer. often requires a subtle approach. However, once people have been induced to act Group polarisation counter-attitudinally, the theory predicts that dissonance will be strong and that Tendency for group Group polarisation they will seek to justify their action. discussion to produce more extreme group Folk wisdom has it that groups, committees and organisations make more conserva- decisions than the tive decisions than individuals would. This view assumes that individuals are likely to mean of members’ pre- take risks, whereas group decision making is a tedious averaging process that errs Research classic 4.4 discussion opinions, in towards caution. This is consistent with much of what social psychologists know the direction favoured To know grasshoppers is to love them: attitude change by the mean. about conformity and social influence processes in groups (see Chapter 5). following induced compliance However, groups can sometimes make risky decisions (to some extent groupthink Persuasive can be considered an example of this) or simply adopt very extreme positions. This arguments theory View that people in phenomenon has been labelled group polarisation (Moscovici & Zavalloni, 1969). Think back to the fourth focus question. This scenario ready to eat off the land. After his talk, the cadets were For example, group discussion among a collection of people who already slightly groups are persuaded was actually researched in Zimbardo’s famous study. An each given a plate with five fried grasshoppers and by novel information favour capital punishment is likely to produce a group decision that is strongly in officer in command suggested to some military cadets invited to try them out. that supports their initial favour. Several explanations of group polarisation have been put forward: that they might eat a few fried grasshoppers, and mild A critical feature of the experiment was the way position, and thus social pressure was put on them to comply. The cadets the request was made. For half the cadets the officer become more extreme Persuasive arguments theory – when we hear novel arguments that support our had also indicated in a questionnaire about food habits was cheerful, informal and permissive (‘Call me in their endorsement of position on an issue we become more entrenched in our view (Burnstein & earlier that there were limits to what they should be Smitty’, he said). For the other half, he was cool, offi- their initial position. Vinokur, 1977). Suppose that the group initially leans in a particular direction. expected to eat. However, the officer stressed that cial and stiff (‘Hallo, I’m Dr Smith’). There was also a modern soldiers in combat should be mobile and be control group who gave two sets of food ratings but 60% Eaters Non-eaters Controls Percentage who increased their liking 40% Figure 4.5 20% Eating fried grasshoppers is easier when a military officer is more brusque. 0% As with Figure 4.4, here is another counter-intuitive outcome: complying with an unpleasant request can seem more attractive when the person –20% Negative Positive Control making the request is less attractive officer officer group (see also Box 4.4 text). Person making request Group polarisation. Things are going from bad to worse as pensioners in Leinster ‘chat’ Source: Based on data from Zimbardo, with a government spokesperson. Intergroup conflict accentuates intergroup differences. Weisenberg, Firestone & Levy (1965). L Source: Julien Behal / PA Archive / Press Associtaion Imagess Research classic boxes summarise classic research studies, highlight All chapters are richly illustrated with diagrams and photographs. their continuing relevance and discuss new developments. These are Clear and concise definitions of key terms can be found in the influential studies that represent turning points in the margins and in a comprehensive Glossary at the end of the book. You development of social psychology. can test your knowledge of the key terms using the Flashcards