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Was giving time and money justified based
on belief in the cause? As the commitment to the cause increased, Jones began to ask for more
money and more time, until the members had given all they owned to the Temple and were
neglecting family and other responsibilities to serve the Temple.
Once individuals were thoroughly committed to Jones and the People’s Temple, another aspect
of cognitive dissonance was likely to become evident, that due to inconsistency between
commitment and information. Before the People’s Temple moved from San Francisco to an
isolated area in Guyana, criticism of Jones and his group began to appear in the media. Suppose
you were a committed member of his group, and you heard criticism of the group or its leader.
You may have had the dissonant cognitions: “I have given all I have to the Temple. The media
claim that our leader is an insincere, evil person.” The first cognition is irrevocable, and leaving
the group would be economically and psychologically difficult. The easiest way to reduce the
dissonance would be to deny the adverse information and to denigrate the source. Little by little
the people of the People’s Temple were firmly entrapped.
The account of the recruitment, commitment, and death of the followers of the People’s Temple
provides a powerful example of some of the concepts of social psychology, such as persuasion,
conformity, and obedience, as well as cognitive dissonance. The account could also be analyzed
in terms of the failure in critical thinking made by the people whose faulty reasoning paved the
way for their death in the jungles of Guyana.
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Establishing Trust
One of the essential elements in a long-term relationship is the development of a sense of trust
between partners. This confident belief in the integrity and reliability of the other person is often
achieved through a process of reciprocal self-disclosure of personal information. At the beginning
of any relationship, there is little self-revelation and, thus, no basis for trust. The term social
penetration refers to “overt interpersonal behaviors that occur in social interaction, as well as
internal subjective processes that precede, accompany, and follow overt exchange” (Shaw &
Costanzo, 1982, p. 153). Social penetration theory consists of three basic divisions of analysis.
· Altman and Taylor (1973) outlined their assumptions about the structure of
personality, deeming it necessary to describe their assumptions because the process
of social penetration involves an overlap in exploration of the personalities involved
in social relationships. This overlap is the beginning of trust.
· The second category of the theory details how costs and rewards influence the
process of social penetration, and specifies the forces that underlie the growth of
interpersonal relationships.
. The last category describes the particular aspects of the social penetration process.
This may be the most significant part of the theory, as it deals with such factors as
movement into the intimate regions of a relationship, involving the blending of
interactions in both established and new areas of exploration.
The theory of social penetration proposes that trust begins when one person initiates self-
disclosure. If the other person responds in kind, it indicates that trust has been accepted, and the
basis for a closer relationship has been established. The partners continue to trade self-
disclosures, gradually moving through deeper levels of intimacy, so long as each level is
mutually satisfying. The final level of intimacy that is achieved will depend on the needs and
interpersonal skills of the two people involved. In some cases, the relationship will stop at a more
superficial level. In others, it will continue to grow and deepen.
According to Jourard (1964), there is an optimal level of self-disclosure for any healthy, well-
adjusted individual. A person who never discloses will not be able to have close, meaningful
relationships with other individuals. Conversely, a person who goes too far by disclosing
everything to anyone who will listen is viewed as maladjusted and excessively self-centered.
Ideally (according to Jourard), one should disclose a moderate amount of personal information to
most acquaintances and reveal a lot about oneself to a very few close friends.
Trust, as displayed through disclosure, is a major dimension in human fears of rejection, ridicule,
and betrayal that haunt relationships. Trust washes away the fears of rejection, ridicule, and
betrayal that haunt the existence of many. Trust paves the road to friendship and intimacy; it is at
the core of love for another person and the acceptance of oneself
A climate of trust can be established by doing the following:
. Make it acceptable for other people to talk openly about themselves.
. Reciprocate with your own openness.
. Express support and unconditional acceptance of your loved ones, although you may
disapprove of some of their specific behaviors (make them aware of this difference).
. Be consistent but not rigid in your standards, values, and behavior.
. Be available to listen, express warmth, and empathize, even when you do not have
an answer or a solution.
. Do not make promises you do not intend to keep or cannot deliver.
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You Only Get One Chance to Make a First Impression
First impressions can have a lasting effect on how we see others and on how they see us. Some
researchers claim that first impressions are typically formed within the first 8 to 10 seconds of
first seeing someone, often before they ever actually speak to us or shake our hand. In those first
few seconds, we appear to “size up” the person according to their physical appearance, their eye
contact, their facial expressions, their manner of dress, their body language, and their overall
demeanor. Then we compare our perceptions of the person to our previous experiences with
others of similar demeanor, etc., and develop a “thumbnail sketch” of what type of person we
believe this person is. Much of this is done unconsciously and automatically. But once formed, it
can be difficult to change. Because of our tendency to selectively perceive only the aspects of the
person’s behavior that fit our first impression, the person will have to behave in a manner that is
pervasively and enduringly inconsistent with our impression before we will change it.
Additionally, since the way we behave toward the person can affect the way he or she behaves
toward us, our first impression may cause us to behave in ways that almost guarantee a response
that fits our first impression. This results in a “self-fulfilling prophecy” which makes it unlikely
that we will ever significantly change our impression of the person.
It is for these reasons that making a good first impression, or at least a neutral first impression,
can be so important. In a situation such as a job interview, in which you may have only 20 or 30
minutes to interact with the interviewer, there is usually not enough time to overcome a negative
first impression. Recruiters have told me that something as simple as the way an interviewee
shakes his or her hands can sometimes leave a lasting impression that positively or negatively
affects the remainder of the interview.
After reviewing the power of first impressions, you might want to have students generate ways
they can pursue self-enhancement and other-enhancement strategies in order to try and create as
positive a first impression as possible.
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES
Solomon Asch (1907 —1996)
Solomon Asch obtained his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1932. He subsequently taught at the
New School for Social Research in New York City and at Rutgers University. Asch’s research and
conceptual orientation in social psychology were influenced strongly by the Gestalt school,
particularly as represented in the writings of his close friend, Max Wertheimer. Asch is best
known for his pioneering research on conformity and the effects of group pressure on the
behavior of the individual. Among his major works is the classic text Social Psychology, published
in 1952.
Leon Festinger (b. 1919)
Born in New York City, Festinger obtained both his M.A. and Ph.D. at the State University of
Iowa. He taught at various schools, including Iowa, Rochester, MIT, the University of Minnesota,
and Stanford University. In 1968, he joined the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Believing that humans are thinking animals desiring to bring order to life, Festinger argued that
people often make special efforts to reduce cognitive inconsistencies. His theory of cognitive
dissonance, proposed in 1957, was of immense influence in social psychology, inspiring volumes
of research during the 1950s and 1960s.
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Kurt Lewin (1890—1947)
Kurt Lewin grew up in prewar Germany in an era that produced a number of prominent and
revolutionary psychologists. Best known for his field theory of psychology, which attempts to
explain human behavior in terms of the interrelations of environmental and psychological
elements acting on the individual, Lewin has contributed a body of thought that has had a great
impact on such disciplines as social psychology, industrial psychology, and personality theory.
Lewin was born in a small village in the Prussian province of Posen in 1890. His father owned a
large general store there and maintained his family in relative comfort. In order to expand his
business, Herr Lewin moved his wife and four children to Berlin in 1905, where Kurt completed
his secondary education. Lewin entered the University of Freiburg, intent on studying medicine,
but, within a short time, he discovered that the field held little interest for him. He underwent a
period of vacillation, during which he struggled to decide the direction in which he should
channel his considerable energies. His search led him first to transfer to the University of Munich
and then back to Berlin, where he eventually took his basic degree in psychology and embarked
on a course of graduate study in that discipline. At this time, Lewin came under the tutelage of
Professor Carl Stumpf, a prominent experimental psychologist, who advised and encouraged
him in his research.
Just as he completed his requirements for a Ph.D. in 1914, Lewin was conscripted into the
German army as an infantryman. He served in the military for the next four years, so
distinguishing himself that he rose from private to lieutenant in a short time. At the close of the
war, Lewin returned to the University of Berlin as both instructor and research assistant in the
Psychological Institute. He rapidly gained a reputation as a superb lecturer in the classroom and
an excellent supervisor in the laboratory.
Of particular importance to the development of Lewin’s thought at this time was the alliance he
formed with two of his colleagues at the university, Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler.
These two had participated in the founding of Gestalt psychology and, while Lewin never
became a Gestalt psychologist, the connection between that approach and Lewin’s field theory
approach is immediately apparent. Eventually Lewin was appointed full professor at the
university, where he and his graduate students generated numerous insightful research papers.
As Lewin’s prominence in the German academic world continued to grow, so too did the power
of the Nazi Party. Lewin was spending a year as visiting professor at Stanford University when it
became apparent that Hitler’s control of Germany was inevitable. He hurriedly returned to
Germany to settle his affairs and then reentered the United States, where he lived until his death.
His career in America was varied and productive. He taught child psychology at Cornell
University from 1933 to 1935, then accepted an appointment to the State University of Iowa as
professor of psychology in the Child Welfare Station. Lewin’s last academic position was as
professor and director of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Concurrently, he acted as director of the Commission of Interrelations of the
American Jewish Congress, which engaged in research on community problems. While the
influence of Lewin’s work has spread widely over the last three decades, the work in group
dynamics carried on by the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan
most closely follows the theories Lewin proposed.
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TIMELINE
Year Event
1908 William McDougall published An Introduction to Social Psychology, one of the
earliest books on the subject.
19141918
World War I was fought.
1924 Floyd Allport published Social Psychology, the first college text for this area of
psychology.
1929 The Great Depression began in America.
1936 Muzafer Sherif conducted his important autokinetic studies involving social
influence.
19391945
World War II was fought.
1944 Kurt Lewin established the Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT.
19501953
The Korean War was fought.
1957 Leon Festinger published the theory of cognitive dissonance.
1964 The stabbing of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York, resulted in public
outrage at the perceived apathy of the bystanders.
1967 Harold Kelley’s analysis started researchers working on attributional
analyses of social behavior.
1968 Bibb Latane and John Darley published their research on the bystander
effect.
1969 The first human landing on the moon occurred.
1971 Philip Zimbardo, Craig Haney, and Curt Banks conducted the Stanford
prison study, in which college students were randomly assigned to play the
roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison.
1974 Stanley Milgram published Obedience to Authority, outlining the methods,
findings, and significance of his obedience research.
1975 E. O. Wilson published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, describing the
application of genetics to the study of social behavior.
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Aronson, E. (1994). The Social Animal, 7th Ed. New York: W. H. Freeman. A narrative approach to
social psychology. This classic presents theory and research in an interesting and very
relevant manner. Topics covered include prejudice, propaganda, war, alienation, aggression,
unrest, and political upheaval.
Carkenord, D. M. & Bullington, J. (1993). Bringing Cognitive Dissonance to the Classroom. Teaching of
Psychology, 20(l), 41-43. Provides a sample handout for use during lectures on cognitive
dissonance; the handout enables students to see the areas of dissonance in their own lives.
Cialdini, R. B. (1988). Influence: Science and Practice, 2nd Ed. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman. A lively
account of theory and research in the area of social influence; contains many real-world
illustrations.
Cialdini, R., & Trost, M. (1998). Social Influence. Social Norms, Conformity and Compliance. In The
Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 2, 4th Ed., 151-192. A comprehensive review of research on
social norms, conformity, and compliance organized around three goals of behavior. The
goals are to behave effectively, to build and maintain relationships and to manage self-
concept.
Deaux, K., & Wrightsman, L. (1988). Social Psychology, 5th Ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. A
basic text with wide coverage. Research-oriented, with emphasis on applications of social
psychology.
Evans, R. (1980). The Making of Social Psychology Discussions with Creative Contributors. New York:
Gardner Press. A collection of Evans’ discussions with nineteen significant contributors to the
field of social psychology, and is an excellent reference for both biographical and historical
material.
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. A classic text in
social psychology. Explores the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and
shows that inconsistent cognitions can lead to changes in attitudes and behavior.
Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers. Edited by Dorwin
Cartwright. New York: Harpers. A classic text by the founder of the discipline of social
psychology.
Reber, A. S. (1985). The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. London: The Penguin Group. A concise,
cogent dictionary of even the most obscure psychological terms.
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectations and Intellectual
Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Classic study of the self-fulfilling
prophecy process and its application in the classroom.
Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. (1991). The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology. New
York: McGraw-Hill. An excellent summary and review of the field of social psychology by
two leading researchers. Presents the complex and often contradictory findings of social
psychology in a manner easily understood by all.
Tesser, A. (1995). Advanced Social Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill. An excellent introduction
to the field of social psychology. Individual chapters are written by leading researchers in
different areas of social psychology.
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DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
PROGRAM 17: SEX AND GENDER
Overview
/> The ways in which males and females are similar and different, and how sex roles reflect
social values and psychological knowledge.
Key Issues
How sex hormones affect gender behavior in rats, how the environment affects gender roles,
reasons for self-segregation by gender among preschool children, artificial limits imposed on
female gender roles, relationship between gender roles and depression, and how gender
stereotypes in advertisements affect behavior.
Demonstrations
Sex differences in the play behavior of baby rats.
Self-segregation by gender in a preschool.
Archival Demonstrations
Socialization differences in gender appropriate behavior and dress.
Interviews
Developmental neuroscientist Michael Meaney studies why male rats are more apt to engage
in rough-and-tumble play, while female rats are consistently less aggressive and less
physical.
Eleanor Maccoby examines why children tend to socialize with other children of the same
sex.
Jean Block examines the differences in the socialization of male and female children and its
effects on their relationships with other children of the same and opposite sex.
PROGRAM 20: CONSTRUCTING SOCIAL REALITY
Overview
The factors that contribute to our interpretation of reality and how understanding the
psychological processes that govern our behavior may help us to become more empathetic
and independent members of society.
Key Issues
Power of cognitive control, the Pygmalion effect, how teachers’ expectations affect children’s
test scores, the development of prejudice in a grammar school classroom, and the principle of
compliance as illustrated in television ads.
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PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
Demonstrations
The self-fulfilling prophecy study, or the Pygmalion effect.
The principles of compliance illustrated with actual television advertisements.
Jane Elliot’s blue-eyed versus brown-eyed case study.
Students’ enhanced self-esteem and performance due to the jigsaw classroom.
New Interview
Steven Hassan looks at the ways cults use mind control methods to reshape people’s identity
and reconstruct the way they perceive reality.
Interviews
Grammar school teacher Jane Elliot divides her classroom into a superior blue-eyed group
and an inferior brown-eyed group to study the development and nature of prejudice.
Robert Rosenthal studies how teachers’ expectations can affect children’s test scores.
Elliot Aronson and Alex Gonzalez examine how cooperation rather than competition changes
the way students see themselves and their peers.
Robert Cialdini examines the principles of reciprocation, scarcity, authority, commitment,
liking, and consensus in marketing and advertising.
FILM AND VIDEOS
Candid Camera Classics for Social Psychology consists of 16 episodes that I selected, with Allen
Funt’s assistance, to dramatize many key social psychology topics, such as compliance,
conformity, obedience, social influence, authority, power, morality, and bias in field surveys.
Each of these creative gems is funny and entertaining, while teaching important messages about
human nature. Since they vary in duration from 2 to 6 minutes, a given episode can be used to
launch a lecture as a thematic overview, to underscore a conclusion from a body of empirical
research, or to provide a source for opening a discussion of the behaviors that the class and the
instructor observed together. The Candid Camera Classics come with an instructor’s guide (that I
prepared with Allen Funt) that will assist teachers in getting the most mileage from using them.
McGraw-Hill distributes this video (VHS) and a laser disk version. For ordering information, call
1-800-338-3987.
Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Study is a 50-minute video of the experiment I conducted in
1971 (with Craig Haney and Curt Banks), in which college students were randomly assigned to
play the roles of prisoners or guards in a mock prison. This planned 2-week study had to be
terminated after only 6 days because of the pathology that emerged from participants chosen
precisely because they were the most normal and healthy individuals of the many that had
volunteered for the study. The video uses some of the original archival footage filmed secretly
during the study, along with film of the surprise arrests of the volunteers by the police. In
addition to the daily chronology of events that unfolded in this Pirandellian Prison, the film
includes post-experiment interviews with former prisoners and guards, including a powerful
testimony by the first student to have a “nervous breakdown” that influenced his entire life. He
went on to get a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, do an internship at San Quentin Prison, and become
a prison psychologist in the San Francisco County Jail, where he has worked for the past 14 years.
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Flashback techniques and an original music score add to the impact of this AV supplement for
teaching social psychology. It can be ordered by writing to P.O. Box 2996, Stanford, CA 943052996,
or by calling (415) 725-2417. If not entirely satisfied, a full refund is guaranteed.
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PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
Abilene Paradox (1984). VCFM, 27 minutes
A gently humorous exposition of social psychological concepts such as groupthink and
deindividuation. Demonstrates how the cognitive processing of a well-intentioned, cooperating
group can go far astray from the individual views of the members.
Captive Minds: Hypnosis and Beyond (1985). JFMU, 55 minutes
Explains how long-term conditioning takes place, such as how the Moonies hold on to their
disciples, and how the Marine Corps generates such fierce loyalty. The indoctrination methods of
disparate institutions are surprisingly similar. Recruits are isolated in unfamiliar environments,
kept busy to the point of exhaustion, confused, frightened, and their sense of identity weakened.
Over time, they become vulnerable to suggestion. They then readily submit to a strong
authoritarian leader. Reminds us that we are all vulnerable to psychological manipulations, some
of which have social and political consequences.
Conformity (1989). Insight Media, 30 minutes
This program examines the pros and cons of conforming behavior, looking at its dangers as well
as its utility in group decision making, classroom activities, and military regimentation. It
introduces reasons for conformity and investigates some of the variables that predict who is
likely to conform.
Conformity and Independence (1975). ITJ (MTI), 23 minutes
Uses field and laboratory settings to look at social psychology’s main findings and principles in
the area of conformity and independence. Includes Sherif’s experiments on norm formation;
Asch’s experiments on group pressure, and Crutchfield’s variation; Milgram’s experiment on
action conformity; Kelman’s three processes of compliance; and Moscovici’s theoretical views.
Prejudice: Causes, Consequences, Cures (1974). CFM, 23 minutes
Explores several forms of prejudice: racial, sexual, educational, and economic. Offers examples of
the problems of double standards, overgeneralized observations, territorial and economic group
conflicts, severe and punitive upbringing, conformity, and socialization.
Prejudice (1989). Insight Media, 30 minutes
Showing four scenarios of prejudiced behavior, this program explores stereotypes and emotions
underlying prejudice. It discusses possible methods for reducing discrimination.
Productivity and the Self-fulfilling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect (1976). MCGFY, 28
minutes
This film illustrates self-fulfilling prophecies in several settings, including social science and
industrial management experiments. Illustrations include placebo effects and bank runs during
the depression.
Reflections on 100 Years of Social Psychology. (Available from California State University,
Fresno, Department of Psychology, 5310 N. Campus Drive, Fresno, CA 93740-0011.)
An edited video of presentations by Elliot Aronson, Leonard Berkowitz, Morton Deutsch, Harold
Gerard, Harold Kelley, Albert Pepitone, Bertram Raven, Robert Zajonc, and Philip Zimbardo to
accompany a text commemorating 100 years of experimental social psychology.
Social Psychology (1990). Insight Media, 30 minutes
Social psychology attempts to understand the myriad of social forces that influence our attitudes
and actions. This program discusses several research studies and findings on stereotyping and
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prejudice, attribution theory, and the power of social roles. Philip G. Zimbardo’s prison
experiments are described and analyzed.
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PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
War and Violence (1986). FFHS, 52 minutes
Demonstrates that poverty and violence go hand in hand. Depicts inner-city Boston and a lesson
on walking away from a fight. Includes an interview with a young Hispanic in Oakland who
talks about the machismo that underlies gang violence. Explains that around the world violence
is fueled by religion, nationalism, or race and made worse by politicians’ rhetoric. Looks at the
possibility of warfare today and the repercussion it has on the whole human race. From the
Human Animal Series, hosted by Phil Donahue.
The Wave (1981). 44 minutes
Observes as teacher Burt Ross reenacts a 1967 social experiment in which a movement similar in
philosophy to that of the Nazi Third Reich is created. Shows how the ideas of power, discipline,
and superiority were drilled into his students and how willingly most of them adopted these
ideas.
Illustrates the attitudes that allow people to deny responsibility for-and even knowledge of-the
injustices occurring around them.
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CHAPTER 18
Social Psychology, Society, and Culture
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
On completion of this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Display knowledge of the social determinants of behavior
2. Describe Milgram’s obedience to authority experiments and comment on their
significance
3. Explain the significance of Sherif’s Robber’s Cave experiment in terms of competition,
group dynamics, and motives for prosocial behavior
4. Identify the significance of social psychological work on group dynamics and leadership
5. Describe “the bystander effect” and suggest some ways to counteract it
6. Discuss how interpersonal attraction relates to prejudice
7. Demonstrate knowledge of the tenets of environmental psychology
8. Discuss the concept of “stereotype threat” and explain how it relates to both prejudice
and performance by minority group members
9. Suggest several measures that could be implemented to reduce prejudice
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Altruism and Prosocial Behavior
A. The Roots of Altruism
1. Prosocial behaviors are behaviors that are carried out with the goal of
helping other people
2. Altruism: refers to the prosocial behaviors a person carries out
without considering his or her own safety or interests
3. Reciprocal altruism suggests that people perform altruistic behaviors
because they, in some sense, expect that others will perform altruistic
behaviors for them
B. Motives for Prosocial Behavior
1. Research suggests that there are four forces that prompt people to
act for the public good:
a) Altruism: Acting in response to a motive to benefit others, as
in the case of the driver who saved another person’s life
b) Egoism: Performing prosocial behaviors ultimately in one’s
own self-interest; someone might perform a helping
behavior to receive a similar favor in return or a reward
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c) Collectivism: Performing prosocial behaviors to benefit a
particular group; people might perform helping behaviors to
improve circumstances for their families, fraternities,
political parties, and so on
d) Principlism: Performing prosocial behaviors to uphold moral
principles; someone might act in a prosocial manner because
of a religious or civic principle
2. The principle of justice suggests that each person should have an
equal probability of getting the positive or negative outcome
3. The empathy-altruism hypothesis suggests that when one feels
empathy toward another individual, those feelings evoke an
altruistic motive to provide help
C. The Effects of the Situation on Prosocial Behavior
1. Bystander Intervention, people’s willingness to help strangers in
distress, is sensitive to characteristics of the situation
a) Latanè and Darley’s research indicates likelihood of
intervention is dependent on number of bystanders the
participant thought were present
b) Diffusion of responsibility occurs when more than one person
who could help is present. Others assume that someone else
will or should help
2. Facets of emergency situations:
a) Bystanders must notice the emergency
b) Bystanders must label events as an emergency
c) Bystander must feel responsibility
II.Aggression
A. Evolutionary Perspectives
1. Aggression is behavior that causes psychological or physical harm to
another individual
2. Animals may commit aggressive behaviors to ensure themselves
access to desired mates and to protect the resources that allow
themselves and their offspring to survive
3. Lorenz argued that, unlike most other species, humans did not have
appropriately evolved mechanisms to inhibit their aggressive
impulses. Because of this, Lorenz declared humans to be at the
pinnacle of aggression
4. Research has contradicted Lorenz’s contention in two ways
a) Field research with a variety of animal species suggests that
many other species commit the same range of aggressive
acts as do humans
b) Humans have more inhibitory control over their use of
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PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
aggression than Lorenz suggested
5. Although Lorenz’s idea may be flawed, the general idea that
aggressive responses are part of human’s genetic endowment is on
firm ground
B. Individual Differences
1. Research has focused on brain and hormonal differences that may
mark a predisposition toward aggressive behavior
2. High levels of serotonin may impair the brain’s ability to regulate
negative emotions and impulsive behavior
3. Studies also suggest that some individual differences in aggression
may reflect muted stress responses
C. Situational Influences
1. The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis suggests that frustration occurs
in situations in which people are prevented from obtaining their
goals; a rise in frustration leads to a greater probability of aggression
2. Research suggests that there is a positive relationship between
temperature and aggression
3. If you believe that someone did something intentionally to anger or
upset you, you are more likely to respond with aggression
4. Some aggression is instrumental in that it is performed in order to
achieve an end
D. Cultural Constraints
1. Whether an individual will display aggression is highly constrained
by cultural values and norms
2. Construal of self plays a role in aggressive behavior
a) Individuals in cultures that value interdependence are less
likely to respond aggressively
b) A culture of honor guides behavior in southern states because
even small disputes become contests for reputation and
social status
3. Norms of Aggressive Behavior
a) The availability of aggressive models in the environment,
such as that shown on television, influence aggressive
behavior, especially of children
b) Exposure to violence at home and in the community is also a
factor in aggression
III. Prejudice
A. Definition
1. No human weakness is more destructive of the dignity of the
individual and the social bonds of humanity than prejudice
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2. Prejudice is a learned attitude toward a target object, involving
negative feelings (dislike or fear), negative beliefs (stereotypes) that
justify that attitude, and a behavioral intention to avoid, control,
dominate, or eliminate those in the target group
3. A false belief qualifies as prejudice when it resists change even in the
face of appropriate evidence of its falseness
B. Origins of Prejudice
1. Social categorization is the process by which people organize their
social environment by categorizing themselves and others into
groups
2. People divide the world into in-groups, the groups with which they
identify as members, and out-groups, the groups with which they do
not identify
a) In-group bias is the evaluation of one’s own group as better
than others
b) People defined as part of the out-group almost instantly are
candidates for hostile feelings and unfair treatment
c) Automatic acts of prejudice develop as a function of
messages the individual has unknowingly internalized
C. Effects of Stereotyping
1. Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people in which the
same characteristics are assigned to all members of the group
2. Because stereotypes powerfully encode expectations, they contribute
to the social construction of reality. Stereotypes influence judgments
about what exists in the environment
3. Stereotype threatoccurs when people are placed in situations to which
negative aspects of stereotypes are relevant
4. Research leads to the conclusion that prejudice is easy to create, but
difficult to remove
D. Reversing Prejudice
1. Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment brought two groups of boys
together at a summer camp. The experiment found:
a) Minimal groups can lead to great hostility
b) Unsuccessful attempts at hostility reduction
(i) Propaganda approach
(ii) Noncompetitive circumstances were effective.
c) Cooperative action and shared goals was successful in
reduction of hostilities
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d) The lesson of the Robbers Cave is that the elimination of
prejudice takes more than mere contact between groups. A
program that effectively combats prejudice must foster
personal interaction in the pursuit of shared goals
2. In a jigsaw classroom, each pupil is given a part of the total material to
master and then share with the other group members. Interracial
conflict and academic performance improve in classes where the
jigsaw technique is applied
3. Deprovincialization involves people learning more about out-group
social norms and customs and becoming less “provincial” about the
correctness of the in-group
IV. The Psychology of Conflict and Peace
A. Peace psychology represents an interdisciplinary approach to prevention of nuclear war
and the concurrent maintenance of peace
1. Aims of peace psychology include understanding of forces that give
rise to false beliefs, misperceptions, and erroneous attributions on
issues germane to nuclear arms, military strength, national security,
and an understanding of how nations negotiate and make judgments
in crisis situations
B. Obedience to Authority–Milgram’s obedience to authority
1. The Obedience Paradigm
a) Participants delivered what they believed to be electric
shocks to another individual
(i) Participants’ social role was that of teacher, with
teacher punishing errors made by the learner
(ii) Teachers followed rule of increasing level of shock
after each error, until learning was errorless
(iii) Experimenter was the legitimate authority,
presented rules and assigned roles
(iv) Dependent variable was final level of shock that a
teacher gave before refusing to continue obeying
authority
2. The Test Situation
a) Experiment staged to convince teachers (participants) they
were causing pain and suffering, perhaps even death to
another person. In fact, no electric shock was given
b) Learner (confederate) was to memorize word pairs and
make prearranged errors
c) Teachers were to shock learner following each error,
increasing shock level with each error
d) Learner “protested” as shock level increased until teacher
hesitated or protested delivery of the next shock
e) Experimenter told teacher to continue
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(i) Most participants complained or protested more,
saying they could not continue
(ii) Female participants were often in tears
f) Experimental situation produced great conflict in
participants
3. Results
a) Psychiatrists had predicted participants would not “shock”
above 150 volts, presuming that only abnormal individuals
would blindly obey orders to harm another person
b) Psychiatrists based their evaluations on the presumed
dispositional qualities of participants, overlooking the power
of the situation
c) The majority of participants obeyed the authority fully. They
may have dissented, but they did not disobey
d) Alternative explanations of results
(i) Participants may not have believed they were
actually shocking the confederate
(ii) Participant’s obedience may have been a function of
demand char