Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ebook download (eBook PDF) Social Psychology, Seventh Canadian Edition, 7th Edition all chapter
ebook download (eBook PDF) Social Psychology, Seventh Canadian Edition, 7th Edition all chapter
ebook download (eBook PDF) Social Psychology, Seventh Canadian Edition, 7th Edition all chapter
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-social-psychology-7th-
canadian-edition-by-david-myers/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-the-world-of-psychology-
seventh-canadian-edition/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-accounting-
seventh-canadian-edition-7th-edition-2/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-lifespan-development-
seventh-canadian-edition-7th-edition/
(eBook PDF) Financial Accounting, Seventh Canadian
Edition 7th Edition
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-accounting-
seventh-canadian-edition-7th-edition/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-society-the-basics-
seventh-7th-canadian-edition/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/original-pdf-health-the-basics-
seventh-7th-canadian-edition/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-social-psychology-
sixth-6th-canadian-edition/
http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-selling-today-creating-
customer-value-seventh-7th-canadian-edition/
Brief Contents
1 Introduction to Social Psychology 1 9 Attraction and Relationships:
From First Impressions to Close
2 Methodology: How Social Relationships268
Psychologists Do Research 22
10 Prosocial Behaviour: Why Do
3 Social Cognition: How We Think People Help? 309
about the Social World 51
11 Aggression: Why We Hurt Other
4 Social Perception: How We Come People341
to Understand Other People 80
12 Prejudice: Causes and Cures 379
5 The Self: Understanding Ourselves
in a Social Context 114 Social Psychology in
Action 1 U sing Social Psychology
6 Attitudes and Attitude Change: to Achieve a Sustainable
Influencing Thoughts, Feelings, Future 428
and Behaviour 145
Social Psychology in
7 Conformity: Influencing Action 2 S ocial Psychology
Others187 and Health 444
iii
x Contents
■■ TRY IT! Reducing Littering by Using Injunctive Norms 434 Reframing: Finding Meaning in Traumatic Events 468
Making It Easy to Keep Track of Energy Using Social Psychological Interventions to Promote
Consumption 436 Healthier Behaviour 469
Introducing a Little Competitiveness 436 Message Framing: Stressing Gains versus
Using Intrinsic Motivation and Implementation Losses 471
Plans 437 ■■ TRY IT! Changing Your Health Habits 472
Inducing Hypocrisy 438
Removing Small Barriers to Achieve Big Changes 439
■■ TRY IT! Changing Environmentally Damaging Social Psychology in Action 3
Behaviour 441 Social Psychology and the Law 474
Personal Benefits of Engaging in Environmentally ■■ TRY IT! Are You Aware of the Penalties for Crimes? 476
Sustainable Behaviours 441
Eyewitness Testimony 477
Why Are Eyewitnesses Often Wrong? 478
Social Psychology in Action 2 ENCODING 479 • STORAGE 481 • RETRIEVAL 483
Social Psychology and Health 444 Judging Whether Eyewitnesses Are Mistaken 484
Stress and Human Health 445 SIGNS OF ACCURATE TESTIMONY 487 • THE PROBLEM
Effects of Negative Life Events 447 WITH VERBALIZATION 487
■■ TRY IT! The College Life Stress Inventory 448 Judging Whether Eyewitnesses Are Lying 487
■■ TRY IT! The Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony 488
Perceived Stress and Health 449
Feeling in Charge: The Importance of Perceived The Recovered Memory Debate 490
Control 450 Other Kinds of Evidence 491
INCREASING PERCEIVED CONTROL IN Expert Testimony 491
NURSING HOMES 452 • DISEASE, CONTROL,
Physical Evidence 493
AND WELL-BEING 454
Statistical Evidence 494
Knowing You Can Do It: Self-Efficacy 455
Juries: Group Processes in Action 495
Explaining Negative Events: Learned
Helplessness 458 How Jurors Process Information during
the Trial 495
Coping with Stress 461
Confessions: Are They Always
Gender Differences in Coping with Stress 462
What They Seem? 496
Social Support: Getting Help from Others 462
Deliberations in the Jury Room 499
■■ TRY IT! Social Support 465
Personality and Coping Styles 466 Glossary502
OPTIMISM 466
References 508
■■ TRY IT! The Life Orientation Test 466
HARDINESS 467 • RESILIENCE 468 Index 585
About This Course
From the Authors Rather than simply offering opportunities to read about
and study social psychology, Revel facilitates deep,
When we began writing this book, our overriding goal
engaging interactions with the concepts that matter most.
was to capture the excitement of social psychology.
By providing opportunities to improve skills in analyz-
We have been pleased to hear, in many kind letters
and messages from professors and students, that we ing and interpreting sources of psychological evidence,
succeeded. One of our favourites was from a student for example, Revel engages students directly and imme-
who said that the book was so interesting she always diately, which leads to a better understanding of course
saved it for last, to reward herself for finishing her other material. A wealth of student and instructor resources
work. With that one student, at least, we succeeded in and interactive materials can be found within Revel.
making our book an enjoyable, fascinating story, not a Learning objectives appear at the beginning of the
dry report of facts and figures. chapter so that it is clear what the learning goals are for
There is always room for improvement, however, that chapter. We also repeat the learning objectives in
and our goal in this seventh edition is to capture the the relevant sections to remind you, and then we present
excitement of social psychology for students in Canada them again in the summary. The learning objectives are
by presenting the field in a Canadian context. In the novel intended to be used as signposts—to give you a sense of
Tamarind Mem (1996), Indo-Canadian writer Anita Rau what we hope you will learn in each chapter and, at the
Badami tells the story of two young girls growing up in end of the chapter, a way of gauging whether you have
India whose parents sought to enhance their status by learned the material.
emulating British ways. To keep abreast of British f ashion Key terms are in boldface type in the text so that
and hairstyles, the girls’ mother faithfully subscribed to you’ll notice them. We define the terms in the text,
an expensive British magazine. One of the daughters, and that definition appears again in the margin (or as
Kamini, recalls that the magazine also contained a pop-ups in Revel). These marginal definitions are there
children’s story that usually focused on the sandwich to help you out if later in the chapter you forget what
and ginger-beer picnics of two young British girls, Nora something means. The marginal/pop-up definitions
and Tilly. Kamini comments, “I liked Nora and Tilly but are short and easy to find. You can also look up key
wished that they had different names—Gauri and Geetha, terms in the alphabetical Glossary at the end of this
perhaps, or Mini and Bani” (Badami, 1996, p. 24). textbook.
This quotation captures the sentiment of your Make sure you notice the headings and subhead-
Canadian author, Beverley Fehr, who taught social ings. The headings are the skeleton that holds a chapter
psychology for years using the U.S. edition of this text. together. They link together like vertebrae. If you ever
Although her students always enjoyed the book, she felt feel lost, look back to the last heading and the headings
that they would have been happier if the news stories, before that one—this will give you the “big picture” of
historical examples, and statistics reflected their Canadian where the chapter is going. It should also help you see
experience. In short, she was convinced that social the connections between sections.
psychology would come alive for students in Canada
Be sure to do the Try It! exercises. They will make
when they discovered the relevance of social psychological concepts from social psychology concrete and help you
theories and concepts to the society in which they live. see how they can be applied to your own life. Some
of the Try It! exercises replicate social p sychology
experiments. Others reproduce self-report scales so you
Special Tips for Students can see where you stand in relation to other people.
“There is then creative reading as well as creative Still others are short quizzes that illustrate social
writing,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837, and that psychological concepts. The answers to most of these
aptly sums up what you need to know to be a proficient exercises can be found in the Instructor’s Resource
student: Be an active, creative consumer of information. Manual accompanying this text.
How do you accomplish that feat? Actually, it’s not Interact with the content. Revel enlivens
difficult. Like everything else in life, it just takes some course content with media interactives integrated
work—some clever, well-planned, purposeful work. Here directly within the authors’ narrative—that provide
are some suggestions about how to do it. opportunities for students to read about and practise
course material in tandem. This immersive educational
GET TO KNOW YOUR REVEL DIGITAL TEXTBOOK technology boosts student engagement, which leads to
Believe it or not, in writing this book, we thought care- better understanding of concepts and improved perfor-
fully about the organization and structure of each chapter. mance throughout the course.
xi
xii About This Course
Watch the videos. Our carefully curated c ollection of looking at the book or your notes. Or say it out loud
interviews, news clips, and research study re-enactments to yourself—again in your own words, with your
is designed to enhance and help you better understand eyes closed. Can you do it? How good was your ver-
the concepts you’re reading. If you can see the concept sion? Did you omit anything important? Did you get
in action, it’s likely to sink in a little deeper. stuck at some point, unable to remember what comes
All major sections of every chapter end with review next? If so, you now know that you need to go over
quizzes. Research shows that students learn material bet- that information in more detail. You can also study
ter when they are tested frequently; thus, these section with someone else, describing theories and studies
quizzes, as well as the test questions at the end of every to each other and seeing if you’re making sense.
chapter, should be helpful learning aids. In the Revel ver- • If you have trouble remembering the results of an
sion of the text, instructors have the option of assigning important study, try drawing your own version of a
these quizzes and giving course credit for correct answers. graph of the findings (you can use our data graphs
The summary at the end of each chapter is a succinct for an idea of how to proceed). You will probably
shorthand presentation of the chapter information. You find that you remember the research results much
should read it and make sure there are no surprises when better in pictorial form than in words. Draw the
you do so. If anything in the summary doesn’t ring a information a few times and it will stay with you.
bell, go back to the chapter and reread that section. Most
• Remember, the more you work with the material,
important, remember that the summary is intentionally
the better you will learn and remember it. Write it in
brief, whereas your understanding of the material should
your own words, talk about it, explain it to others,
be full and complete. Use the summary as a study aid
or draw visual representations of it.
before your exams. When you read it over, everything
should be familiar, and you should have that w onderful • Last but not least, remember that this material is a
feeling of knowing more than is in the summary (in lot of fun. You haven’t even started reading the book
which case you are ready to take the exam). yet, but we think you’re going to like it. In particu-
lar, you’ll see how much social psychology has to tell
JUST SAY NO TO THE COUCH POTATO WITHIN you about your real, everyday life. As this course
Because social psychology is about everyday life, you might progresses, you might want to remind yourself to
observe the events of your daily life with new eyes—
lull yourself into believing that the material is all common
the eyes of a social psychologist—and try to apply
sense. Don’t be fooled. The material presented in this book
what you are learning to the behaviour of your
is more complicated than it might seem. Therefore, we
friends, acquaintances, strangers, and, yes, even
want to emphasize that the best way to learn it is to work yourself. Make sure you use the Try It! exercises. You
with it in an active, not passive, fashion. You can’t just read will find out how much social psychology can help
a chapter once and expect it to stick with you. You have to us understand our lives. When you read the news,
go over the material, wrestle with it, make your own con- think about what social psychology has to say about
nections to it, question it, think about it, interact with it. current events and behaviours; we believe you will
Actively working with material makes it memorable and find that your understanding of daily life is richer.
makes it your own. Because it’s a safe bet that someone is We realize that 10 years from now you may not
going to ask you about this material later and you’re going remember all the facts, theories, and names you learn
to have to pull it out of memory, do what you can to get it now. Although we hope you will remember some of
into memory now. Here are some techniques to use: them, our main goal is for you to take with you into your
future a great many of the broad social psychological con-
• Go ahead and highlight lines in the text—you can
cepts presented herein—and, perhaps more important, a
do so in Revel by clicking and dragging the cur-
critical and scientific way of thinking. If you open your-
sor over a sentence; you can even choose your own
self to social psychology’s magic, we believe it will enrich
colour and add a note! If you highlight important
the way you look at the world and the way you live in it.
points, you will remember those important points
better and can scroll back through them later.
• Read the chapter before the applicable class lecture, not Content Highlights
afterward. This way, you’ll get more out of the lecture, The seventh Canadian edition features the latest cutting-
which will introduce new material. The chapter will edge research in the field. We have conducted an exten-
give you the big picture, as well as a lot of detail. The sive updating of the literature, adding nearly 900 new
lecture will enhance that information and help you put references since the last edition. Of these, more than 250
it all together. If you haven’t read the chapter first, you are new studies by Canadian researchers. In each chap-
may not understand some of the points made in the ter, we also refer to recent news events to illustrate social
lecture or realize which points are most important. psychological phenomena. A novel feature of this edi-
• Here’s a good way to study material: Write out a tion is the addition of learning objectives. We begin each
key concept or a study in your own words, without chapter by setting out the learning objectives for that
About This Course xiii
chapter. We then repeat the learning objectives in the sec- literature, and our own lives. Next, we describe an exper-
tions that are most relevant for them and present them iment that attempts to explain the phenomenon. This
again in the chapter summary. In the Revel edition of the experiment is typically described in some detail because
text, students are presented with quizzes after each sec- we believe that students should not only learn the major
tion. Instructors have the option of assigning these quiz- theories in social psychology but also understand and
zes and giving course credit for them. appreciate the methods used to test those theories. For
Each chapter also includes Try It! exercises for stu- example, in Chapter 10, we refer to an article posted
dents to try out what they have learned in their real lives. by CBC in February 2015 that began with a question:
Many of these exercises have been updated. The answers “If you had been in the Montreal Métro station when
to most of these exercises can be found in the Instructor’s an inebriated man staggered into an oncoming train,
Resource Manual accompanying this text. We have also smashing his head and falling onto the platform, what
reinstated and updated the Social Psychology in Action would you have done? If you were one of at least 40
short chapters with new research. When we teach the passersby, the answer is nothing.” The article describes
course, we find that students are excited to learn about the death of Radil Hebrich, a 59-year-old homeless man.
these applied areas. He lay bleeding a few centimetres from the edge of the
We believe that social psychology comes alive for station platform for 16 minutes before help arrived, and
students when they understand the whole context of he died shortly thereafter. We use this tragedy to pique
the field: how theories inspire research, why research is students’ interest in the classic Latané and Darley stud-
performed as it is, and how further research triggers yet ies on bystander intervention. We invite you to peruse
new avenues of study. We have tried to convey our own the text to find more examples of these mini-stories.
fascination with the research process in a down-to-earth, Last but not least, we discuss the methods used
meaningful way and have presented the results of the by social psychologists in some detail. How can “bor-
scientific process in terms of the everyday experience of ing” details about methodology be part of a storytelling
the reader; however, we did not want to “water down” approach, you might ask? We believe that part of what
our presentation of the field. In a world where human makes the story of social psychology so interesting is
behaviour can be endlessly surprising and where explaining to students how to test hypotheses scientifi-
research results can be quite counterintuitive, students cally. In recent years, the trend has been for textbooks
need a firm foundation on which to build their under- to include only short sections on research methodology
standing of this challenging discipline. and to provide only brief descriptions of the findings of
The main way we try to engage students is with a individual studies. In this book, we integrate the science
storytelling approach. Social psychology is full of good and methodology of the field into our story in several
stories, such as how the Holocaust inspired investiga- ways.
tions into obedience to authority and how reactions to First, we devote an entire chapter to methodology
the marriage of the crown prince of Japan to Masako (Chapter 2). We use our storytelling approach by pre-
Owada, a career diplomat, illustrate cultural differences senting two compelling real-world problems related to
in the self-concept. By placing research in a real-world violence and aggression: Does consumption of violent
context, we make the material more familiar, understand- media actually lead to aggressive thoughts and behav-
able, and memorable. Each chapter begins with a real-life iours? Why don’t bystanders intervene more to help
vignette that illustrates the concepts to come. We refer to victims of violence? We then use actual research studies
this event at several points in the chapter, clarifying the on these questions to illustrate the three major scientific
relevance of the material they are learning. Examples of methods (observational research, correlational research,
the opening vignettes include the tragic death of Reena and experimental research). Rather than a dry recita-
Virk, a Victoria teenager who was brutally murdered in tion of methodological principles, the scientific method
1997 while onlookers participated in tormenting her; we unfolds like a story with a “hook” (what are the causes
describe the legal battle to convict her killers that con- of real-world aggression and apathy toward violence?)
tinued to 2009 and the requests for parole granted as and a moral (such interesting, real-world questions
recently as 2019 (Chapter 7, “Conformity: Influencing can be addressed scientifically). We have been pleased
Others”). In addition, we describe some amazing acts of by the positive reactions to this chapter in the previous
altruism, including the 2019 story of Scott Wellenbach, editions.
a 67-year-old Buddhist translator from Halifax, Nova Second, we describe prototypical studies in more
Scotia, who won $890,000 at an international poker tour- detail than most texts. We discuss how a study was
nament and gave it all away (Chapter 10, “Prosocial set up, what the research participants perceived and
Behaviour: Why Do People Help?”). did, how the research design derives from theoretical
We also weave “mini-stories” into each chapter that issues, and the ways in which the findings support the
both illustrate specific concepts and bring the material initial hypotheses. We often ask readers to pretend they
to life. For each one, we first describe an example of a were participants so they can better understand the
real-life phenomenon that is designed to pique students’ study from the participants’ point of view. Whenever
interest. These stories are taken from current events, pertinent, we’ve also included anecdotal information
xiv About This Course
about how a study was done or came to be; these brief I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, but eventually I
stories allow readers insights into the heretofore hid- discovered that these were profound q uestions. And some
den world of creating research. See, for example, the 30 years later, as an experimental social p sychologist, I had
description of how Nisbett and Wilson (1977) designed the great good fortune to be in a position to answer some
one of their experiments on the accuracy of people’s of those questions and to invent techniques to reduce the
causal inferences in Chapter 5 and the description of
kind of prejudice that had claimed me as a victim.
the origins of Aronson’s (1978) jigsaw classroom tech-
Elliot Aronson is Professor Emeritus at the University of
nique in Chapter 12.
California at Santa Cruz and one of the most renowned social
And finally, we include a balanced coverage of clas-
sic and modern research. The field of social psychology psychologists in the world. In 2002, he was chosen as one
is expanding rapidly, and exciting new work is being of the 100 most eminent psychologists of the twentieth cen-
done in all areas of the discipline. With the extensive tury. Dr. Aronson is the only person in the 120-year history
new material included in this seventh Canadian edi- of the American Psychological Association to have received
tion, the book provides thorough coverage of up-to- all three of its major awards: for distinguished writing, dis-
date, cutting-edge research. But by emphasizing what tinguished teaching, and distinguished research. Many other
is new, some texts have a tendency to ignore what is professional societies have honoured his research and teach-
old. We have tried to strike a balance between the lat- ing as well. These include the American Association for the
est research findings and classic research in social psy- Advancement of Science, which gave him its highest honour,
chology. Some older studies (e.g., early work in disso-
the Distinguished Scientific Research award; the American
nance, conformity, and attribution) deserve their status
Council for the Advancement and Support of Education,
as classics and are important cornerstones of the disci-
which named him Professor of the Year of 1989; the Society for
pline. For example, unlike several other current texts,
we present detailed descriptions of the Festinger and the Psychological Study of Social Issues, which awarded him
Carlsmith (1959) dissonance study (Chapter 6), and the Gordon Allport prize for his contributions to the reduction
the Asch (1956) and Sherif (1936) conformity studies of prejudice among racial and ethnic groups; and the William
(Chapter 7). We then bring the older theories up to date, James Award from the Association for Psychological Science.
following our discussions of the classics with modern In 1992, he was named a Fellow of the American Academy
approaches to the same topics. This allows students to of Arts and Sciences. A collection of papers and tributes by
experience the continuity and depth of the field, rather his former students and colleagues, The Scientist and the
than regarding it as a collection of studies published in Humanist, celebrates his contributions to social psycho-
the past few years. logical theory and its application to real-world problems. Dr.
Aronson’s own recent books for general audiences include
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by ME) with Carol Tavris,
About the Authors and a memoir, Not by Chance Alone: My Life as a Social
ELLIOT ARONSON When I was a kid, we were the only Psychologist.
Jewish family in a virulently anti-Semitic n eighbourhood.
I had to go to Hebrew school every day, late in the TIM WILSON One day when I was 8, a couple of older
afternoon. Being the only youngster in my neighbourhood kids rode up on their bikes to share some big news: They
going to Hebrew school made me an easy t arget for some had discovered an abandoned house down a country
of the older neighbourhood tough guys. On my way home road. “It’s really neat,” they said. “We broke a w indow
from Hebrew school, after dark, I was f requently waylaid and nobody cared!” My friend and I hopped onto our
and roughed up by roving gangs shouting a nti-Semitic bikes to investigate. We had no trouble finding the
epithets. house—there it was, sitting off by itself, with a big, jagged
I have a vivid memory of sitting on a curb after hole in a first-floor window. We got off of our bikes and
one of these beatings, nursing a bloody nose or a split looked around. My friend found a baseball-sized rock
lip, feeling very sorry for myself and wondering how lying on the ground and threw a perfect strike through
these kids could hate me so much when they didn’t another first-floor window. There was something exhila-
even know me. I thought about whether those kids rating about the smash-and-tingle of shattering glass,
were taught to hate Jews or whether, somehow, they especially when we knew there was nothing wrong with
were born that way. I wondered if their hatred could what we were doing. After all, the house was abandoned,
be changed—if they got to know me better, would they wasn’t it? We broke nearly every window in the house
hate me less? I speculated about my own character. and then climbed through one of the first-floor windows
What would I have done if the shoe were on the other to look around.
foot—that is, if I were bigger and stronger than they, It was then that we realized something was terribly
would I be capable of beating them up for no good wrong. The house certainly did not look abandoned.
reason? There were pictures on the wall, nice furniture, books in
About This Course xv
shelves. We went home feeling frightened and confused. liking scale for us to complete with reference to a roman-
We soon learned that the house was the home of an tic partner and a friend. (This scale is still widely used in
elderly couple who were away on vacation. Eventually, close-relationships research today.) I was dating some-
my parents discovered what we had done and paid a one at the time about whom I cared deeply, although I
substantial sum to repair the windows. For years, I had a feeling that he was not a particularly good choice
pondered this incident: Why did I do such a terrible as a long-term partner. I was astonished, when we
thing? Was I a bad kid? I didn’t think so, and neither did scored the scale, that the love score for this person was
my parents. How, then, could a good kid do such a bad extremely high, but the liking score was distressingly
thing? Even though the neighbourhood kids said the low! Quite aside from the personal implications of this
house was abandoned, why couldn’t my friend and I see result, I was utterly fascinated that social psychologists
the clear signs that someone lived there? How crucial could use the scientific method to gain insight into is-
was it that my friend was there and threw the first rock? sues that are highly relevant to people’s everyday lives.
Although I didn’t know it at the time, these reflections This and other experiences in that class prompted me
touched on several classic social psychological issues, to reconsider my career choice and I ended up chang-
such as whether only bad people do bad things, whether ing my major to psychology. I suspect that this experi-
the social situation can be powerful enough to make ence may also have played a role in my eventual deci-
good people do bad things, and the way in which our sion to become a social psychologist who studies close
expectations about an event can make it difficult to see it relationships.
as it really is. Fortunately, my career as a vandal ended Beverley Fehr graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) from the
with this one incident. It did, however, mark the begin- University of Winnipeg, where she was awarded the Gold
ning of my fascination with basic questions about how Medal for the highest standing in psychology. She received her
people understand themselves and the social world— M.A. (under the guidance of James Russell) and her Ph.D.
questions I continue to investigate to this day. (under the guidance of Dan Perlman) from the University of
Tim Wilson did his undergraduate work at Williams British Columbia. Her doctoral thesis on lay people’s concep-
College and Hampshire College and received his Ph.D. from tions of love and commitment won the Iowa/International
the University of Michigan. Currently Sherrell J. Aston Network for the Study of Personal Relationships Dissertation
Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, he has Prize. She has published numerous articles and book chap-
published numerous articles in the areas of introspection, atti- ters on the topics of emotion and close relationships. Her
tude change, self-knowledge, and affective forecasting, as well book Friendship Processes (1996) was awarded the 1997
as a recent book, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Outstanding Academic Book Award by Choice: Current
Psychological Change. His research has received the support Reviews for Academic Libraries. Her research is supported
of the National Science Foundation and the National Institute by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
for Mental Health. He has been elected twice to the Executive Council of Canada and the Fetzer Institute. She is past
Board of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology and is president of the International Association for Relationships
a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and the Society Research, has served as associate editor of the Journal of
for Personality and Social Psychology. In 2009 he was named Personality and Social Psychology, and is a fellow of
a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He the Canadian Psychological Association, the American
has taught the introduction to social psychology course at Psychological Association, the Society for Experimental Social
the University of Virginia for more than 30 years. In 2001 Psychology, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology,
he was awarded the University of Virginia All-University and the International Association for Relationship Research.
Outstanding Teaching Award and in 2010 was awarded the She received the Clifford J. Robson Award for Excellence in
University of Virginia Distinguished Scientist Award. Teaching in 2016 and the University of Winnipeg Faculty of
Arts Research Excellence Award in 2018.
BEVERLEY FEHR I suspect that many social psy-
chologists, like me, didn’t start out with the intention SAM SOMMERS I went to college to major in English.
of becoming social psychologists. I was attending uni- I found myself in an intro to psychology course as a
versity as a music major, taking psychology courses for second-semester freshman only because, well, it just
interest. I enjoyed them but kept experiencing a vague seemed like the kind of thing you did as a second-
sense of disappointment—each course wasn’t quite semester freshman. It was when we got to the social
what I had thought psychology would be about. When psychology section of the course that a little voice in my
I enrolled in a social psychology course that was offered head starting whispering something along the lines of,
one summer, I was delighted to have finally found what Hey, you’ve gotta admit this is pretty good stuff. It’s a lot like
I was looking for. One day, as part of a class exercise, our the conversations you have with your friends about daily life,
professor handed out copies of Rubin’s (1970) love and but with scientific data.
xvi About This Course
As part of the class, we had the opportunity to play out in the legal domain. He has won multiple teaching
participate in research studies for course credit. So one awards at Tufts, including the Lerman-Neubauer Prize for
day I found myself in an interaction study in which I Outstanding Teaching and Advising and the Gerald R. Gill
was going to work on solving problems with a part- Professor of the Year Award. He was also inducted into the
ner. I walked in, and it was clear that the other guy had Tufts Hall of Diversity for his efforts to promote an inclu-
arrived earlier—his coat and bag were already hanging sive climate on campus for all students. He has testified as
on the back of a chair. I was led to another, smaller room an expert witness on issues related to racial bias, jury deci-
and shown a video of my soon-to-be partner. Then I was sion making, and eyewitness memory in criminal trial pro-
given a series of written questions about my percep- ceedings in eight states. He has written two general audi-
tions of him, my expectations for our upcoming session ence books related to social psychology: Situations Matter:
together, and so forth. Finally, I walked back into the Understanding How Context Transforms Your World
main area. The experimenter handed me a chair and told (2011) and This Is Your Brain on Sports: The Science of
me to put it down anywhere next to my partner’s chair Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can
and that she would go get him (he, too, was presumably Learn from the T-shirt Cannon (2016). He is also co-author
completing written questionnaires in a private room). So of Invitation to Psychology (seventh edition), along with
I did. I put my chair down, took a seat, and waited. Then Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, and Lisa Shin.
the experimenter returned, but she was alone. She told
me the study was over. There was no other participant;
there would be no problem solving in pairs. The video
Acknowledgments
I had watched was of an actor, and in some versions of Elliot Aronson is delighted to acknowledge the col-
the study he mentioned having a girlfriend. In other ver- laboration of Carol Tavris. He would also like to
sions, he mentioned a boyfriend. What the researchers acknowledge the contributions of his best friend (who
were actually studying was how this social category also happens to be his wife of 60 years), Vera Aronson.
information of sexual orientation would influence par- Vera, as usual, provided inspiration for his ideas and
ticipants’ attitudes about the interaction. And then she acted as the sounding board for and supportive critic
took out a tape measure. The tape measure was to gauge of many of his semi-formed notions, helping to mould
how close to my partner’s chair I had placed my own them into more sensible analyses.
chair, the hypothesis being that discomfort with a gay Tim Wilson would like to thank his graduate mentor,
partner might manifest in terms of participants placing Richard E. Nisbett, who nurtured his interest in the field
their chairs farther away. Greater comfort with or affin- and showed him the continuity between social psycholog-
ity for the partner was predicted to lead to more desire ical research and everyday life. He also thanks the many
for proximity. students who have taken his course in social psychol-
And at that, I was hooked. The little voice in my ogy over the years for asking fascinating questions and
head had grown from a whisper to a full-throated yell providing wonderful examples of social psychological
that this was a field I could get excited about. First of all, phenomena in their everyday lives. Lastly, he thanks the
the researchers had tricked me. That, alone, I thought many graduate students with whom he has had the privi-
was, for lack of a better word, cool. But more important, lege of working for joining him in the ever-fascinating dis-
they had done so in an effort to get me and my fellow covery of new social psychological phenomena.
participants to reveal something about our attitudes, Beverley Fehr would like to thank her colleagues at
preferences, and tendencies that we never would have the University of Winnipeg and her social psychology
admitted to (or perhaps even would have been aware of) colleagues at the University of Manitoba for their enthu-
had they just asked us directly. Here was a fascinatingly siasm and support throughout this project. She would
creative research design, being used in the effort to study also like to express gratitude to her research assistants,
what struck me as an incredibly important social issue. Deena Robak and Alanna Johnson. She also would like
Like I said, I was hooked. And I look forward to to thank Brendan and the other servers at Frenchway
helping introduce you to this field that caught me by Café, where much of her writing was done, for their
surprise back when I was a student and continues to warmth, friendliness, and the countless refills of coffee.
intrigue and inspire me to this day. No book can be written and published without the help
Sam Sommers earned his B.A. from Williams College and of a great many people working with the authors behind
his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Since 2003 he has the scenes, and this book is no exception. Beverley would
been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at like to thank the people at Pearson Canada who worked
Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. His research with her on this text. She would like to express apprecia-
examines issues related to stereotyping, prejudice, and group tion to Gurpreet Sohal, Associate Content Developer, for
diversity, with a particular interest in how these processes her competence, patience, support, and understanding
About This Course xvii
throughout this project. She would also like to thank Kim Dedications
Veevers and Söğüt Güleç, Executive Portfolio Manager
and Content Manager, respectively, for their guidance and To my grandchildren: Jacob, Jason, Ruth, Eliana,
encouragement; Project Managers Pippa Kennard and Natalie, Rachel, and Leo. My hope is that your
Pradeep Subramani and Copy Editor Leanne Rancourt for capacity for empathy and compassion will help
their expertise, conscientiousness, and patience in dealing make the world a better place.
with an author who struggled to meet deadlines because of —E.A.
her passion for including “just one more” Canadian study.
Sam Sommers would like to acknowledge, first and To my family, Deirdre Smith, Christopher
foremost, the Sommers ladies—Marilyn, Abigail, and Wilson, and Leigh Wilson
Sophia—for being patient with round-the-clock revision
—T.D.W.
sessions, for tolerating the constantly expanding mass of
papers and books on the floor of the study (he prom-
ises to clean them up before work starts on the next edi-
To my children, Genevieve and Everett
tion), and for frequently providing excellent real-life
—B.F.
examples that illustrate social psychological concepts.
He also gives special thanks to all of his t eachers of To my students—past, present, and future—
social psychology for introducing him to the field, for for making coming to work each morning fun,
continued support, and for serving as role models as educational, and unpredictable
instructors, mentors, researchers, and writers. —S.R.S.
Finally, we would like to thank Kristine Peace who
reviewed and updated the Revel interactives and assess-
ment for this edition. We also owe a big debt of grati-
tude to the colleagues who read one or more chapters of
previous editions of the book. Reviewers of the seventh
Canadian edition include the following:
Learning Objectives
1
2 Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Psychology
mass murder-suicide. An elaborate system of explosives was used to set fire to the
buildings they inhabited in Quebec and Switzerland. Nearly a year later, another
16 cult members, including several children, died in a remote village in France. In
total, 74 members of this cult have died.
People are still trying to understand how respected citizens of Quebec could
have been swept up in this lethal cult. How can people agree to kill themselves
and their own children? Were they crazy? Were they under some kind of hypnotic
spell? How would you explain it?
Connections
The Role of Construal in Conflict Negotiations
A special kind of construal is what Lee Ross calls “naive real- Although both the Israelis and the Palestinians understand
ism.” Ross is a social psychologist who has been working intellectually that the other side perceives the issues differ-
closely with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. These nego- ently, both sides resist compromise, fearing that their “biased”
tiations frequently run aground because of naive realism—the opponent will benefit more than they would. In a simple experi-
conviction all of us have that we perceive things “as they really ment, Ross took peace proposals created by Israeli negotia-
are” (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005; Pronin, Gilovich, & tors, labelled them correctly as Israeli or as Palestinian propos-
Ross, 2004; Ross, 2010). We assume that other reasonable als, and asked Israeli citizens to judge them. The Israelis liked
people see things the same way we do: the proposals attributed to Israel more than they liked the same
proposal when attributed to the Palestinians. Ross concludes,
[E]ven when each side recognizes that the other “If your own proposal isn’t going to be attractive to you when it
side perceives the issues differently, each thinks comes from the other side, what chance is there that the other
that the other side is biased while they themselves side’s proposal is going to be attractive when it comes from
are objective and that their own perceptions of the other side?” (Maoz, Ward, Katz, & Ross, 2002; Pronin et al.
reality should provide the basis for settlement. 2004). The hope is that once negotiators on both sides become
(Pronin et al., 2004) fully aware of this phenomenon, and how it impedes conflict
resolution, a reasonable compromise will be more likely.
great human mystery, love. In 1663, the great Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza
offered a highly original insight. He proposed that if we love someone whom we
formerly hated, that love will be greater than if hate had not preceded it. Spinoza’s
proposition is beautifully worked out. His logic is impeccable. But how can we be sure
that it holds up? What are the conditions under which it does or doesn’t hold? These
are empirical questions for the social psychologist, meaning that their answers can be
derived from experimentation or measurement rather than by personal opinion.
Let’s take another look at the examples at the beginning of this chapter. Why did
people behave the way they did? One way to answer this question might simply be to
ask them. For example, we could ask Jean-François why he was so happy to be part
of a hockey team that inflicted pain on him or ask followers of Luc Jouret why they
joined the cult. The problem with this approach is that people are not always aware
of the origins of their own responses (Gilbert, 2008; Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; Wilson,
2002). It is unlikely that Jean-François knows why the hazing he experienced made
him feel like part of the team or that the members of the Solar Temple know why they
got pulled into a cult.
Journalists, social critics, and novelists have many interesting things to say about
these situations. Such commentary is generally referred to as folk wisdom or common
sense. However, there is no shortage of folk theories for events such as the Solar Temple
tragedy. When cult members kill themselves and their children at the request of their
leader, explanations range from the view that the leader must have employed hypno-
tism and drugs to weaken the resistance of his followers to suspicion that the people
who were attracted to his cult must have been disturbed, self-destructive individu-
als in the first place. Such speculations, because they underestimate the power of the
situation, are almost certainly incorrect—or at the very least oversimplified. Indeed,
what is most striking about members of the Solar Temple cult is that they tended to be
highly respected, well-functioning members of society—including a mayor, a journal-
ist, a civil servant, and a sales manager.
Don’t get us wrong. A great deal can be learned about social behaviour from jour-
nalists, social critics, and novelists—and in this textbook we quote from all of these.
There is, however, at least one problem with relying entirely on such sources: More
often than not, they disagree with one another, and there is no easy way of determin-
ing which of them is correct.
Consider what folk wisdom has to say about the factors that influence how much
we like other people. On the one hand, we know that “birds of a feather flock together,”
and with a little effort, each of us could come up with many examples in which we
liked and spent time with people who shared our backgrounds and interests. But, on
the other hand, folk wisdom also tells us that “opposites attract,” and if we tried, we
could come up with examples in which people with backgrounds and interests differ-
ent from our own did attract us. Which is correct? Similarly, are we to believe that “out
of sight is out of mind” or that “absence makes the heart grow fonder”; that “haste
makes waste” or that “he who hesitates is lost”?
Unfortunately, because so-called common sense frequently turns out to be wrong
or oversimplified, people tend not to learn from previous incidents. The Solar Temple
tragedy was probably the first mass suicide involving Canadians but certainly not the
first or the last event of this kind. In 1978, nearly 800 members of a California-based
religious cult died in Jonestown, Guyana, when they drank a deadly mixture of Kool-
Aid and cyanide in response to a command from their leader, the Reverend Jim Jones.
Subsequent doomsday cults capitalized on fears that the millennium would bring
about the end of the world and managed to persuade their followers to take their
lives and those of their children. For example, the leaders of the Ugandan Movement
for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God persuaded parents that hand-
ing over their children to die was the only way to prevent them from falling into the
hands of Satan. On March 17, 2000, hundreds of people, many of whom were children,
Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Psychology 7
were led into a sealed chapel that was set on fire (Associated
Press, 2000). Hundreds of other cult members and their children
died in other ways. While it is difficult to determine the exact
number of casualties, most reports suggest that between 800 and
1000 people perished, placing this cult on the same horrific scale
as the California-based Jonestown cult (Wasswa, 2002).
Closer to home, in April 2008, more than 400 children were
seized by Child Protective Services authorities in Texas. Their par-
ents were followers of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Yearning for
Zion Mormon sect. There were allegations that young girls, and
perhaps some boys, were beaten, starved, and forced to have
absence makes the heart grow fonder, and others under which out of sight does mean
out of mind. Part of the job of the social psychologist is to do research that specifies the
conditions under which each of these statements is true, as you will see in Chapter 9.
Try It!
Social Situations and Behaviour
1. Think about one of your friends or acquaintances whom you example, if someone showed a real interest in one of your
regard as a shy person. For a moment, try not to think about friend’s favourite hobbies or topics of conversation, it might
that person as “shy” but rather as someone who has dif- bring out behaviour that could be classified as charming
ficulty relating to people in some situations but not in others. or vivacious.)
2. Make a list of the social situations you think are most likely 4. Try to create a social environment in which this would be
to bring out your friend’s “shy” behaviour. accomplished. Pay close attention to the effect it has on
3. Make a list of the social situations that might bring forth your friend’s behaviour.
more outgoing behaviour on your friend’s part. (For
10 Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Psychology
to anyone who comes over. You decide that you’re not very interested after all—this
person seems pretty aloof, standoffish, and even arrogant. But a few weeks later you
see this student again, now being outgoing, funny, and appealing. So which is it? What
is this person “really” like? Shy or arrogant? It’s the wrong question—the answer is
both and neither. All of us are capable of being shy in some situations and outgoing
in others. A much more interesting question is this: What factors are different in these
two situations that have such a profound effect on this person’s behaviour? This is a
social psychological question. (See the Try It! box on the previous page.)
In summary, social psychology is located somewhere between its closest intellec-
tual cousins, sociology and personality psychology (see Table 1.1). Social psychology
shares with sociology an interest in situational and societal influences on behaviour
but focuses more on the psychological makeup of individuals that renders them sus-
ceptible to social influence. Social psychology shares with personality psychology an
emphasis on the psychology of the individual, but rather than focusing on what makes
people different from one another, it emphasizes the psychological processes shared
by most people that make them susceptible to social influence.
373.
Barratier subsequently became minister to the French church
in Halle.
374.
See Note on p. 310.
375.
Barclay’s Apology, propp. v. and vi. § 27, p. 194. Fourth
Edition, 1701.
376.
Fox’s Journal, pp. 76-83.
377.
Fox’s Journal, vol. i. p. 130.
378.
Fox’s Journal, vol. i. pp. 109, 129, 232. Vaughan’s Hist. of
England under the House of Stuart, p. 539.
379.
Journal, vol. i. p. 95.
380.
Journal, p. 89. This theopathetic mysticism is emphatically
transitive. Every inward manifestation speedily becomes a
something to be done, a testimony to be delivered. The Quaker
is ‘exercised,’ not that he may deck himself in the glory of
saintship, but to fit him for rendering service, as he supposes,
to his fellows. The early followers of Fox often caricatured the
acted symbolism of the Hebrew prophets with the most profane
or ludicrous unseemliness. Yet stark-mad as seemed the
fashion of their denunciations, their object was very commonly
some intelligible and actual error or abuse.
381.
Barclay’s Apology, propp. v. and vi. 16. Sewell’s History, p.
544. (Barclay’s Letter to Paets); also p. 646 (The Christian
Doctrine of the People called Quakers, &c., published 1693).
Compare J. J. Gurney’s Observations on the Distinguishing
Views and Practices of the Society of Friends, chap. i. p. 59.
382.
Koran.
383.
Let the reader consult his Enthusiasmus Triumphatus, or read
his caustic observations upon the Anima Magica Abscondita,
and his Second Lash of Alazonomastix. Among the high-flyers
of his day, there appear to have been some who spoke of
being ‘godded with God,’ and ‘Christed with Christ,’ much after
the manner of some of Eckart’s followers.
384.
‘But now seeing the Logos or steady comprehensive wisdom of
God, in which all Ideas and their respects are contained, is but
universal stable reason, how can there be any pretence of
being so highly inspired as to be blown above reason itself,
unlesse men will fancy themselves wiser than God, or their
understandings above the natures and reasons of things
themselves.’—Preface to the Conjectura Cabbalistica.
385.
See Norris’s Miscellanies (1699):
An Idea of Happiness: enquiring wherein the greatest
happiness attainable by Man in this Life does consist, pp. 326-
341.
386.
Miscellanies, p. 276 (in a Discourse on Rom. xii. 3), and p. 334.
387.
Norris says, in his Hymn to Darkness—
389.
See E. Swedenborg, a Biography, by J. G. Wilkinson, p. 99; a
succinct and well-written account of the man, and the best
introduction to his writings I have met with.
390.
Wilkinson, pp. 187, 118.
391.
Wilkinson, pp. 79, 130.
392.
Heaven and Hell, § 360.
393.
True Christian Religion, § 796.
394.
See the description of the heavenly palaces, of divine worship
in heaven, and of the angelic employments, Heaven and Hell,
§§ 183, 221, 387. True Christian Religion, §§ 694, 697. Also
concerning marriages in heaven, Heaven and Hell, §§ 366-
386.
395.
Heaven and Hell, §§ 329-345.
396.
True Christian Religion, chap. vi. 6, 7; Heaven and Hell, § 592.
397.
True Christian Religion, chap. ii. 1-7. I give here Swedenborg’s
idea of the evangelical theology. See especially §§ 132-135,
where he represents himself as correcting the false doctrine of
certain spirits in the other world concerning the Divine Nature.
398.
Goethe:
399.
See F. H. Jacobi, Von den Göttlichen Dingen und ihrer
Offenbarung (1811), where the principles of the Faith-
Philosophy are expounded, though after a desultory, disjointed
manner:—more especially pp. 70-93.
400.
To Schleiermacher the theology of his country owes great and
lasting obligation for having led the intellectual promise of his
time to a momentous crisis of transition. His genius at once
kindled the enthusiasm of youth, and allowed a space to its
scepticism. As much opposed as Hamann or Jacobi to the
contemptuous Rationalism which then held the scorner’s chair,
he did not, like them, couch a polemic lance against
philosophy. But real and important as was his advance beyond
the low and superficial anti-supranaturalism which preceded
him, the followers of Schleiermacher found it impossible to rest
where he did. From among his pupils have sprung the greatest
names in this generation of German divines, and they have
admitted, with scarcely an exception, that he conceded so
much for the sake of peace as to render his position untenable.
Their master led them to an elevation whence they discerned a
farther height and surer resting-place than he attained. For a
more detailed account of Schleiermacher and his theological
position, the reader is referred to an article by the Author in the
British Quarterly Review for May, 1849.
401.
The principles of the genuine Romanticism (as distinguished
from its later and degenerate form) are ably enunciated by
Tieck, in a comic drama, entitled Prince Zerbino; or, Travels in
Search of Good Taste. One Nestor, a prosaic pedant, who
piques himself on understanding everything, and on his
freedom from all enthusiasm and imaginative nonsense, is
introduced into the wondrous garden of the Goddess of Poesy.
There he sees, among others, Dante and Ariosto, Cervantes
and Sophocles. He complains of not finding Hagedorn, Gellert,
Gesner, Kleist, or Bodmer; and the Goddess then points him
out—as a true German bard—stout old Hans Sachs. Dante
appears to him a crusty old fogie; Tasso, a well-meaning man,
but weak; and Sophocles, whom he was disposed to respect
as a classic, when blamed for the obscurity of his choruses,
turns upon him like a bear. The conceited impertinence, the
knowing air, and the puzzle-headedness of the Philistine, are
hit off to admiration. This Garden of Poesy seems to him a lair
of savages, an asylum for lunatics, where all his smug
conventionalisms are trampled on, and every canon of his
criticism suffers flagrant violation. Genii take him away, and
give him something substantial to eat—earth to earth. The
tables and chairs begin to talk to him. They congratulate
themselves on being delivered from their old free life in the
woods, and cut out into useful articles of furniture, so fulfilling
the purpose of their being. He gets on much better with them
than with the poets, and thinks them (himself excepted) the
most sensible creatures in the world.
402.
See Julian Schmidt, Geschichte der Deutschen National
Literatur im 19n Jahrhundert, th. I. c. vi.
403.
Schmidt, p. 60.
404.
Novalis, Schriften, th. ii. pp. 152, 159, 221.
405.
Ibid., p. 158.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Footnotes have been collected at the end of the
text, and are linked for ease of reference.
The original book had Volume I with page numbers
1 through 372, and then, in the same binding,
Volume II with page numbers 1 through 374. In this
e-book format, the page numbers for Volume I are
given as “1-1”, “1-2”, etc., and then Volume II is
numbered “2-1”, “2-2”, etc.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOURS WITH
THE MYSTICS: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF
RELIGIOUS OPINION ***
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if
you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project
Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other format used in the official version posted on the official
Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at
no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a
means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project
Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.F.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.