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FlatWorld
Chapter 11 Group Performance and Decision Making 371
Understanding Social Groups 373
Group Process: The Plusses and Minuses of Working Together 378
Improving Group Performance 397
Thinking Like a Social Psychologist About Social Groups 402
Chapter Summary 403
Endnotes 405

Chapter 12 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination 409


Social Categorization and Stereotyping 412
Ingroup Favoritism and Prejudice 423
Reducing Discrimination 429
Thinking Like a Social Psychologist About Stereotyping, Prejudice, and 438
Discrimination
Chapter Summary 438
Endnotes 440

Chapter 13 Competition and Cooperation in Our Social Worlds 443


Conflict, Cooperation, Morality, and Fairness 445
How the Social Situation Creates Conflict: The Role of Social Dilemmas 455
Strategies for Producing Cooperation 463
Thinking Like a Social Psychologist About Cooperation and Competition 470
Chapter Summary 470
Endnotes 472

Chapter 14 Answers to Quiz Questions 475


Chapter 1 through 13 Quiz Answers 475
Chapter 1 475
Chapter 2 478
Chapter 3 482
Chapter 4 484
Chapter 5 487
Chapter 6 490
Chapter 7 493
Chapter 8 496
Chapter 9 498
Chapter 10 500
Chapter 11 502
Chapter 12 504
Chapter 13 507

Index 511
CHARLES STANGOR
Charles Stangor is a professor in the Social, Decisional, and Organizational
Sciences Specialty Area at the University of Maryland. He has also taught at the
New School for Social Research, Michigan State University, and at the University
of Tiibingen in Germany. He received his BA from Beloit College in 1973 and
his PhD from New York University in 1986. Dr. Stangor is the recipient of re-
search grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the Nation-
al Science Foundation. He has published seven books and over 70 research art-
icles and book chapters and has served as an associate editor of the European
Journal of Social Psychology. He is a charter fellow of the Association for
Psychological Science. He has served as the chair of the executive committee and
as executive officer for the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Dr.
Stangor regularly teaches Social Psychology, Research Methods, and at the
graduate level, Fundamentals of Social Psychology and Group Processes. Dr.
Stangor has served as Associate Chair in the psychology department, and has
won the distinguished teaching award from the University of Maryland. Dr.
Stangor's research interests concern the enhancement and assessment of aca-
demic achievement in higher education, with a particular focus on reducing edu-
cational achievement gaps between men and women and among ethnic groups.

Author
This book is the result of many years of interacting with many students, and it would never have been written without them. So
thanks, first, to my many excellent students. Also a particular thanks to Vicki Brentnall and the staff at FlatWorld for their help and
support.
I would also like to thank the following reviewers whose comprehensive feedback and suggestions for improving the material
helped make this a better text:
• Mark Agars, California State University, San Bernadino
• Sarah Allgood, Virginia Tech University
• Lara Ault, Saint Leo University
• Sarah Butler, DePaul University
• Jamonn Campbell, Shippensburg University
• Donna Crawley, Ramapo College
• Alexander Czopp, Western Washington University
• Marcia Finkelstein, University of South Florida
• Dana Greene, North Carolina Central University
• Melissa Lea, Millsaps College
• Dana Litt, University of Washington
• Nick Marsing, Snow College
• Kevin McKillop, Washington College
• Adam Meade, North Carolina State University
• Paul Miceli, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Marcie Miller, South Plains College
• Meg Milligan, Troy University
• Dean Morier, Mills College
• Darren Petronella, Adelphi University
• Lisa Poole, Northeast State Technical Community College
• Michael Rader, Northern Arizona University
• Diana Rice, Geneva College
• David Simpson, Carroll University
• Edie Wakevainen, Macomb Community College
When I first started teaching social psychology, I had trouble figuring out how the various topics in this expansive field fit together. I
felt like I was presenting a laundry list of ideas, research studies, and phenomena, rather than an integrated set of principles and
knowledge. Of course, what was difficult for me was harder still for my students. How could they be expected to understand and re-
member all of the many topics that we social psychologists study? And how could they tell what was most important? Something
was needed to structure and integrate their learning.
It took me some time, but eventually I realized that the missing piece in my lectures was a consistent focus on the basic prin-
ciples of social psychology. Once I started thinking and talking about principles, then it all fell into place. I knew that when I got to
my lecture on altruism, most of my students already knew what I was about to tell them. They understood that, although there were
always some tweaks to keep things interesting, altruism was going to be understood using the same ideas that conformity and person
perception had been in earlier lectures- in terms of the underlying fundamentals- they were truly thinking like social psychologists!
I wrote this book from the student perspective, by asking "what is important to students?" "How do students learn?" and "How
will students remember the important concepts of social psychology?" This allowed me to help students organize their thinking
about social psychology at a conceptual level. Five or ten years from now, I do not expect my students to remember the details of a
study published in 2016, or even to remember most of the definitions in this book. I do hope, however, that they will remember
some basic ideas, for it is these principles that will allow them to critically analyze new situations and really put their knowledge to
use.
My text is therefore based on a critical thinking approach- its aim is to get students thinking actively and conceptually- with
more of a focus on the forest than on the trees. Although there are right and wrong answers, knowing the answers is not the most
important outcome. What is perhaps even more important is how we get to those answers- the thinking process itself. My efforts
are successful when my students have that "aha'' moment, in which they find new ideas fitting snugly into the basic concepts of so-
cial psychology.
To help students better grasp the big picture of social psychology and to provide you with a theme that you can use to organize
your lectures, my text has a consistent pedagogy across the chapters. I organize my presentation around three underlying principles
that are essential to social psychology:
• Person versus situation
• Affect, Behavior and Cognition
• Self-concern and other-concern
The third principle (self-concern versus other-concern) is based on a distinction that I see as fundamental to social psychology. This
distinction concerns orientations that benefit the self and the ingroup versus orientations that benefit other people more broadly.
The distinction has long been implicit in social psychological theorizing, but has recently become more explicit. Examples are
abounding in the literatures on altruism, aggression, stereotypes and prejudice, morality, political psychology, close relationships,
and interpersonal trust and cooperation. I use the two human fundamental motivations of self-concern and other-concern to frame
these discussions and you can incorporate these dimensions into your teaching as you see fit.
My years of teaching have convinced me that these dimensions are fundamental, that they are extremely heuristic, and that they
are what I hope my students will learn and remember. I think that you may find that this organization represents a more explicit
representation of what you're already doing in your lectures. Although my pedagogy is consistent, it is not constraining. You will use
these dimensions more in some lectures than in others, and you will find them more useful for some topics than others. But they will
always work for you when you are ready for them. Use them to reinforce your presentation as you see fit.
Perhaps most important, a focus on these dimensions helps us bridge the gap between the textbook, the real-life experiences of
our students, and our class presentations. We can't cover every phenomenon in our lectures- we naturally let the textbook fill in the
details. The goal of my book is to allow you to rest assured that the text has provided your students with the foundations- the fun-
damental language of social psychology- from which you can build as you see fit. And when you turn to ask students to apply their
learning to real life, you can know that they will be doing this as social psychologists do- using a basic underlying framework.

ORGANIZATION
The text moves systematically from lower to higher levels of analysis- a method that I have found makes sense to students. On the
other hand, the chapter order should not constrain you- choose a different order if you wish. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to
social psychology and the research methods in social psychology, Chapter 2 presents the fundamental principles of social cognition,
and Chapter 3 focuses on social affect. The remainder of the text is organized around three levels of analysis, moving systematically
from the individual level (Chapter 4 through Chapter 6), to the level of social interaction (Chapter 7 through Chapter 10), to the
group and cultural level (Chapter 11 through Chapter 13).
4 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Rather than relying on "modules" or "appendices" of applied materials, my text integrates applied concepts into the text itself.
This approach is consistent with my underlying belief that if students learn to think like social psychologists they will easily and nat-
urally apply that knowledge to any and all applications. The following applications are woven throughout the text:
• Business and consumer behavior (see, for instance, Chapter 5 on marketing and persuasion and Chapter 11 on group de-
cision making)
• Politics and Government (see for instance, Chapter 12 and Chapter 10 on Terrorism)
• Health and Behavior (see, for instance, Chapter 3 on stress and Chapter 6 on attributional styles)
• Law (see, for instance, Chapter 2 on eyewitness testimony

PEDAGOGY
Principles of Social Psychology contains a number of pedagogical features designed to help students develop an active, integrative un-
derstanding of the many topics of social psychology and to think like social psychologists.

Research Foci
Research is of course the heart of social psychology, and the research foci provide detailed information about a study or research
program. I've chosen a mix of classic and contemporary research, with a focus on both what's interesting and what's pedagogical.
Rather than boxing these findings, they are part of the running text-simply highlighted with a heading and light shading.

Social Psychology in the Public Interest


Social psychological findings interest students in large part because they relate so directly to everyday experience. The Social Psycho-
logy in the Public Interest Feature reinforces these links. Topics include Does High Self-Esteem Cause Happiness or Other Positive
Outcomes? (Chapter 3), Detecting Deception (Chapter 6), Terrorism as Instrumental Aggression (Chapter 10), and Stereotype
Threat in Schools (Chapter 12). The goal here is to include these applied topics within the relevant conceptual discussions to provide
students with a richer understanding within the context of the presentation.

Thinking Like a Social Psychologist


Each chapter ends with a section that summarizes how the material presented in the chapter can help the student think about con-
temporary issues using social psychological principles. This section is designed to work with the chapter summary to allow a better
integration of fundamental concepts.

REPLICATION IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY


The current "replicability crisis" in psychology, and particularly in social psychology, has created some doubt about the findings re-
ported in the literature and in social psychology textbooks. Along with researchers, reviewers, and journal editors, textbook authors
are required to use their best judgment about which findings are "real" and which are not.
Although some might believe that past "questionable research practices" have left the entire field open to interpretation, this is
most certainly not the case. Despite the immense difficulty of drawing conclusions about social behavior, social psychology has cre-
ated a wealth of valid knowledge. Not every experiment will replicate, but many replications, when conducted properly, will. When
we look at the forest, rather than the trees, the picture is a lot clearer.
In this second edition, I have taken this approach: If there is clear reason to doubt that a relationship is real, then I have re-
moved it from discussion. If there have been some failures to replicate then I will note this in the text. Otherwise, we must all con-
tinually remind students that all research is provisional-no one experiment "proves" a theory or concept.

CHANGES IN THE SECOND EDITION


The second edition of Principles of Social Psychology keeps the overarching structure of the first, but provides updates based on new
theoretical and research advances over the past five years. These changes include:
• An updated discussion of our human evolutionary past (Chapter 1)
PREFACE 5

• An expanded discussion of evolutionary psychology (Chapter 2)


• An expanded discussion of explicit racism and intergroup violence (Chapter 12)
• An expanded discussion of contemporary theories of morality (Chapter 13)
Throughout the text:
• Many figures have been updated, and now include in-text guidelines for interpreting figures that depict statistical
interactions.
• There are many new chapter openers, including the benefits of mindfulness (Chapter 3 ), the Trump presidential campaign
(Chapter 5), the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack (Chapter 9), racism and the Black Lives Movement (Chapter 12), and
global warming as a social dilemma (Chapter 13).
• A number of citations related to the effects of social media use on personality and behavior have been added.
I hope you and your students enjoy my book. My goal is to treat social psychology as a serious scientific field. The text is not an ele-
mentary or high school text-there are no cartoons, and the text is straightforward but complete.
6 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0
_ _( ~ A e I E R ]_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
• •
uc1n oc1a

The Remarkable Human Being

Human behavior is both complex and remarkable. In a relatively short time of about 15,000 years, humans
have created the greatest achievements the planet earth has ever experienced, but we have also created its
most severe problems. And what makes humans both so successful, and yet also so dangerous, is our social
behavior. Humans work together, in social groups, to produce the great projects that enhance all of our lives.
And yet at the same time we work against each other, again in social groups, to create hatred, kill ing, wars, and
genocides.
If you are interested in what people do and why they do it then you are in the right place.
Socialpsychology is about us-you and me and everyone else in the world. Human behavior is fascinating,
andsocial psycholog ists specialize in understand ing it.

Homo erectus was an ancestor of human beings. Present day humans have much in common with this
human-l ike species, but they have also evolved much beyond it due to their superior social skil ls.

Source: https://commons. wikimedia.org!wiki!


File:Homo_erectus_adult_Jemale_-_head_model_ -_Smithsonian_Museum_of_Natural_History_-_2012-05-17.jpg
8 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Social psychologists begin with the fact t hat human beings are a major success story on t he planet earth.
Humans anatomically similar to us, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Neanderthals, lived and thrived
for hundreds of thousands of years. But on ly present day humans-Homo sapiens- have far surpassed all
others. On ly humans have been able to adapt to every environment on the planet and to make monumental
changes to it. And t his success has been caused in large part by our abilities to successfu lly interact with other
human beings in social groups (Kamil, 2014).[1]
Homo sapiens have exceptional creativity- not only have we created astound ing techn ical advances in
communication, engineering and transportation, but we have also developed civil ization and culture,
includ ing art, music, and religion. Humans were helped in t hese endeavors by our remarkable social
abilities- we share our ideas with ot hers and we work with others to build those ideas.
The remarkable ability of humans to create both good and evil can be easily seen by looking at some of
the events that have occurred in t he past year. These events include:
• Terrorist attacks in Paris, Berlin, Orlando, Florida, and in many other places around the
world.
• Globa l climate change, as 2016 was recorded as the hottest year on record
• The Syrian Civil War and the refugee crisis in Europe
• Mass shootings and gun violence in the United States
• The rise of ISIS and the fight against it by Western powers
• The legalization of gay marriage in most US states
• The rise to power of President Donald Trump
Perhaps you, like me, are interested and amazed by these things and want to understand them better. If you
do, t hen you are in the right place, because social psychologists do exactly t hat:
• Social psychologists study terrorism, for instance finding the causes of extremist behavior
(Hogg, 2014).[21
• Social psychologists study human aggression, and we have a good idea of the causes of
gun violence (DeWa ll, Anderson, & Bushman, 2011 ).[31
• Social psychologists study obedience to authority and conformity. They understand and
predict when and how people will be influenced by the other people around them,
including their political leaders.
• Social psychologists study what makes people initially like each other and potentially fa ll in
love with each other (Clark & Lemay, 2010).[41
• Social psychologists study the development and influences of stereotypes, prej udice, and
discrimination.
I am looking forward to the journey of social psychology with you and I know you will learn a lot about human
behavior during t his course. With this in mind, let's get started.

Social psychology Social psychology is t he scientific study of how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the
The scientific study of how
people around us. As this definition suggests, the subject matter of social psychology is very broad and can be
we feel about, t hink about,
and behave towa rd t he found in just about everything that we do every day. Social psychologists study why we are often helpful to other
people around us and how
ou r feelings, thoughts, and people, but why we may at other times be unfriendly or aggressive. Social psychologists study both the benefits of
behaviors are influenced by
those people. having good relationships with other people and the costs of being lonely. Social psychologists study what factors

lead people to purchase one product rather than another, how men and women behave differently in social

settings, how juries work together to make important group decisions, and what makes some people more likely to

recycle and engage in other environmentally friendly behaviors than others.

Social psychology is a broad field that links the study of behavior at different levels of analysis, ranging from the

social level of behavior, the cognitive level of mental processes, and the neuroscience level of brain systems. Social

psychology is a language that can unite our understanding of human behavior.

The goal of this book is to help you learn to think about social behaviors in the same way that social

psychologists do. I hope you will find this approach useful because it will allow you to think about human behavior
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 9

more critical ly and more object ively and to gain insight into your own relationships wit h other people. Social

psychologists study everyday behavior scientifically, and their research creates a useful body of knowledge about

our everyday social interact ions.

1. DEFINING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: HISTORY AND


PRINCIPLES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Define social psychology.


2. Review the history of the field of social psychology and the topics that social psychologists
study.
3. Summarize the principles of evolutionary psychology.
4. Describe and provide examples of the person-situation interaction.
5. Review the concepts of (a) social norms and (b) cultures.

The field of social psychology is growing rapidly and is having an increasingly important influence on
how we think about human behavior. Newspapers, websites, and other media frequently report the
findings of social psychologists, and the results of social psychological research are influencing de-
cisions in a wide variety of areas. Let's begin with a short history of the field of social psychology and
then turn to a review of the basic principles of the science of social psychology.

1.1 The History of Social Psychology


The science of social psychology began when scientists first started to systematically and formally
measure the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of human beings (Kruglanski & Stroebe, 2011 ). [SJ The
earliest social psychology experiments on group behavior were conducted before 1900 (Triplett,
1898),[61 and the first social psychology textbooks were published in 1908 (McDougall, 1908/2003;
Ross, 1908/ 1974).[7] During the 1940s and 1950s, the social psychologists Kurt Lewin and Leon
Festinger refined the experimental approach to studying behavior, creating social psychology as a rig-
orous scientific discipline. Lewin is sometimes known as "the father of social psychology" because he
initially developed many of the important ideas of the discipline, including a focus on the dynamic in-
teractions among people. In 1954, Festinger edited an influential book called Research Methods in the
Behavioral Sciences, in which he and other social psychologists stressed the need to measure variables
and to use laboratory experiments to systematically test research hypotheses about social behavior. He
also noted that in order to measure people's true, private beliefs, it might be necessary in these experi-
ments to deceive the participants about the true nature of the research.
Social psychology was energized by researchers who attempted to understand how
the German dictator Adolf Hitler could have produced such extreme obedience and The field of social psychology began with
horrendous behaviors in his followers during the Second World War. The studies on pioneers such as Kurt Lewin and Leon
8 9 Festinger and continues today in research labs
conformity conducted by Muzafer Sherif (1936) [ 1and Solomon Asch (1952),[ 1as well across the world.
as those on obedience by Stanley Milgram (1974),[IO] showed the importance of con-
formity pressures in social groups and how people in authority could create obedience,
even to the extent of leading people to cause severe harm to others. Philip Zimbardo, in
his well-known "prison experiment" (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973),[II] found that
ordinary male college students who were recruited to play the roles of guards and pris-
oners in a simulated prison became so involved in their assignments, and their interac-
tion became so violent, that the study had to be terminated early (see "Zimbardo's Stan-
ford Prison Experiment" below). This research again demonstrated the power of the so-
cial setting.
Source: Photo of Lewin may be found at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki!File:Kurt_Lewin.jpg;
Photo of Festinger used with permission from AP Photo.
10 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford prison experiment conducted by Ph ilip Zimbardo in the 1960s demonstrated the powerful ro le
of the social sit uation on human behavior.

View the video onl ine at: http://www.youtube.com/embed/1jd0oxnr7Al?rel=O

Social psychology quickly expanded to study other topics. John Darley and Bibb Latane (1968) [121de-
veloped a model that helped explain when people do and do not help others in need, and Leonard
Berkowitz (1974) [131pioneered the study of human aggression. Meanwhile, other social psychologists,
including Irving Janis (1972),[141 focused on group behavior, studying why intelligent people some-
times made decisions that led to disastrous results when they worked together. Still other social psy-
chologists, including Gordon Allport and Muzafer Sherif, focused on intergroup relations, with the
goal of understanding and potentially reducing the occurrence of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrim-
ination. Social psychologists gave their opinions in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme
Court case that helped end racial segregation in U.S. public schools, and social psychologists still fre-
quently serve as expert witnesses on these and other topics (Fiske, Bersoff, Borgida, Deaux, & Heilman,
1991). [lS]
The latter part of the 20th century saw an expansion of social psychology into the field of attitudes,
with a particular emphasis on cognitive processes. During this time, social psychologists developed the
first formal models of persuasion, with the goal of understanding how advertisers and other people
could present their messages to make them most effective (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Hovland, Janis, &
Kelley, 1963).[161These approaches to attitudes focused on the cognitive processes that people use when
evaluating messages and on the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Leon Festinger's
(1957)[171 important cognitive dissonance theory was developed during this time and became a model
for later research.
In the 1970s and 1980s, social psychology became even more cognitive in orientation as social psy-
chologists used advances in cognitive psychology, which were themselves based largely on advances in
computer technology, to inform the field (Fiske & Taylor, 2008).[lS] The focus of these researchers, in-
cluding Alice Eagly, Susan Fiske, E. Tory Higgins, Richard Nisbett, Lee Ross, Shelley Taylor, and many
others, was on social cognition- an understanding of how our knowledge about our social worlds de-
velops through experience and the influence of these knowledge structures on memory, information
processing, attitudes, and judgment. Furthermore, the extent to which humans' decision making could
be flawed by both cognitive and motivational processes was documented (Kahneman, Slovic, & Tver-
sky, 1982). [l 9 ]
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 11

In the 21st century, the field of social psychology has been expanding into still oth-
er areas. Examples that we will consider in this book include an interest in how social The field of social psychology continues today
situations influence our health and happiness, the important roles of evolutionary ex- in the research labs of Michele Gelfand, Dan
Gilbert, Alice Eagly, Mahzarin Banaji, and
periences and cultures on our behavior, and the field of social neuroscience- the others.
study of how our social behavior both influences and is influenced by the activities of our
brain (Lieberman, 2010).[201Social psychologists continue to seek new ways to measure
and understand social behavior, and they continue to refine their research methods to
make their findings more accurate. I cannot predict where social psychology will be dir-
ected in the future, but I have no doubt that it will still be alive and vibrant, and will
help us understand and respond to important social issues.

1.2 The Person and the Social Situation


Behavior= f (person, social situation)

Social psychology is the study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the
people around them. Each of us is different, and our individual characteristics, includ-
ing our personality traits, desires, motivations, and emotions, have an important im-
pact on our social behavior. But our behavior is also profoundly influenced by the so-
cial situation- the people with whom we interact every day. These people include our
friends and family, our fraternity brothers or sorority sisters, our religious groups, the
people we see on TV or read about or interact with on the web, as well as people we Source: Researchers
think about, remember, or even imagine.

Research in social psychology has found that human behavior is determined by both a person's characteristics and social neuroscience
by the social situation. It has also shown that the social situation is frequently a stronger influence on behavior than
are a person's characteristics. The st udy of how our social
behavior both influences and
is influenced by the activities
of our brain.

social situation
The people w ith w hom w e
interact every d ay.

Source: https:/! commons. wikimedia.org!w!index.php?curid= 1432887


12 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Social psychology is largely the study of the social situation. Our social situations create social in-
social influence
fluence, the process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and
The processes through wh ich
through which we change theirs.
other people change our
thoughts, feelings, and
Kurt Lewin formalized the joint influence of person variables and situational variables, which is
behaviors and through which known as the person-situation interaction, in an important equation:
we change theirs. Behavior = f (person, social situation)
Lewin' s equation indicates that the behavior of a given person at any given time is a function of
(depends on) both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation.

Evolutionary Adaptation and Human Characteristics


In Lewin's equation, person refers to the characteristics of the individual human being. People are born
with skills that allow them to successfully interact with others in their social world. Newborns are able
to recognize faces and to respond to human voices, young children learn language and develop friend-
ships with other children, adolescents become interested in sex and are destined to fall in love, most
adults marry and have children, and most people usually get along with others.
People have these particular characteristics because we have all been similarly shaped through hu-
man evolution. The genetic code that defines human beings has provided us with specialized social
skills that are important to survival. Just as keen eyesight, physical strength, and resistance to disease
helped our ancestors survive, so, too, did the tendency to engage in social behaviors. We quickly make
judgments about other people, help other people who are in need, and enjoy working together in social
groups because these behaviors helped our ancestors to adapt and were passed along in their genes to
the next generation (Ackerman & Kenrick, 2008; Barrett & Kurzban, 2006; Pinker, 2002).[2 ! ] Our ex-
traordinary social skills are primarily due to our large brains and the social intelligence that they
provide us (Frith, 2007; Herrmann, Call, Hernandez-Lloreda, Hare, & Tomasello, 2007).[221
evolutionary adaptation
The assumption that human nature, including much of our social behavior, is determined largely by
our evolutionary past is known as evolutionary adaptation (Buss & Kenrick, 1998; Workman &
The assu m ption that human
nature, including much of our Reader, 2008).[23 ] In evolutionary theory, fitness refers to the extent to which having a given character-
socia l behavior, is determ ined istic helps the individual organism to survive and to reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of
largely by evolution. the species who do not have the characteristic. Fitter organisms pass on their genes more successfully to
later generations, making the characteristics that produce fitness more likely to become part of the or-
fitness
ganisms' nature than are characteristics that do not produce fitness. T o take just two examples of the
The extent to which having a role of evolution, consider the following:
g iven characteristic helps the
individual organism to • The emotion of jealousy has survived over time in men because men who experience jealousy are
survive and to reproduce at a more fit than men who do not. According to this idea, the experience of jealousy leads men to
higher rate than do other protect their mates and guard against rivals, which increases their reproductive success (Buss,
members of the species who 2000).[24]
d o not have the
characteristic. • In historical times, interacting with people who belonged to different social groups than we did
was dangerous. As a result, the tendency for humans to value their own groups over others, and
to be wary or hostile toward outgroups, developed in human beings, in part, to help us stay safe
(Schaller, 2015).[25 ]
Although our biological makeup prepares us to be human beings, it is important to remember that
our genes do not really determine who we are. Rather, genes provide us with our human characterist-
ics, and these characteristics give us the tendency to behave in a "human" way. And yet each human be-
ing is different from every other human being.
self-concern
Evolutionary adaption has provided us with two fundamental motivations that guide us and help
us lead productive and effective lives. One of these motivations relates to the self- the motivation to
The motivation to p rotect
and enhance the self and
protect and enhance the self and the people who are psychologically close to us; the other relates to the so-
others who are close to us.
cial situation- the motivation to affiliate with, accept, and be accepted by others. We will refer to these
two motivations as self-concern and other-concern respectively.
other-concern
The motivation to affi liate Self-Concern
w ith, accept, and be
accepted by others. The most basic tendency of all living organisms, and the focus of the first human motivation, is the de-
sire to protect and enhance one's own life and the lives of the people who are close to us. Humans are
motivated to find food and water, to obtain adequate shelter, and to protect themselves from danger.
Doing so is necessary because we can survive only if we are able to meet these fundamental goals.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 13

The desire to maintain and enhance the self also leads us to do the same for our relatives- those
kin selection
people who are genetically related to us. Human beings, like other animals, exhibit kin selec-
tion- strategies that favor the reproductive success of one's relatives, sometimes even at a cost to the indi- Strategies that favor the
reproductive success of one's
vidual's own survival. According to evolutionary principles, kin selection occurs because behaviors that relatives, sometimes at a cost
enhance the fitness of relatives, even if they lower the fitness of the individual himself or herself, may to the survival of the
nevertheless increase the survival of the group as a whole. individ ual.
In addition to our kin, we desire to protect, improve, and enhance the well-being
of our ingroup: those whom we view as being similar and important to us and with
The evolutionary principle of kin selection
whom we share close social connections, even if those people do not actually share our leads us to be particularly caring of and helpful
genes. Perhaps you remember a time when you helped friends move all their furniture to those who share our genes.
into a new apartment, even when you would have preferred to be doing something
more beneficial for yourself, such as studying or relaxing. You wouldn't have helped
strangers in this way, but you did it for your friends because you felt close to and cared
about them. The tendency to help the people we feel close to, even if they are not re-
lated to us, is probably due in part to our evolutionary past: Historically, the people we
were closest to were usually those we were related to.

Other-Concern
L. - -

Although we are primarily concerned with the survival of ourselves, our kin, and those
who we feel are similar and important to us, we also desire to connect with and be ac-
cepted by other people more generally- the goal of other-concern. We live together in
communities, we work together in work groups, we may worship together in religious
groups, and we may play together on sports teams and through clubs. Affiliating with
© Thinkstock
oth er peop1e- even strangers- h e1ps us meet a fu n d amental goal : th at o f fin d ing a ro-
mantic partner with whom we can have children. Our connections with others also
provides us with other opportunities that we would not have on our own. We can go to the grocery to
ingroup
buy milk or eggs, and we can hire a carpenter to build a house for us. And we ourselves do work that
provides goods and services for others. This mutual cooperation is beneficial both for us and for the Other people whom we view
as being similar and
people around us. We also affiliate because we enjoy being with others, being part of social groups, and
important to us and with
contributing to social discourse (Leary & Cox, 2008). [261 w hom we share close social
What the other-concern motive means is that we do not always put ourselves first. Being human connections.
also involves caring about, helping, and cooperating with other people. Although our genes are them-
selves "selfish" (Dawkins, 2006), [271this does not mean that individuals always are. The survival of our
own genes may be improved by helping others, even those who are not related to us (Krebs, 2008; Park,
Schaller, & Van Vugt, 2008).[281Just as birds and other animals may give out alarm calls to other anim-
als to indicate that a predator is nearby, humans engage in altruistic behaviors in which they help oth-
ers, sometimes at a potential cost to themselves.
In short, human beings behave morally toward others- they understand that it is wrong to harm
other people without a strong reason for doing so, and they display compassion and even altruism to-
ward others (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010; Turiel, 1983).[291As a result, negative behaviors
toward others, such as bullying, cheating, stealing, and aggression, are unusual, unexpected, and so-
cially disapproved. Of course this does not mean that people are always friendly, helpful, and nice to
each other- powerful social situations can and do create negative behaviors. But the fundamental hu-
man motivation of other-concern does mean that hostility and violence are the exception rather than
the rule of human behavior.
Sometimes the goals of self-concern and other-concern go hand in hand. When we fall in love with
another person, it is in part about a concern for connecting with someone else, but it is also about self-
concern- falling in love makes us feel good about ourselves. And when we volunteer to help others
who are in need, it is in part for their benefit, but also for us. We feel good when we help others- and
people like us more when they see that we are helpful (Hardy & Van Vugt, 2006; Stavrova & Ehleb-
racht, 2015 )_ [3oJ At other times, however, the goals of self-concern and other-concern conflict. Imagine
that you are walking across campus and you see a man with a knife threatening another person. Do you
intervene, or do you turn away? In this case, your desire to help the other person (other-concern) is in
direct conflict with your desire to protect yourself from the danger posed by the situation (self-con-
cern), and you must decide which goal to put first. We will see many more examples of the motives of
self-concern and other-concern, both working together and working against each other, throughout
this book.
14 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Other-concern is a fundamental part of the


1.3 The Social Situation Creates Powerful Social Influence
behavior of humans and many animals.
When people are asked to indicate the things that they value the most, they usually
I
mention their social situation- that is, their relationships with other people
(Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Fiske & Haslam, 1996)_[3 I ] When we work together on a
class project, volunteer at a homeless shelter, or serve on a jury in a courtroom trial, we
count on others to work with us to get the job done. We develop social bonds with
those people, and we expect that they will come through to help us meet our goals. The
importance of others shows up in every aspect of our lives- other people teach us what
we should and shouldn't do, what we should and shouldn't think, and even what we
should and shouldn't like and dislike.
In addition to the people with whom we are currently interacting, we are in-
fluenced by people who are not physically present but who are nevertheless part of our
thoughts and feelings. Imagine that you are driving home on a deserted country road
late at night. No cars are visible in any direction, and you can see for miles. You come
to a stop sign. What do you do? Most likely, you stop at the sign, or at least slow down.
You do so because the behavior has been internalized: Even though no one is there to
watch you, others are still influencing you-you've learned about the rules and laws of
© Thinkstock society, what's right and what's wrong, and you tend to obey them. We carry our own
personal social situations- our experiences with our parents, teachers, leaders, author-
ities, and friends- around with us every day.
An important principle of social psychology, and one that will be with us throughout this book, is
that although individuals' characteristics do matter and the social situation is often a stronger determ-
inant of behavior than is personality. As an example, we will see that even ordinary people who are
neither bad nor evil in any way can, nevertheless, be placed in situations in which an authority figure is
able to lead them to engage in evil behaviors, such as applying potentially lethal levels of electrical
shock (Milgram, 1974).[321
In addition to discovering the remarkable extent to which our behavior is influenced by our social
situation, social psychologists have discovered that we often do not recognize how important the social
situation is in determining behavior. We often wrongly think that we and others act entirely on our
own accord, without any external influences. And yet much research suggests that our everyday beha-
viors are caused more by the social situation than they are by the personal characteristics of the actors
(Gilbert & Malone, 1995).[331
Social support
The comfort that we receive Social Psychology in the Public Interest
from the people around
us- for instance, our fa mily, How the Social Situation Influences Our Mental and Physical Health
friends, classmates, and
coworkers. There is perhaps no clearer example of the powerful infl uence of the social situation than that found in re-
search showing the enormous role that others play in our physical and mental health. Social support refers
to t he comfort that we receive from the people around us- for instance, our fami ly, friends, classmates, and
coworkers_[34J In comparison with those who do not feel that they have a network of others they can rely on,
people who feel that they have adequate social support report being happier and have also been found to
have fewer psychological problems, includ ing eating disorders and mental illness (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith,
1999; Diener, Tamir, & Scollon, 2006)_[351
People w ith social support are less depressed overal l, recover faster from negative events, and are less likely to
commit suicide (Au, Lau, & Lee, 2009; Bertera, 2007; Compton, Thompson, & Kaslow, 2005; Skarsater, Langius,
Agren, Haagstrom, & Dencker, 2005).(361 Married people report being happier than unmarried people (Pew,
2006)/ 371and overall, a happy marriage is an excellent form of social support. One of the goals of effective psy-
chotherapy is to help people generate better social support networks because such relationships have such a
positive effect on mental health.
In addition to having better mental health, people who have adequate social support are more physically
healthy. They have fewer diseases (such as tubercu losis, heart attacks, and cancer), live longer, have lower
blood pressure, and have fewer deaths at al l ages (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Stroebe & Stroebe, 1996)_[3 s1Sports
psycholog ists have even found that individuals with higher levels of social support are less likely to be injured
playing sports and recover more quickly from injuries they do receive (Hardy, Richman, & Rosenfeld, 1991 )_[39J
These differences appear to be due to the positive effects of social support upon physiological function ing, in-
cluding the immune system.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 15

The opposite of social support is the feeling of being excluded or ostracized. Feeling that others are excluding
us is painful, and the pain of rejection may linger even longer than physical pain. People who were asked to re-
cal l an event that caused them social pain (e.g., betrayal by a person very close to them) rated the pain as
more intense than they rated their memories of intense physical pain (Chen, Williams, Fitness, & Newton,
2008).[401 When people are threatened with social exclusion, they subsequently try to reconnect with those
around them: They express greater interest in making new friends, increase their desire to work cooperatively
with others, form more positive first impressions of new potential interaction partners, and become more at-
tentive to the facia l expressions of others (Bernstein, Young, Brown, Sacco, & Claypool, 2008; Maner, DeWal l,
Baumeister, & Schaller, 2007).[4 11
Because connecting with others is such an important part of human experience, we may sometimes withhold
affi liation from or ostracize other people in order to attempt to force them to conform to our w ishes. When in-
dividuals of the Amish rel igion violate the rul ings of an elder, they are placed under a Meidung. During this
time, and until they make amends, they are not spoken to by community members. And people frequently
use the "si lent treatment" to express their disapproval of a friend's or partner's behavior. The pain of ostracism
is particularly strong in adolescents (Sebastian, Viding, Williams, & Blakemore, 2010).[421
Although its use is particularly common in adolescents/ 431 ostracism is also used by parents and young chil-
dren, and is observed in Internet games and chat rooms (Wil liams, Cheung, & Choi, 2000).[441The silent treat-
ment and other forms of ostracism are popular because they work. Withholding social communication and in-
teraction is a powerful weapon for pun ish ing individuals and forcing them to change their behaviors. Individu-
als who are ostracized report feel ing alone, frustrated, sad, and unworthy and having lower self-esteem
(Bastian & Haslam, 2010).[451
Taken together, then, social psycholog ical research results suggest that one of the most important things you
can do for yourself is to develop a stable support network. Reaching out to other people has substantial be-
nefits for you, but also benefits those who become your friends (because you become part of their support
network).

Social Influence Creates Social Norms


In some cases, social influence occurs rather passively, without any obvious intent of one person to in-
fluence the other, such as when we learn about and adopt the beliefs and behaviors of the people
around us, often without really being aware that we are doing so. Social influence occurs when a young
child adopts the beliefs and values of his or her parents or when we start liking jazz music, without
really being aware of it, because our roommate plays a lot of it. In other cases, social influence is any-
thing but subtle: it involves one or more individuals actively attempting to change the beliefs or behavi-
ors of others. Active social influence occurs when the members of a jury work together to get a dissent-
ing member to change his or her opinion; when a popular sports figure encourages children to buy
products; or when a politician uses social media to influence voters.
One outcome of social influence is the development of social norms- the ways of thinking, feel- social norms
ing, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate (Asch, 1955;
The ways of thinking, feeling,
Cialdini, 1993).[461 Norms include customs, traditions, standards, and rules, as well as the general val- or behaving t hat are shared
ues of the group. Through norms, we learn what people actually do ("people in the United States are by group members and
more likely to eat scrambled eggs in the morning and spaghetti in the evening, rather than vice versa") perceived by them as
and also what we should do ("do unto others as you would have them do unto you") and shouldn't do appropriate.
("do not make racist jokes"). There are norms about almost every possible social behavior, and these
norms have a big influence on our actions.

Different Cultures Have Different Norms


The social norms that guide our everyday behaviors and that create social influence derive in large part
culture
from our culture. A culture represents a group ofpeople, normally living within a given geographical re-
gion, who share a common set of social norms, including religious and family values and moral beliefs A group of people, normally
living within a given
(Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998; Matsumoto, 2001).[47 ] The culture in which we live affects geographica l region, who
our thoughts, feelings, and behavior through teaching, imitation, and other forms of social transmis- share a common set of social
sion (Mesoudi, 2009). [4s] It is not inappropriate to say that our culture defines our lives just as much as norms, including re ligious
our evolutionary experience does. and family va lues and moral
beliefs.
16 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VERSION 2.0

Cultures differ in terms of the particular norms that they find important and that guide the behavi-
individualism
or of the group members. Social psychologists have found that there is a fundamental difference in so-
Cu ltu ral norms, common in cial norms between Western cultures (including the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia,
Western countries, that focus and New Zealand) and East Asian cultures (including China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, and South-
p rimarily on
self-enhancement and
east Asia). Norms in Western cultures are primarily oriented toward individualism- cultural norms,
independence. common in Wes tern societies, that focus primarily on self-enhancement and independence. Children in
Western cultures are taught to develop and value a sense of their personal self and to see themselves as
largely separate from the people around them. Children in Western cultures feel special about them-
selves- they enjoy getting gold stars on their projects and the best grade in the class (Markus, Mullally,
& Kitayama, 1997)_[49 ] Adults in Western cultures are oriented toward promoting their own individual
success, frequently in comparison with ( or even at the expense of) others. When asked to describe
themselves, individuals in Western cultures generally tend to indicate that they like to "do their own
thing," prefer to live their lives independently, and base their happiness and self-worth upon their own
personal achievements. In short, in Western cultures the emphasis is on self-concern.
collectivism
Norms in the East Asian cultures, on the other hand, are more focused on other-concern. These
norms indicate that people should be more fundamentally connected with others and thus are more ori-
Cu ltu ral norms, common in
Eastern countries, indicate
ented toward interdependence, or collectivism. In East Asian cultures, children are taught to focus on
that people shou ld be more developing harmonious social relationships with others, and the predominant norms relate to group
fundamenta lly connected togetherness, connectedness, and duty and responsibility to one's family. The members of East Asian
w ith others and, thus, cultures, when asked to describe themselves, indicate that they are particularly concerned about the in-
oriented toward terests of others, including their close friends and their colleagues. As one example of these cultural
interdepend ence. differences, research conducted by Shinobu Kitayama and his colleagues (Uchida, Norasakkunkit, &
Kitayama, 2004) [5o] found that East Asians were more likely than Westerners to experience happiness
as a result of their connections with other people, whereas Westerners were more likely to experience
happiness as a result of their own personal accomplishments.
Other researchers have studied other cultural differences, such as variations in ori-
People from Western cultures are, on average, entations toward time. Some cultures are more concerned with arriving and departing
more individualistic than people from Eastern according to a fixed schedule, whereas others consider time in a more flexible manner
cultures, who are, on average, more 5 IJ Levine and colleagues (1999) [521found that "the pace
collectivistic. (Levine & Norenzayan, 1999)_[
of life," as assessed by average walking speed in downtown locations, and the speed
with which postal clerks completed a simple request, was fastest in Western countries
(also including Japan) and was slowest in economically undeveloped countries. It has
also been argued that there are differences in the extent to which people in different
cultures are bound by social norms and customs, rather than being free to express their
own individuality without regard to considering social norms (Gelfand et al., 1996)_[53 ]
And there are also cultural differences regarding personal space, such as how close indi-
viduals stand to each other when talking, as well as differences in the communication
© Thinkstock styles individuals employ.
It is important to be aware of cultures and cultural differences, at least in part be-
cause people with different cultural backgrounds are increasingly coming into contact
with each other as a result of increased travel and immigration and the development of the Internet
and other forms of communication. In the United States, for instance, there are many different ethnic
groups, and the proportion of the population that comes from minority (non-White) groups is increas-
ing from year to year. Minorities will account for a much larger proportion of the total new entries into
the U.S. workforce over the next decades. In fact, minorities, which are now roughly one third of the
U.S. population, are expected to become the majority by 2042, and the United States is expected to be
54% minority by 2050. By 2023, more than half of all children will be minorities (U.S. Census Bureau,
n.d.). These changes will result in considerable growth in cultural diversity in the United States, and al-
though this will create the potential for useful cooperation and productive interaction, it may also pro-
duce unwanted social conflict. Being aware of cultural differences and considering their influence on
how we behave toward others is an important part of a basic understanding of social psychology and a
topic that we will return to frequently in this book.
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I'll send McFrazer post haste to Nyaruma and get my friend
Wynyard, the District Commissioner, to send reliable native trackers.
These blighters are unholy frauds."

And signing to the natives to get out of the way, the Colonel urged
his horse into a hand-gallop, his companions following his example.

But his physical powers were unequal to the demand of his moral
strength and resolution; for upon arriving at Kilembonga he fell
forward in his saddle in a swoon. Van der Wyck was only just in time
to save him from a dangerous tumble.

So far the search for the missing lads had not only been
unsuccessful, but other misfortunes had descended upon this little
outpost of civilisation in the wilds of East Africa.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE RAVING OF THE WITCH-DOCTOR

On Piet Van der Wyck, the Colonel's guest, descended the mantle
of responsibility. With the exception of the dour Scot, McFrazer, he
was the only active white man on the estate, and in spite of his years
he rose nobly to the occasion.

The first step was to have the injured man carried to his bed. Here
the Afrikander, skilled in veldt surgery and medicine, deftly removed
Colonel Narfield's boots and leggings. Already the sprained ankle
had swollen badly, and once the compression of the foot gear was
removed, the foot enlarged to greatly abnormal dimensions.
With the aid of embrocation and hot water Van der Wyck dressed
the injury and then proceeded to restore the patient to
consciousness.

Colonel Narfield's first act upon opening his eyes was to attempt to
get out of bed, protesting that happen what may he was not going to
lie there while his two young charges were still missing.

The old farmer firmly exercised his authority.

"You'll have to stay there for a few days," he declared. "By getting
up you will not only injure yourself, but no doubt hamper the work of
the searchers. I am sending McFrazer as you ordered, and until the
native trackers arrive I will patrol the road with the Haussas."

The injured man saw the force of Van der Wyck's contentions. He
simply had to give up, although the state of his active mind can well
be imagined.

McFrazer, booted and spurred, was ready for his long ride when
the Afrikander left the patient's room.

"Would you be thinking it was an aeroplane?" he asked, for he had


already heard from the Haussas how far the spoor of the missing
youths had been tracked.

Van der Wyck shook his head.

"Impossible," he replied. "There were trees meeting overhead."

McFrazer accepted the denial with characteristic brevity.

"Oh, ay," he replied. "Then I'm just awa'," as if a 150-mile ride were
an everyday occurrence.

As a matter of fact the journey to Nyaruma took him exactly fifteen


hours, for at twelve miles from Kilembonga the rough track joined a
well-constructed post-road from Tabora to Ujiji, where there were
relay-horses at convenient distances.
Meanwhile Van der Wyck rode over to Sibenga's Kraal and saw
Logula again. Most of the natives had recovered from their feast, and
several of them, with a view to a reward, offered to search for the
missing white men. Selecting two trackers, Van der Wyck set them
on the spoor, which to a European would be by this time utterly lost.

The natives did almost exactly what their fellow tribesmen had
done the previous day, coming to a halt in precisely the same spot
and declaring that the lost men had "gone up."

Van der Wyck, who spoke most of the Kaffir dialects fluently, had
little difficulty in making himself understood in the tongue of
Sibenga's people; but he found it impossible to get the natives to
climb the trees and make further investigations. They professed
ignorance of the command, shaking their heads and uttering the
word "Maquishi" (finished).

So the Afrikander had to leave it at that as far as these fellows were


concerned, but he determined to carry out further investigations in
that direction, although he himself was too old and too inexperienced
in woodcraft to be able to climb trees.

At four o'clock on the day next following two motor-cars dashed up


to the gate of Kilembonga.

In the first was Wynyard, the District Commissioner, his secretary,


and McFrazer. The second contained a native sergeant, two police,
and two black trackers from Lilwana's country, men known for miles
as the craftiest and most highly-skilled human sleuthhounds in East
Africa.

Wynyard meant to do his task thoroughly. Apart from the fact that
two Englishmen had disappeared, Colin and Desmond were, like
himself, Stockmere Old Boys.

He had accomplished the journey in the record time of seven


hours, the cars attaining a speed of nearly fifty miles an hour over
the post-road, and rarely falling below twenty over the rest of the
way.

McFrazer had already related all he knew of the case. During a


hasty meal Wynyard elicited further information from Van der Wyck,
and also had a brief but business-like interview with the invalid,
Colonel Narfield.

"Right-o!" he declared, cheerfully. "We'll find them. S'pose they're


not playing a practical joke, by any chance?"

"Not with serious work on hand," replied Colonel Narfield. "They


were keeping an eye on the niggers carrying the ivory, and they
knew the importance of that. Yet, curiously enough, the blacks didn't
notice the lads' disappearance, otherwise some, if not all, of the ivory
would have been missing. It wasn't."

Within forty minutes of his arrival Wynyard was on the road again.
With him went Van der Wyck, none too readily, for he mistrusted
mechanical cars. He would have preferred his trusty horse, but that
animal had been worked hard of late, and, as time was a great
consideration, the Afrikander took courage and rather nervously sat
beside Wynyard in the car.

In the rear were crowded Tenpenny Nail, Blue Fly, and the native
sergeant, while the second car was packed with native trackers,
police, and a huge dog, partly bloodhound and partly wolfhound.

"We are nearing the place where the Sibenga Kraal trackers lost
the spoor," cautioned Van der Wyck, as the leading car jolted and
bumped through the dense avenue.

"Oh," ejaculated Wynyard, "is that so? But I think I'll start at the
beginning. There's nothing like independent clues."

The cars pulled up outside the hut of Logula, Sibenga's successor


came out to do "Konza," accompanied by almost every man, woman
and child in the village.
There was a sneer on the Chief's face as he watched the
preparations. He rather resented the employment of trackers from
another tribe, but he said nothing and thought the more.

Meanwhile Wynyard was holding one of Colin's sun-helmets to the


hound's nose. The animal, quickly picking up the scent, trotted off
with his tail erect and his nose close to the ground.

Twenty yards or so behind followed the car containing the District


Commissioner and Van der Wyck, with the Haussas riding on the
running-board. The other car came close behind, with four of the
more daring natives of Sibenga's Kraal augmenting the numbers of
the already closely-packed occupants.

Van der Wyck was not in the least surprised that the hound came to
a standstill at the very spot which the two pairs of trackers had
already indicated as the end of the spoor. The animal, showing a
decided disinclination to proceed, was led back to the second car,
and the Nyaruma trackers were told to carry on the good work.

In five minutes they delivered their verdict. The missing white men
had "gone up." They were positive about that, but, like the Sibenga
Kraal trackers, they resolutely declined to continue their
investigations in the overhanging branches of the trees.

"Dashed if I'll be done!" exclaimed Wynyard. Then turning to the


native sergeant, he bade him bring a rope from the second car and
make it fast to one of the branches.

Assisted by Tenpenny Nail and Blue Fly, the sergeant carried out
his instructions. Thereupon Wynyard swarmed up the rope and
gained the leafy branch. But there was nothing that afforded him a
clue, or, if there were, he failed to detect it. The leaves and young
twigs showed no sign of having been disturbed; the resinous wood
bore no trace of the contact of the studded sole of a boot.

"Were they carrying rifles?" he inquired, calling down to Van der


Wyck, twenty-five or thirty feet below.
"Yes," replied the old farmer. "They had when we left the kraal."

"And these haven't been found?"

"No; we found nothing."

Wynyard knotted his brow in perplexity. Presumably, Sinclair and


Desmond were either carrying their rifles in their left hands or else
had the weapons slung across their backs.

Assuming the native trackers' assertions to be correct, what


happened to the rifles? Either they would have fallen to the ground
or else they would have caught and torn away some of the foliage.

"Well, I consider this the limit—the absolute limit," declared


Wynyard, as he prepared to descend.

Arriving upon terra firma, the District Commissioner consulted a


map of the district. It was based upon a German survey, and,
therefore, remarkably accurate, for the Hun, painstaking and
methodical and convinced that he had come to stay, had triangulated
and mapped out his largest colony with Teutonic thoroughness.

From it he discovered that the forest extended a good twenty miles


in a north-easterly direction, and was about half that distance across
its widest part. The furthermost limits extended to the base of a lofty
ridge of mountains forming part of that mighty system that early
nineteenth century cartographers vaguely indicated as the
Mountains of the Moon.

Wynyard was still engaged in scanning the map when his attention
was distracted by the sounds of shouting and yelling. Four hundred
yards down the road came Logula and his warriors, all armed in
characteristic fashion with spears, shields, and kerries, and rigged
out in feathers, paint, and other native insignia.

"By Jove!" he ejaculated. "I hope those beggars aren't up to


mischief," and he found himself wishing that he had a full company
of armed police with him in place of the three or four men at his
disposal.

But Logula's intentions were friendly, even though they appeared


the opposite. By his side capered a tall fellow in the full panoply of a
witch-doctor.

"Great Chief," began Logula, "you have failed, even as my snake


told me you would. Therefore I bring you aid."

"We are in no need of the black man's magic, Logula," declared


Wynyard sternly.

"You can but try," protested the Chief.

"And waste time," rejoined the District Commissioner. "Begone!"

Logula stuck to his guns.

"Hearken, Great One," he continued. "I have twenty good oxen. If


my witch-doctor fails to give you the knowledge you seek, then they
are yours."

Wynyard was on the point of contemptuously declining the offer


when Van der Wyck interposed.

"Let him try, Mr. Wynyard," advised the old man. "Times before I
have both heard and seen these wizards at work in the Transvaal
and Zululand. I have no faith in their methods, but their results are
sometimes very wonderful. Out of darkness we may find light."

"Very well," agreed Wynyard grumblingly, "Let the jolly old


jamboree proceed."

The witch-doctor needed no second bidding. With many weird and


unintelligible incantations he lighted a fire on the very spot that had
so frequently been pointed out during the last three days. Then he
began dancing and capering violently, at times literally treading in the
midst of the flames with his bare feet.
After about ten minutes of this sort of thing he suddenly collapsed
in a heap, his head resting on his knees, at the same time emitting
mournful howls.

"O Talula!" exclaimed Logula, addressing the semi-conscious


wizard. "Tell me, have you smelt out the White Man-who-wears-the-
Sacred-Amulet?"

"I have, O Chief."

"What do you see—blood?"

"I see no blood."

"Hau!" exclaimed Logula. "The White Man-who-wears-the-Sacred-


Amulet still lives."

The witch-doctor raised himself to a sitting position and pointed to


the north-east.

"Warriors not of our nation. Spears in hundreds. A great hole in the


earth .... I see two white men ... at present they are not spirits."

"Ask him," exclaimed Wynyard, addressing Logula, "ask him if he


will be able to rescue them?"

"They might be restored to their own people," announced the witch-


doctor, without waiting for the question to be put to him. "More, I
cannot say, save that the Great One from Nyaruma will not succeed
in the attempt .... I have it ...."

With a convulsive effort he sprang to his feet, clutched at the empty


air, and uttered one word:

"Makoh'lenga."
CHAPTER XXVIII
KIDNAPPED

"Good night's work that, Tiny, old bird," remarked Colin.

"Yes, you lucky beggar," agreed his chum enviously. "Of course, it's
jolly sporting of you to divide your share, and I'm grateful. At the
same time, 'tisn't the same, if you can understand. S'posing, for
instance, it had been my lucky shot, you'd understand then."

"It was a jolly good thing I picked up those explosive cartridges by


accident," conceded Sinclair. "It was a fluke—absolutely."

"Colonel Narfield would have been snuffed out if you hadn't," said
Tiny. "The ordinary .303's had no more effect than tickling a wild cat
with a straw. By Jove! I am sleepy ... aren't those niggers kicking up
an infernal row?"

"Let's slow down a bit and miss most of the dust and noise,"
suggested Colin. "We can keep an eye on the bearers just as well, if
not better."

Checking their horses, the two chums allowed the bearers to draw
on ahead. It was a case of distance lending enchantment to the
scene, as the early sunlight glinted on the muscular, copper skins of
the wildly-excited natives.

"Ugh! The flies!" exclaimed Tiny. "That one nearly jumped down my
throat. 'Tain't all jam being in the rear of a procession—eh, what?"
"I'm going to have the best piece of the ivory sawn off," declared
Colin, ignoring his companion's complaint and reverting to the
subject of the spoils of the chase. "Then I'll send it home to my
people. And a chunk for Dr. Narfield, too. Probably the head will
shove it in the school museum with a notice on it, 'Shot by an Old
Boy,' sort of thing. My word, I'm jolly glad I came out here, aren't
you?"

"Better'n fooling round in an office, any old day," declared Tiny.


"More than likely I'd have been under the turf now if I'd stopped at
home."

"And now you're quite fit," remarked his chum.

"Hope so," said Desmond. "There's one thing, I've lost that rotten
cough .... Hullo! We're nearly into the forest. Hadn't we better hurry
along a bit. If those niggers took it into their heads to do a bunk,
you'd lose your ivory for a dead cert., old son."

"Half a mo!" exclaimed Colin. "My girth's slipping a bit. Hang on, old
man."

Throwing his reins to his chum, Sinclair dismounted and deftly


readjusted the slack girth. Then, climbing into the saddle, he urged
his horse onwards.

By this time the rear of the column was nearly three hundred yards
ahead and already in the shade of the dense foliage. The bearers,
probably with the idea of keeping up their courage in the gloom,
redoubled their shouts.

"What a contrast!" remarked Desmond as the two lads entered the


forest. "After the glare I can hardly see a yard——"

His remarks were cut short in a totally unexpected manner. From a


stout branch of a tree immediately overhead two hide ropes,
terminating in running nooses, were dexterously dropped over the
shoulders of the astonished lads.
Before they could utter a sound—even if they had, the din made by
the native bearers would have deadened it—they were jerked out of
the saddles and hauled aloft.

At the sudden tightening of the noose, Colin immediately relaxed


his grip of the reins and instinctively made a frantic ineffectual grab
at his slung rifle. The noose, pinning his arms tightly against his
sides, rendered the attempt futile.

Like a shoulder of mutton hanging from a roasting-jack, Colin found


himself being hoisted upwards, spinning round and round, and more
than once colliding with his companion in misfortune.

The coup had been neatly planned and dexterously executed.


Strong, lithe, brown hands emerging from the leafy cover gripped the
two lads, stifling their unheard shouts for aid. Other hands grasped
their rifles, cutting the leather slings in order to disarm the kidnapped
youths.

Then, bound hand and foot and effectually gagged, Colin and Tiny
were laid at full length upon a broad branch thirty feet above the
ground, with a dozen or more sinewy, active men keeping guard over
the captives and others in the higher branches watching with much
approval the deft work of their companions.

Then someone spoke in a tongue that neither Colin nor Tiny


recognised, although by this time they had a useful smattering of the
native dialects in use around Kilembonga.

There was no doubt about it—the man in charge of the kidnappers


knew how to handle them. The discipline was perfect. Unlike most
African natives, who can hardly ever carry out any work silently,
these men maintained absolute quiet, moving with the precision and
smoothness of a well-regulated machine.

Each captive was carefully lifted from branch to branch until they
were at least eighty feet above the ground. During the operation the
men took particular pains not to break off any of the foliage,
methodically bending the twigs that hampered their progress, and
not allowing any part of the captives' bodies or clothing to come in
contact with the bark.

The next step was to pass the prisoners literally from hand to hand
and from tree to tree, the close formation of the massive branches
forming an almost continuous arboreal highway.

As fast as each native passed on his load he dropped to a lower


branch and made his way to the front of the long line of bearers
ready to renew his part in the endless human chain, so that at the
end of an hour Colin and Desmond were at least two miles from the
scene of their capture.

Here the party—captors and captives—descended to the ground.


More natives were waiting with two hammock-like litters of woven
grass. Into these Colin and Desmond were placed, no attempt being
made to remove either their gags or their bonds.

Then at a rapid pace, but with the same orderly silence that
characterised the opening stages of the operations, the natives
moved off, the two litters being borne in the centre of the long double
file.

At the end of a tedious journey, in which Colin calculated they had


covered from ten to twelve miles, the cortège halted in an open
space, bounded on three sides by the forest, and on the fourth by a
cliff rising sheer to a height of two thousand feet.

The gags were then removed and the prisoners' ankles freed,
although their arms were still securely bound as before. Then into a
vast circle of armed warriors Colin and his chum were led, to find
themselves confronted by a gigantic man holding a gleaming axe of
yellow metal. By his side was a pillar of wood, somewhat resembling
the mediaeval executioner's block.

"If they've brought us all this way for the purpose of cutting off our
heads," thought Colin, "all I can say is they've gone to a lot of
unnecessary trouble. Tiny, old man," he added aloud, "for goodness'
sake don't let them see we've got the wind up. Let them see we're
Englishmen."

CHAPTER XXIX
IN THE HANDS OF THE MAKOH'LENGA

Colin Sinclair had been curious concerning the mysterious


Makoh'lenga. Now he was finding out more about them than he
wished.

His captors were without exception tall and muscular and well-
proportioned. Their garb consisted solely of a white loin cloth. Their
bodies were "unadorned" with chalk and ochre after the fashion of
the majority of African tribes, nor were there any evidences of
voluntary mutilation so frequently to be met with amongst savages.
The only ornaments they wore were armlets of gold just above the
left elbow. Every male lenga over the age of sixteen wore one.

They were noticeably clean in their habits and persons, orderly and
well-disciplined, and, in short, seemed far in advance in the
principles of hygiene above even the doyen of the Kaffir races—the
pure-blooded Zulu.

But even these qualifications were no excuse for present


conditions. The possibility of making a touching acquaintance with
the golden axe rather blunted Sinclair's interest in his new and
undesirable acquaintances.

There was no denying one fact—he felt "scared stiff." It was only by
a determined effort that he kept his well-schooled and steady nerves
under control. Perhaps if his arms had not been so securely bound
he might have precipitated matters by planting a blow with his fist
between the eyes of the copper-hued giant who was watching him
so covertly.

The Makoh'lenga seemed in no hurry to commence the next phase


of the operations. In a two-deep circle they stood motionless as
statues, each warrior grasping the haft of a seven-foot, broad-bladed
spear, while on his right arm he wore a small circular shield with a
convex boss.

On the inside of each shield was a small sheath holding a short


double-edged knife. The weapons were plain and serviceable, no
attempt being made to engrave the metalwork or to embellish the
hafts with paint and feathers. Simplicity of equipment seemed to be
the keynote of these mysterious men.

At length, in reply to an invitation from the chief, two warriors


stepped forward and solemnly presented the trophies—the captives'
rifles. These were accepted without any hesitation, the chief
apparently knowing the principles of modern firearm construction;
but, strangely enough, he carefully examined the stocks as if to find
some inscription.

Discovering none, a shade of disappointment flitted over his


features, and without a word he handed them back to the men from
whom he had received them.

Although the giant was obviously a person of rank, even if he were


not the supreme head of the tribe, there was a total lack of servile
abasement noticeable in the case of the Zulu, Matabele, and other
Kaffir tribes.

The men tendering the rifles simply saluted by bringing the right
hand in a horizontal position up to the chin. This was the recognised
form of salutation. Equals greeted one another by bringing the right
hand only breast high.
Several times Colin bethought him of the amulet, but, his arms
being bound, he was unable to produce it. Perhaps, after all, it was a
trump card. On the other hand, it might fail to produce the same
effect upon these mysterious men as it had once upon the obviously
less intellectual natives around Kilembonga.

Presently four warriors, laying aside their spears and shields,


strode forward and grasped Desmond by the arms and legs, and
held him in a horizontal position. Tiny did not utter a sound, nor did
he offer any resistance, but he craned his neck and looked at the
executioner's block with ill-concealed dismay.

It was a moment when the rattle of a machine-gun would have


been most welcome. Even a stampeding of wild elephants or a
death-dealing thunderstorm would have been a pleasurable
diversion, but nothing of the sort happened.

At a word from the chief, Tiny's captors searched his pockets and
tore open his shirt. Every article they took—knife, cartridges,
handkerchief, matches, purse, and notebook they examined and
then placed in a row on to the ground. They expressed no delight at
the various objects which are highly prized by savages; indeed, their
looks betrayed disappointment.

The examination over, Tiny was set upon his feet and left alone.
The four warriors next directed their attention towards Colin, and he,
too, was placed in a horizontal position and searched.

Suddenly one of the men gave a shout of delight; it was the first
sound uttered by any one during the searching process. He had
discovered the swastika.

Cutting away the cord that held it, the finder reverently presented it
to the chief.

The latter, displaying considerable emotion, minutely examined the


gold and copper amulet, then, holding it aloft, he shouted:
"Ad idda ver h'lenga soya."

Although utterly ignorant of the language, Colin realised its import.


The chief had announced to his people that the much-sought-for
amulet had been found.

A roar of exultation greeted the words. Almost before the volume of


sound had abated a weird-looking contrivance was carried into the
centre of the ring by a dozen huge men. It resembled a gigantic
ram's horn, the bell mouth rising a good ten feet from the ground. At
the other end was a hollow cylinder with a disc of goat's skin
stretched tightly over the outer part.

Armed with a club-shaped stick, one of the natives began banging


upon the drum portion of the instrument, keeping up the performance
for the space of about a minute, the beats resembling the tapping of
a morse code buzzer.

The volume of sound emitted from the bell-mouthed horn was


stupendous. It seemed loud enough to deafen everyone within fifty
yards. Even the ground shook perceptibly under the roar of the
deep-pitched instrument.

The last long-drawn reverberations died away, and utter silence fell
upon the close ranks of the Makoh'lenga warriors. Then, after a
lapse of nearly five minutes, came a low, bass roar from a distant
source. Somewhere, far up in the rugged mountains, an alert
sentinel was replying to the sonorous message of the ram's horn.

The message was short and obviously satisfactory and to the point,
for the moment the sound ceased the chief issued an order.

With the alertness and methodical precision of a crack British


regiment, the circle of warriors dissolved, and the men reformed into
a close column. Up doubled a party of men with the two litters in
which Colin and Tiny had been carried through the forest.
With his own hands the Chief unknotted the bonds that secured the
lads' arms. Then he signed to them to retake possession of their
scanty belongings except their rifles. The amulet was retained by the
Chief, who motioned to the two chums to seat themselves in the
litters.

"This is going to be a bit of a picnic, after all, Tiny, old son,"


remarked Colin.

"Hope so," replied Desmond. "Only isn't it a bit too early to talk
about picnics and joy rides? That chap seems jolly pleased to be
able to bag your amulet. Now he's got that, what does he want us
for? That's what I want to know."

At a sign from the Chief, Colin and Tiny climbed into the litters.
Their previous acquaintance with this mode of conveyance had been
in a state of being bound hand and foot. Now their limbs were freed
and they were able to sit up and look about them, while an awning
had been provided to shelter them from the glare of the sun.

The chums were in the middle of a long column of men marching


four abreast, the warriors keeping step but taking much longer paces
than is the case with European troops. They moved almost silently,
their bare feet treading lightly upon the ground. Except when a
command was given, not a word was spoken.

Following the base of the line of cliffs the Makoh'lenga marched for
nearly two miles until they arrived at a shallow stream running
through a deep gorge. Here the warriors turned sharp to the left, in
file, and began ascending the stream, which varied from ankle to
knee-deep.

Although the rivulet was not less than ten feet in width the walls of
the gorge, which averaged two hundred feet in height, almost met at
the top, so that the inclosed space was deep in gloom. It was a weird
experience to the two chums, as they watched the symmetrical lines
of dark figures making their way up-stream.
At length, above the swish of the water as hundreds of feet forced
their way against the steady current, came the dull roar of a
waterfall. Louder and louder grew the sound, until Colin could see an
apparently unbroken sheet of water falling from a height of quite a
hundred and fifty feet and breaking into a cloud of foam as it came in
contact with the bed of the gorge.

Into this waterfall the Makoh'lenga plunged unhesitatingly. They,


evidently, did not share the dislike, amounting almost to fear, of Zulu
tribes for running water, yet it puzzled Colin to know where the men
went. They seemed to be swallowed up in the clouds of spray as file
after file disappeared. Beyond the waterfall was solid rock, and yet
the column held on without a check.

Then came Colin's turn to pass through the sheet of descending


water. To a great extent the canopy overhead prevented him from a
thorough soaking, although the spray invaded the open side of the
litter.

It was an ordeal quickly over. For a brief instant, as the water


poured unhindered upon the canopy, it seemed as if the covering
would collapse under the pressure. The bearers staggered under the
weight of the falling water, but quickly recovering themselves, they
bore Colin inside the fall.

Here was a clear space of about three yards between the wall of
rock that formed a barrier and the gulley and the curtain-like
waterfall, and on the right of this space was a natural tunnel driven
obliquely through the wall of the chasm.

This, then, was the secret gateway to Makoh'lenga Land.


CHAPTER XXX
TO WHAT END?

The tunnel was of large dimensions, averaging twenty-five feet in


height, and—when once clear of the gulley—fifteen feet in width, the
floor was remarkably even, with a stiff gradient. In remote ages the
tunnel had evidently been the outlet for an enormous quantity of
water—possibly a mountain lake—but the supply had long since
diminished and had found a new outlet.

Just within the entrance to the tunnel a guard of warriors was


drawn up in a recess, in one corner of which a fire was burning.

As the returning Makoh'lengas passed, every tenth man was given


a lighted torch, in order to illuminate the otherwise dark approach,
and soon the tunnel was brilliantly lit up, while the flambeaux gave
off very little smoke and emitted pleasant odours.

The bearers of the two litters were evidently anxious not to cause
their passengers any further inconvenience, for the two men in front
held the poles in their hands with the arms drooping to the full extent.
The men behind raised their ends of the poles upon their shoulders,
so that the litters were kept in practically a horizontal position.

During the passage of the tunnel the same silence on the part of
the warriors was observed, the only sounds being the pattering of
hundreds of bare feet upon the smooth rock and the hiss of the
flaring torches.

The subterranean march occupied about five minutes, then into the
blazing sunlight the long procession emerged.

Colin was frankly interested. He felt that as the threatened danger


had passed away, thanks to the amulet, there was little possibility of
its recurrence, especially as the lads' captors were now treating
them with consideration. True, Sinclair no longer had the swastika in
his possession, but whether that would influence further proceedings
remained a matter for speculation.

It was a strange sight that greeted Colin's gaze as the litter came to
a standstill on the Makoh'lenga terrace. Although this was by no
means the summit of the mountain it was several miles in length and
about one and a half in breadth.

On the side nearer the mountain were hundreds of stone and


plaster-built houses with thatched roofs. Each house had large
glazeless windows shaded by wide porches, while every door was
open.

Subsequently Sinclair discovered that the doorways were open for


the simple reason that there were no outside doors. It was a custom
of the Makoh'lenga to keep "open house," the natives being so
scrupulously honest that there was no necessity for anyone to bolt
and bar his household goods and chattels.

Each house was surrounded by a small, highly-cultivated garden,


while outside the village were common fields, both under cultivation
and for grazing purposes, the grass being particularly rich and
capable of supporting large herds of domestic cattle and flocks of
sheep and goats, the latter bearing a strong resemblance to the
Angoras.

At some distance from the houses were buildings given over to the
manufacture of metal, woodwork, pottery, and cotton and worsted
goods, the Makoh'lenga being skilled artisans. There were several
ingenious machines used in connection with the various industries,
many of these being driven by water-power.

Gold, copper, and iron were worked into manufactured goods to a


large extent, but the Makoh'lenga seemed ignorant of how to
produce steel or even cast-iron.

Colin soon discovered that the warriors who had escorted Tiny and
himself were only a small portion of the Makoh'lenga fighting men.

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