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Social Psychology, Global Edition

Social Psychology, Global Edition

Nyla R. Branscombe | Robert A Baron

(2017)

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Book Details

Abstract

For courses in Social Psychology

 

Show how the ever-changing field of Social Psychology is useful in students’ everyday lives.

 

Social Psychology, Fourteenth Edition retains the hallmark of its past success: up-to-date coverage of the quickly evolving subject matter written in a lively manner that has been embraced by thousands of students around the world. Authors Nyla Branscombe and Robert Baron—both respected scholars with decades of undergraduate teaching experience—generate student excitement by revealing the connections between theory and real-world experiences. The Fourteenth Edition offers updated content to engage students, as well as new “What Research Tells Us About…” sections in each chapter that illustrate how research findings help answer important questions about social life.


Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Title Page 1
Copyright Page 2
Brief Contents 4
Contents 5
Preface 10
Acknowledgements 15
About the Authors 16
Chapter 1: Social Psychology The Science of the Social Side of Life 17
1.1: Social Psychology: What It Is and Is Not 20
1.1.1: Social Psychology Is Scientific in Nature 21
1.1.2: Social Psychology Focuses on the Behavior of Individuals 24
1.1.3: Social Psychology Seeks to Understand the Causes of Social Behavior 25
1.1.4: The Search for Basic Principles in a Changing Social World 28
1.2: Social Psychology: Advances at the Boundaries 30
1.2.1: Cognition and Behavior: Two Sides of the Same Social Coin 31
1.2.2: The Role of Emotion in the Social Side of Life 31
1.2.3: Social Relationships: How Important They Are for Well-Being 31
1.2.4: Social Neuroscience: The Intersection of Social Psychology and Brain Research 33
1.2.5: The Role of Implicit (Nonconscious) Processes 36
1.2.6: Taking Full Account of Social Diversity 37
1.3: How Social Psychologists Answer the Questions They Ask: Research as the Route to Increased Knowledge 38
1.3.1: Systematic Observation: Describing the World Around Us 38
1.3.2: Correlation: The Search for Relationships 40
1.3.3: The Experimental Method: Knowledge Through Systematic Intervention 42
1.3.4: Further Thoughts on Causality: The Role of Mediating Variables 46
1.3.5: Meta-Analysis: Assessing a Body of Knowledge 46
1.4: The Role of Theory in Social Psychology 47
1.5: The Quest for Knowledge and the Rights of Individuals: Seeking an Appropriate Balance 49
1.6: Getting the Most Out of This Book: A User’s Guide 52
Summary and Review 52
Chapter 2: Social Cognition How We Think About the Social World 54
2.1: Heuristics: How We Employ Simple Rules in Social Cognition 57
2.1.1: Representativeness: Judging by Resemblance 58
2.1.2: Availability: “If I Can Recall Many Instances, They Must Be Frequent?” 59
2.1.3: Anchoring and Adjustment: Where You Begin Makes a Difference 61
2.1.4: Status Quo Heuristic: “What Is, Is Good” 63
What Research Tells Us About… People’s Preference for the Status Quo 64
2.2: Schemas: Mental Frameworks for Organizing Social Information 65
2.2.1: The Impact of Schemas on Social Cognition: Attention, Encoding, Retrieval 66
2.2.2: Priming: Which Schema Guides Our Thought? 66
2.2.3: Schema Persistence: Why Even Discredited Schemas Can Influence Thought and Behavior 67
2.2.4: Reasoning by Metaphor: How Social Attitudes and Behavior Are Affected by Figures of Speech 68
2.3: Automatic and Controlled Processing in Social Thought 70
2.3.1: Automatic Processing and Automatic Social Behavior 71
2.3.2: Benefits of Automatic Processing: Beyond Mere Efficiency 72
2.4: Potential Sources of Error in Social Cognition: Why Total Rationality Is Rarer Than You Think 73
2.4.1: Our Powerful Tendency to Be Overly Optimistic 74
2.4.2: Situation-Specific Sources of Error in Social Cognition: Counterfactual Thinking and Magical Thinking 78
2.5: Affect and Cognition: How Feelings Shape Thought and Thought Shapes Feelings 81
2.5.1: The Influence of Affect on Cognition 82
2.5.2: The Influence of Cognition on Affect 83
2.5.3: Affect and Cognition: Social Neuroscience Evidence for Two Separate Systems 85
What Research Tells Us About… Why Not Controlling Ourselves Can Make Us Feel Good 86
Summary and Review 87
Chapter 3: Social Perception Seeking to Understand Others 89
3.1: Nonverbal Communication: An Unspoken Language 91
3.1.1: Basic Channels of Nonverbal Communication 92
3.1.2: Nonverbal Cues in Social Life 96
3.1.3: Recognizing Deception 98
What Research Tells Us About… The Role of Nonverbal Cues in Job Interviews 102
3.2: Attribution: Understanding the Causes of Behavior 103
3.2.1: Theories of Attribution: How We Attempt to Make Sense of the Social World 103
3.2.2: Basic Sources of Error in Attribution 108
What Research Tells Us About… Why Some People Conclude They Are Superior to Others 112
3.2.3: Applications of Attribution Theory: Interventions and Insights 113
3.3: Impression Formation and Management: Combining Information About Others 115
3.3.1: Impression Formation 116
3.3.2: Impression Management 119
Summary and Review 121
Chapter 4: The Self Answering the Question “Who Am I?” 123
4.1: Self-Presentation: Managing the Self in Different Social Contexts 125
4.1.1: Self–Other Accuracy in Predicting Our Behavior 126
4.1.2: Self-Presentation Tactics 128
4.2: Self-Knowledge: Determining Who We Are 130
4.2.1: Introspection: Looking Inward to Discover the Causes of Our Own Behavior 130
4.2.2: The Self from the Observer’s Standpoint 132
4.3: Personal Identity Versus Social Identity 133
4.3.1: Who I Think I Am Depends on the Social Context 135
4.3.2: Who I Am Depends on Others’ Treatment 138
What Research Tells Us About… The Importance of Belonging and Group Ties 140
4.3.3: The Self Across Time: Past and Future Selves 141
4.3.4: Why Self-Control Can Be Difficult to Achieve 141
4.4: Social Comparison: How We Evaluate Ourselves 143
4.4.1: Self-Serving Biases and Unrealistic Optimism 146
4.5: Self-Esteem: Attitudes Toward Ourselves 147
4.5.1: The Measurement of Self-Esteem 148
4.5.2: How Migration Affects Self-Esteem 150
4.5.3: Do Women and Men Differ in Their Level of Self-Esteem? 152
What Research Tells Us About… Perceived Discrimination and Self-Esteem 153
4.6: The Self as a Target of Prejudice 154
4.6.1: Concealing Our Identity: How Well-Being Can Suffer 155
4.6.2: Overcoming the Effects of Stereotype Threat 156
Summary and Review 159
Chapter 5: Attitudes Evaluating and Responding to the Social World 161
5.1: Attitude Formation: How Attitudes Develop 168
5.1.1: Classical Conditioning: Learning Based on Association 168
5.1.2: Instrumental Conditioning: Rewards for the “Right” Views 170
5.1.3: Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure to Others 172
What Research Tells Us About… Social Modeling and Eating 173
5.2: When and Why Do Attitudes Influence Behavior? 174
5.2.1: Role of the Social Context in the Link Between Attitudes and Behavior 175
5.2.2: Strength of Attitudes 176
5.2.3: Attitude Extremity: Role of Vested Interests 176
5.2.4: Attitude Certainty: Importance of Clarity and Correctness 178
5.2.5: Role of Personal Experience 179
5.3: How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior? 180
5.3.1: Attitudes Arrived at Through Reasoned Thought 180
5.3.2: Attitudes and Spontaneous Behavioral Reactions 181
5.4: The Science of Persuasion: How Attitudes Are Changed 182
5.4.1: Persuasion: Communicators, Messages, and Audiences 183
5.4.2: The Cognitive Processes Underlying Persuasion 186
5.5: Resisting Persuasion Attempts 189
5.5.1: Reactance: Protecting Our Personal Freedom 189
5.5.2: Forewarning: Prior Knowledge of Persuasive Intent 189
5.5.3: Selective Avoidance of Persuasion Attempts 190
5.5.4: Actively Defending Our Attitudes: Counterarguing Against the Competition 190
5.5.5: Individual Differences in Resistance to Persuasion 191
5.5.6: Ego-Depletion Can Undermine Resistance 191
5.6: Cognitive Dissonance: What Is It and How Do We Manage It? 193
5.6.1: Dissonance and Attitude Change: The Effects of Induced Compliance 193
5.6.2: Alternative Strategies for Resolving Dissonance 194
5.6.3: When Dissonance Is a Tool for Beneficial Changes in Behavior 195
What Research Tells Us About… Culture and Attitude Processes 197
Summary and Review 198
Chapter 6: Causes and Cures of Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination 200
6.1: How Members of Different Groups Perceive Inequality 203
What Research Tells Us About… Biases in Our Beliefs About Inequality 206
6.2: The Nature and Origins of Stereotyping 207
6.2.1: Stereotyping: Beliefs About Social Groups 208
6.2.2: Is Stereotyping Absent If Members of Different Groups Are Rated the Same? 213
6.2.3: Can We Be Victims of Stereotyping and Not Even Recognize It: The Case of Single People 215
6.2.4: Why Do People Form and Use Stereotypes? 216
6.3: Prejudice: Feelings Toward Social Groups 218
6.3.1: The Origins of Prejudice: Contrasting Perspectives 221
What Research Tells Us About… The Role of Existential Threat in Prejudice 226
6.4: Discrimination: Prejudice in Action 227
6.4.1: Modern Racism: More Subtle, but Just as Harmful 227
6.5: Why Prejudice Is Not Inevitable: Techniques for Countering Its Effects 231
6.5.1: On Learning Not to Hate 231
6.5.2: The Potential Benefits of Contact 231
6.5.3: Recategorization: Changing the Boundaries 232
6.5.4: The Benefits of Guilt for Prejudice Reduction 233
6.5.5: Can We Learn to “Just Say No” to Stereotyping and Biased Attributions? 233
6.5.6: Social Influence as a Means of Reducing Prejudice 235
Summary and Review 236
Chapter 7: Liking, Love, and Other Close Relationships 238
7.1: Internal Sources of Liking Others: The Role of Needs and Emotions 240
7.1.1: The Importance of Affiliation in Human Existence: The Need to Belong 241
7.1.2: The Role of Affect: Do Our Moods Play a Role in Liking Others? 243
7.2: External Sources of Attraction: The Effects of Proximity, Familiarity, and Physical Beauty 245
7.2.1: The Power of Proximity: Unplanned Contacts 245
7.2.2: Physical Beauty: Its Role in Interpersonal Attraction 247
What Research Tells Us About… Dramatic Differences in Appearance Between Partners: Is Love Really Blind? 252
7.3: Sources of Liking Based on Social Interaction 254
7.3.1: Similarity: Birds of a Feather Actually Do Flock Together 254
7.3.2: Reciprocal Liking or Disliking: Liking Those Who Like Us 258
7.3.3: Social Skills: Liking People Who Are Good at Interacting with Others 258
7.3.4: Personality and Liking: Why People with Certain Traits Are More Attractive Than Others 260
7.3.5: What Do We Desire in Others? Gender Differences and Changes over Stages of a Relationship 261
7.4: Close Relationships: Foundations of Social Life 263
7.4.1: Romantic Relationships and the (Partially Solved) Mystery of Love 263
7.4.2: What Do We Seek in Romantic Partners? 266
What Research Tells Us About… Two Factors That May Destroy Love—Jealousy and Infidelity 267
7.4.3: Relationships with Family Members: Our First—and Most Lasting—Close Relationships 269
7.4.4: Friendships: Relationships Beyond the Family 271
Summary and Review 274
Chapter 8: Social Influence Changing Others’ Behavior 275
8.1: Conformity: How Groups—and Norms— Influence Our Behavior 278
8.1.1: Social Pressure: The Irresistible Force? 279
What Research Tells Us About… How Much We Really Conform 281
8.1.2: How Social Norms Emerge 282
8.1.3: Factors Affecting Conformity 282
8.1.4: Social Foundations of Conformity: Why We Often Choose to “Go Along” 285
8.1.5: The Downside of Conformity 285
8.1.6: Reasons for Nonconformity: Why We Sometimes Choose “Not to Go Along” 288
8.1.7: Minority Influence: Does the Majority Always Rule? 292
8.2: Compliance: To Ask—Sometimes—Is to Receive 294
8.2.1: The Underlying Principles of Compliance 294
8.2.2: Tactics Based on Friendship or Liking 295
8.2.3: Tactics Based on Commitment or Consistency 296
8.2.4: Tactics Based on Reciprocity 297
8.2.5: Tactics Based on Scarcity 298
8.2.6: Do Compliance Tactics Work? 298
What Research Tells Us About… Using Scarcity to Gain Compliance 299
8.3: Obedience to Authority: Would You Harm Someone If Ordered to Do So? 300
8.3.1: Obedience in the Laboratory 300
8.3.2: Why Destructive Obedience Occurs 303
8.3.3: Resisting the Effects of Destructive Obedience 304
8.4: Unintentional Social Influence: How Others Change Our Behavior Even When They Are Not Trying to Do So 305
8.4.1: Emotional Contagion 305
8.4.2: Symbolic Social Influence 307
8.4.3: Modeling: Learning from Observing Others 308
Summary and Review 309
Chapter 9: Prosocial Behavior Helping Others 311
9.1: Why People Help: Motives for Prosocial Behavior 313
9.1.1: Empathy-Altruism: It Feels Good to Help Others 313
9.1.2: Negative-State Relief: Helping Can Reduce Unpleasant Feelings 315
9.1.3: Empathic Joy: Feeling Good by Helping Others 315
9.1.4: Competitive Altruism: Why Nice People Sometimes Finish First 316
9.1.5: Kin Selection Theory 317
9.1.6: Defensive Helping: Helping Outgroups to Reduce Their Threat to Our Ingroup 318
9.2: Responding to an Emergency: Will Bystanders Help? 319
9.2.1: Helping in Emergencies: Apathy—or Action? 320
9.2.2: Is There Safety in Numbers? Sometimes, but Not Always 320
9.2.3: Key Steps in Deciding to Help—Or Not 321
9.3: Factors That Increase or Decrease the Tendency to Help 325
9.3.1: Factors That Increase Prosocial Behavior 325
9.3.2: Factors That Reduce Helping 328
What Research Tells Us About… Paying It Forward: Helping Others Because We Have Been Helped 329
What Research Tells Us About… How People React to Being Helped 332
9.4: Crowdfunding: A New Type of Prosocial Behavior 333
9.4.1: Emotion and Prosocial Behavior: Mood, Feelings of Elevation, and Helping 334
9.4.2: Gender and Prosocial Behavior: Do Women and Men Differ? 335
9.5: Final Thoughts: Are Prosocial Behavior and Aggression Opposites? 336
Summary and Review 338
Chapter 10: Aggression Its Nature, Causes, and Control 339
10.1: Perspectives on Aggression: In Search of the Roots of Violence 342
10.1.1: The Role of Biological Factors: Are We Programmed for Violence? 342
10.1.2: Drive Theories: The Motive to Harm Others 344
10.1.3: Modern Theories of Aggression 345
10.2: Causes of Human Aggression: Social, Cultural, Personal, and Situational 347
10.2.1: Basic Sources of Aggression: Frustration and Provocation 347
What Research Tells Us About… The Role of Emotions in Aggression 349
10.2.2: Social Causes of Aggression 350
10.2.3: Why Some People Are More Aggressive Than Others 355
10.2.4: Gender and Aggression: Are Men More Aggressive Than Women? 357
10.2.5: Situational Determinants of Aggression: The Effects of Heat, Alcohol, and Gun Availability 358
10.3: Aggression in the Classroom and Workplace 362
10.3.1: What Is Bullying? 362
10.3.2: Cyberbullying: Electronic Means of Harm Doing 364
10.3.3: Can Bullying Be Reduced? 364
What Research Tells Us About… Workplace Aggression 366
10.4: The Prevention and Control of Aggression: Some Useful Techniques 367
10.4.1: Punishment: Revenge or Deterrence? 367
10.4.2: Self-Regulation: Internal Mechanisms for Restraining Aggression 369
10.4.3: Catharsis: Does “Blowing Off Steam” Really Help? 370
10.4.4: Reducing Aggression by Thinking Nonaggressive Thoughts 371
Summary and Review 372
Chapter 11: Groups and Individuals The Consequences of Belonging 374
11.1: Groups: When We Join . . . and When We Leave 377
11.1.1: Groups: Their Key Components 379
11.1.2: The Benefits—and Costs—of Joining 384
What Research Tells Us About… Dissent and Criticism of Our Groups—“Because We Care” 388
11.2: Effects of the Presence of Others: From Task Performance to Behavior in Crowds 390
11.2.1: Social Facilitation: Performing in the Presence of Others 390
11.2.2: Social Loafing: Letting Others Do the Work 393
11.2.3: Effects of Being in a Crowd 394
11.3: Coordination in Groups: Cooperation or Conflict? 396
11.3.1: Cooperation: Working with Others to Achieve Shared Goals 397
11.3.2: Responding to and Resolving Conflicts 399
11.4: Perceived Fairness in Groups: Its Nature and Effects 402
11.4.1: Rules for Judging Fairness: Distributive, Procedural, and Transactional Justice 402
What Research Tells Us About… The Importance of Being Treated with Respect 403
11.5: Decision Making by Groups: How It Occurs and the Pitfalls It Faces 405
11.5.1: The Decision-Making Process: How Groups Attain Consensus 405
11.5.2: The Downside of Group Decision Making 406
11.6: The Role of Leadership in Group Settings 409
Summary and Review 412
Chapter 12: Dealing with Adversity and Achieving a Happy Life 414
12.1: Social Sources of Stress and Their Effects on Personal Well-Being 416
12.1.1: The Impact of Social Relationships on Health 416
12.1.2: How Self-Views Affect Outcomes 420
12.1.3: The Struggle to “Belong” 422
12.2: Social Tactics for Decreasing the Harmful Effects of Stress 424
12.2.1: Using Social Groups to Improve Health 424
12.2.2: Social Identification as a Means for Managing Stress 425
12.2.3: Accepting Ourselves 426
What Research Tells Us About… Reducing Post-Traumatic Stress Among Veterans 427
12.3: Making the Legal System More Fair and Effective 430
12.3.1: Social Influence in the Legal Process 430
12.3.2: The Influence of Prejudice and Stereotypes in the Legal System 434
12.4: Fostering Happiness in Our Lives 438
12.4.1: How Happy Are People, in General? 438
12.4.2: Factors That Influence Happiness 439
12.4.3: Does Monetary Wealth Create Happiness? 439
12.4.4: Is Happiness Getting What You Want or Enjoying What You Have? 441
12.4.5: Differences Between Happy and Unhappy People 441
What Research Tells Us About… The Relationship Between Emotions and Life Satisfaction Within Different Cultures 443
12.4.6: Benefits of Happiness 444
12.4.7: Is It Possible to Be Too Happy? 445
12.4.8: Increasing Happiness Levels 446
12.4.9: Entrepreneurship as a Means of Seeking Happiness 448
Summary and Review 451
Glossary 453
References 460
Credits 497
Name Index 501
A 501
B 501
C 503
D 504
E 504
F 505
G 505
H 506
I 507
J 507
K 507
L 508
M 509
N 510
O 510
P 510
Q 511
R 511
S 512
T 513
U 514
V 514
W 514
X 515
Y 515
Z 515
Subject Index 516
A 516
B 517
C 517
D 518
E 518
F 518
G 519
H 519
I 519
J 520
K 520
L 520
M 520
N 521
O 521
P 521
Q 522
R 522
S 522
T 524
U 524
V 524
W 524
Z 524