312 Discussion 01 Essay

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

David G. Myers Jean M. Twenge

13e

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

David G. Myers Hope College

Jean M. Twenge San Diego State University

13e

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, THIRTEENTH EDITION

Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2019 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2016, 2013, and 2010. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 21 20 19 18

ISBN 978-1-260-39711-6 (bound edition) MHID 1-260-39711-4 (bound edition)

ISBN 978-1-259-91104-0 (loose-leaf edition) MHID 1-259-91104-7 (loose-leaf edition)

Senior Portfolio Manager: Nancy Welcher Lead Product Developer: Dawn Groundwater Senior Product Developer: Sara Gordus Senior Marketing Manager: Augustine Laferrera Lead Content Project Managers: Sandy Wille; Jodi Banowetz Senior Buyer: Laura Fuller Senior Designer: Matt Backhaus Content Licensing Specialists: Brianna Kirschbaum Cover Image: ©Peathegee Inc./Blend Images/Getty Images Compositor: Aptara®, Inc.

All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Myers, David G., author. | Twenge, Jean M., author. Title: Social psychology / David G. Myers, Hope College, Jean M. Twenge, San  Diego State University. Description: Thirteenth Edition. | Dubuque : McGraw-Hill Education, [2018] |  Revised edition of the authors’ Social psychology, [2016] Identifiers: LCCN 2018018043| ISBN 9781260397116 (hard cover : alk. paper) |  ISBN 1260397114 (hard cover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Social psychology. Classification: LCC HM1033 .M944 2018 | DDC 302—dc23 LC record available at  https://lccn.loc.gov/2018018043

The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

mheducation.com/highered

iii

DGM

For Dennis and Betty kindred friends, servant leaders

JMT

For my daughters: Kate, Elizabeth, and Julia

iv Part One Social Thinking

Photo by Hope College Public Relations. For more information, or to contact David Myers, visit davidmyers.org. ©David Myers

Jean M. Twenge by Sandy Huffaker, Jr. For more information, or to contact Jean Twenge, visit www.jeantwenge.com ©Sandy Huffaker, Jr.

About the Authors

Since receiving his University of Iowa Ph.D., David G. Myers has professed psychology at Michigan’s Hope College. Hope College students have invited him to be their commencement speaker and voted him “outstanding professor.”

With support from National Science Foundation grants, Myers’ research has appeared in some three dozen scientific peri- odicals, including Science, the American Scientist, Psychological Science, and the American Psychologist. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

He has also communicated psychological science through articles in four dozen magazines, from Today’s Education to Scientific American, and through his seventeen books, including The Pursuit of Happiness and Intuition: Its Powers and Perils.

Myers’ research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Prize, by an “honored scientist” award from the Federa- tion of Associations in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences, and by the Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Personality- Social Psychology.

He has chaired his city’s Human Relations Commission, helped found a center for families in poverty, and spoken to hun- dreds of college and community groups. In recognition of his efforts to transform the way America provides assistive listening for people with hearing loss (see hearingloop.org), he has received awards from the American Academy of Audiology, the Hearing Loss Association of America, and the hearing industry.

David and Carol Myers have three children and one grandchild.

As Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, Jean M. Twenge has authored more than 140 scientific publications on generational differences, cultural change, social rejection, digital media use, gender roles, self-esteem, and narcissism. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and National Public Radio. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

Dr. Twenge has drawn on her research in her books for a broader audience, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—And Com- pletely Unprepared for Adulthood (2017) and Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled— And More Miserable Than Ever Before (2nd ed., 2014). An article by Dr. Twenge in The Atlantic was nominated for a National Maga- zine Award. She frequently gives talks and seminars on genera- tional differences to audiences such as college faculty and staff, parent-teacher groups, military personnel, camp directors, and corporate executives. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

Jean Twenge grew up in Minnesota and Texas. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in social psychology at Case Western Reserve University. She lives in San Diego with her husband and three daughters.

iv

v

Brief Contents

Preface xv

Chapter 1 Introducing Social Psychology 1

Part One Social Thinking Chapter 2 The Self in a Social World 25 Chapter 3 Social Beliefs and Judgments 55 Chapter 4 Behavior and Attitudes 88

Part Two Social Influence Chapter 5 Genes, Culture, and Gender 111 Chapter 6 Conformity and Obedience 141 Chapter 7 Persuasion 173 Chapter 8 Group Influence 201

Part Three Social Relations Chapter 9 Prejudice 237 Chapter 10 Aggression 275 Chapter 11 Attraction and Intimacy 312 Chapter 12 Helping 352 Chapter 13 Conflict and Peacemaking 388

Part Four Applying Social Psychology Chapter 14 Social Psychology in the Clinic 423 Chapter 15 Social Psychology in Court 453 Chapter 16 Social Psychology and the Sustainable Future 479

Epilogue 503

References R-1

Name Index NI-1

Subject Index/Glossary SI-1

© In

gr am

P ub

lis hi

ng ©

Ag at

al in

a/ iS

to ck

/G et

ty Im

ag es

© An

dr ey

_P op

ov /S

hu tte

rs to

ck

McGraw-Hill Education Psychology APA Documentation Style Guide

Research Methods: How Do We Do Social Psychology? 13 Forming and Testing Hypotheses 14 Sampling and Question Wording 14 Correlational Research: Detecting Natural

Associations 17 Experimental Research: Searching for Cause

and Effect 19 Generalizing from Laboratory to Life 22

Postscript: Why We Wrote This Book 24

Part One: Social Thinking

Chapter 2 The Self in a Social World 25

Spotlights and Illusions: What Do They Teach Us About Ourselves? 26 Research Close-Up: On Being Nervous About Looking

Nervous 27

Self-Concept: Who Am I? 28 At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self 29 Self and Culture 30 Self-Knowledge 34 The Inside Story: Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama

on Cultural Psychology 35

What Is the Nature and Motivating Power of Self-Esteem? 39 Self-Esteem Motivation 39 The Trade-Off of Low vs. High Self-Esteem 41 Self-Efficacy 43

What Is Self-Serving Bias? 44 Explaining Positive and Negative Events 44 Can We All Be Better Than Average? 45 Focus On: Self-Serving Bias—How Do I Love Me? Let

Me Count the Ways 46 Unrealistic Optimism 47 False Consensus and Uniqueness 48 Explaining Self-Serving Bias 49

How Do People Manage Their Self-Presentation? 50 Self-Handicapping 50 Impression Management 51

What Does It Mean to Have “Self-Control”? 53

Postscript: Twin Truths—The Perils of Pride, the Powers of Positive Thinking 54

Preface xv

Chapter 1 Introducing Social Psychology 1

What Is Social Psychology? 2

What Are Social Psychology’s Big Ideas? 3 We Construct Our Social Reality 3 Our Social Intuitions Are Often Powerful but Sometimes

Perilous 4 Social Influences Shape Our Behavior 5 Personal Attitudes and Dispositions

Also Shape Behavior 6 Social Behavior Is Biologically Rooted 6 Social Psychology’s Principles Are Applicable

in Everyday Life 7

How Do Human Values Influence Social Psychology? 7 Obvious Ways Values Enter Psychology 7 Not-So-Obvious Ways Values Enter Psychology 8

I Knew It All Along: Is Social Psychology Simply Common Sense? 10 Focus On: I Knew It All Along 13

Table of Contents

vi

© M

ik e

Ke m

p/ Bl

en d

Im ag

es /G

et ty

Im ag

es

Part Two: Social Influence

Chapter 5 Genes, Culture, and Gender 111

How Are We Influenced by Biology? 112 Genes, Evolution, and Behavior 113 Biology and Gender  114 Gender and Hormones 116 Reflections on Evolutionary Psychology 117 Focus On: Evolutionary Science and Religion 118

How Are We Influenced by Culture? 119 Culture and Behavior 119 Focus On: The Cultural Animal 120 Research Close-Up: Passing Encounters,

East and West 123 Peer-Transmitted Culture 124 Culture and Gender 125 Gender Roles Vary with Culture 127 Gender Roles Vary over Time 128

How Are Females and Males Alike and Different? 129 Independence versus Connectedness 130 Social Dominance 133 Aggression 134 Sexuality 135

What Can We Conclude About Genes, Culture, and Gender? 137 The Inside Story: Alice Eagly on Gender

Similarities and Differences 139

Postscript: Should We View Ourselves as Products of Our Biology or Our Culture? 140

Chapter 6 Conformity and Obedience 141

What Is Conformity? 142

What Are the Classic Conformity and Obedience Studies? 143 Sherif’s Studies of Norm Formation 143 Research Close-Up: Contagious Yawning  145 Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure 147 Milgram’s Obedience Studies 149 The Inside Story: Stanley Milgram on Obedience 150 The Ethics of Milgram’s Studies 152 What Breeds Obedience? 152

Chapter 3 Social Beliefs and Judgments 55

How Do We Judge Our Social Worlds, Consciously and Unconsciously? 56 Priming 56 Intuitive Judgments 57 Overconfidence 59 Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts 61 Counterfactual Thinking 64 Illusory Thinking 65 Moods and Judgments 67 The Inside Story: Joseph P. Forgas: Can

Bad Weather Improve Your Memory? 68

How Do We Perceive Our Social Worlds? 69 Perceiving and Interpreting Events 69 Belief Perseverance 70 Constructing Memories of Ourselves and Our Worlds 71

How Do We Explain Our Social Worlds? 73 Attributing Causality: To the Person or the Situation 73 The Fundamental Attribution Error 75

How Do Our Social Beliefs Matter? 80 Teacher Expectations and Student Performance 80 Focus On: The Self-Fulfilling Psychology

of the Stock Market 81 Getting from Others What We Expect 82

What Can We Conclude About Social Beliefs and Judgments? 84

Postscript: Reflecting on Illusory Thinking 86

Chapter 4 Behavior and Attitudes 88

How Well Do Our Attitudes Predict Our Behavior? 89 When Attitudes Predict Behavior 90

When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? 94 Role Playing 95 Saying Becomes Believing 96 Evil and Moral Acts 96 Social Movements 98

Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? 99 Self-Presentation: Impression Management 99 Self-Justification: Cognitive Dissonance 100 The Inside Story: Leon Festinger

on Dissonance Reduction 104 Self-Perception 104 Comparing the Theories 108

Postscript: Changing Ourselves Through Action 110

vii

©tetmc/iStock/Getty Images

Many Hands Make Light Work 208 Social Loafing in Everyday Life 209

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? 211 Doing Together What We Would Not Do Alone 212 Diminished Self-Awareness 214

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? 215 The Case of the “Risky Shift” 216 Do Groups Intensify Opinions? 217 Focus On: Group Polarization 221 Explaining Group Polarization 221

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? 224 The Inside Story: Irving Janis on Groupthink 225 Symptoms of Groupthink 225 Critiquing Groupthink 227 Preventing Groupthink 228 Group Problem Solving 228 The Inside Story: Behind a Nobel Prize: Two Minds Are

Better Than One 230

The Influence of the Minority: How Do Individuals Influence the Group? 231 Consistency 232 Self-Confidence 233 Defections from the Majority 233 Is Leadership Minority Influence? 233 Focus On: Transformational Community

Leadership 234

Postscript: Are Groups Bad for Us? 236

Part Three: Social Relations Chapter 9 Prejudice  237

What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice? 238 Defining Prejudice 238

Focus On: Personalizing The Victims 153 Reflections on the Classic Studies 155

What Predicts Conformity? 159 Group Size 159 Unanimity 160 Cohesion 161 Status 162 Public Response 162 Prior Commitment 162

Why Conform? 164

Who Conforms? 166 Personality 166 Culture 167 Social Roles 168

Do We Ever Want to Be Different? 169 Reactance 169 Asserting Uniqueness 170

Postscript: On Being an Individual Within a Community 172

Chapter 7 Persuasion 173

What Paths Lead to Persuasion? 175 The Central Route 175 The Peripheral Route 176 Different Paths for Different Purposes 176

What Are the Elements of Persuasion? 177 Who Says? The Communicator 177 Research Close-Up: Experimenting with a Virtual

Social Reality 181 What Is Said? The Message Content 182 How Is It Said? The Channel of Communication 188 To Whom Is It Said? The Audience 192 Focus On: Cults and Persuasion 194

How Can Persuasion Be Resisted? 196 Attitude Inoculation 197 Implications of Attitude Inoculation 200

Postscript: Being Open but Not Naïve 200

Chapter 8 Group Influence 201

What Is a Group? 201

Social Facilitation: How Are We Affected by the Presence of Others? 202 The Mere Presence of Others 202 Crowding: The Presence of Many Others 205 Why Are We Aroused in the Presence of Others? 205

Social Loafing: Do Individuals Exert Less Effort in a Group? 207

viii Table of Contents

© Ro

nn ie

K au

fm an

/B le

nd Im

ag es

L LC

Chapter 10 Aggression 275

What Is Aggression? 277

What Are Some Theories of Aggression? 278 Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon 278 Aggression as a Response to Frustration 282 Aggression as Learned Social Behavior 285

What Are Some Influences on Aggression? 287 Aversive Incidents 287 Arousal 289 Aggression Cues 290 Media Influences: Pornography

and Sexual Violence 291 Media Influences: Television, Movies,

and the Internet 293 Another Media Influence: Video Games 298 Effects of Video Games 299 The Inside Story: Craig Anderson on Video-Game

Violence 303 Group Influences 303 Research Close-Up: When Provoked, Are Groups More

Aggressive Than Individuals? 305

How Can Aggression Be Reduced? 306 Catharsis? 306 A Social Learning Approach 308 Culture Change and World Violence 309

Postscript: Reforming a Violent Culture 310

Prejudice: Implicit and Explicit 240 Racial Prejudice 240 Gender Prejudice 244 LGBT Prejudice 247

What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice? 248 Social Inequalities: Unequal Status and Prejudice 248 Socialization 249 Institutional Supports 252

What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? 253 Frustration and Aggression: The Scapegoat Theory 253 Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to Others 254 Motivation to Avoid Prejudice 258

What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? 259 Categorization: Classifying People into Groups 259 Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand Out 260 Attribution: Is It a Just World? 264

What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? 267 Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments 267 Discrimination’s Impact: The Self-Fulfilling

Prophecy 268 Stereotype Threat 269 The Inside Story: Claude Steele on Stereotype

Threat 271 Do Stereotypes Bias Judgments of Individuals? 271

Postscript: Can We Reduce Prejudice? 273

Table of Contents ix

©Ariel Skelley/Blend Images LLC

How Can We Increase Helping? 380 Reduce Ambiguity, Increase Responsibility 380 Guilt and Concern for Self-Image 381 Socializing Altruism 382 Focus On: Behavior and Attitudes Among

Rescuers of Jews 385

Postscript: Taking Social Psychology into Life 387

Chapter 13 Conflict and Peacemaking 388

What Creates Conflict? 389 Social Dilemmas 389 Competition 395 Perceived Injustice 397 Misperception 397 Research Close-Up: Misperception

and War 400

How Can Peace Be Achieved? 401 Contact 401 Research Close-Up: Relationships That Might

Have Been 405 The Inside Story: Nicole Shelton and Jennifer Richeson

On Cross-Racial Friendships 406 Cooperation 407 Focus On: Why Do We Care Who Wins? 408 Focus On: Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the

Integration of Baseball 413 Communication 415 Conciliation 419

Postscript: The Conflict Between Individual and Communal Rights 421

Part Four: Applying Social Psychology

Chapter 14 Social Psychology in the Clinic 423

What Influences the Accuracy of Clinical Judgments? 424 Illusory Correlations 425 Hindsight and Overconfidence 426 Self-Confirming Diagnoses 427 Clinical Intuition versus Statistical Prediction 427 Focus On: A Physician’s View: The Social Psychology

of Medicine 429 Implications for Better Clinical Practice 430

What Cognitive Processes Accompany Behavior Problems? 430 Depression 430 The Inside Story: Shelley Taylor on Positive

Illusions 433 Loneliness 434

Chapter 11 Attraction and Intimacy 312

How Important Is the Need to Belong? 314

What Leads to Friendship and Attraction? 316 Proximity 316 Focus On: Liking Things Associated with Oneself 319 Physical Attractiveness 321 The Inside Story: Ellen Berscheid

on Attractiveness 324 Similarity versus Complementarity 329 Liking Those Who Like Us 331 Focus On: Bad Is Stronger Than Good 332 Relationship Rewards 334

What Is Love? 335 Passionate Love 335 Companionate Love 338

What Enables Close Relationships? 340 Attachment 340 Equity 342 Self-Disclosure 343 Focus On: Does the Internet Create Intimacy or

Isolation? 346

How Do Relationships End? 347 Divorce 348 The Detachment Process 349

Postscript: Making Love 351

Chapter 12 Helping 352

Why Do We Help? 353 Social Exchange and Social Norms 353 The Inside Story: Dennis Krebs on Life Experience

and the Study of Altruism 355 Evolutionary Psychology 361 Comparing and Evaluating Theories of Helping 363 Genuine Altruism 363 Focus On: The Benefits—and the Costs—of

Empathy-Induced Altruism 365

When Will We Help? 367 Number of Bystanders 367 The Inside Story: John M. Darley on Bystander

Reactions 368 Helping When Someone Else Does 372 Time Pressures 373 Similarity 373 Research Close-Up: Ingroup Similarity

and Helping 374

Who Will Help? 376 Personality Traits and Status 376 Gender 377 Religious Faith 378

x Table of Contents

Table of Contents xi

Are Twelve Heads Better Than One? 474 Research Close-Up: Group Polarization in a Natural

Court Setting 475 Are Six Heads as Good as Twelve? 475 From Lab to Life: Simulated and Real Juries 476

Postscript: Thinking Smart with Psychological Science 477

Chapter 16 Social Psychology and the Sustainable Future 479

Psychology and Climate Change 483 Psychological Effects of Climate Change 483 Public Opinion About Climate Change 484

Enabling Sustainable Living 487 New Technologies 487 Reducing Consumption 487 The Inside Story: Janet Swim on Psychology’s Response

to Climate Change 489

The Social Psychology of Materialism and Wealth 490 Increased Materialism 491 Wealth and Well-Being 492 Materialism Fails to Satisfy 494 Toward Sustainability and Survival 498 Research Close-Up: Measuring National. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

Well-Being 500

Postscript: How Does One Live Responsibly in the Modern World? 501

Epilogue 503

References R-1

Name Index NI-1

Subject Index SI-1

Anxiety and Shyness 436 Health, Illness, and Death 437

What Are Some Social-Psychological Approaches to Treatment? 441 Inducing Internal Change Through External Behavior 442 Breaking Vicious Cycles 442 Maintaining Change Through Internal Attributions for

Success 444 Using Therapy as Social Influence 445

How Do Social Relationships Support Health and Well-Being? 446 Close Relationships and Health 446 Close Relationships and Happiness 449

Postscript: Enhancing Happiness 452

Chapter 15 Social Psychology in Court 453

How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony? 454 The Power of Persuasive Eyewitnesses 454 When Eyes Deceive 455 The Misinformation Effect 457 Retelling 459 Reducing Error 459 Research Close-Up: Feedback to Witnesses 459

What Other Factors Influence Juror Judgments? 464 The Defendant’s Characteristics 464 The Judge’s Instructions 467 Additional Factors 469

What Influences the Individual Juror? 469 Juror Comprehension 470 Jury Selection 471 “Death-Qualified” Jurors 471

How Do Group Influences Affect Juries? 473 Minority Influence 473 Group Polarization 473 Leniency 474

McGraw-Hill Education Psychology APA Documentation Style Guide

Guide to Culture

xii

Text coverage of culture focuses on the following topics: Affluence and happiness: pp. 493–495 Aggression and culture: pp. 286–287 Anonymity and violence: pp. 213–214 Asserting uniqueness: pp. 209–211 Attachment styles: p. 341 Attitudes about race: pp. 98–99 Behavior and culture: pp. 119–125 Biology and culture: pp. 137–139 Close relationships and happiness: p. 549 Cognition and culture: pp. 32–33 Collectivism: pp. 30–31, 172, 421–422

Interdependent self: p. 33 Conformity: pp. 142, 144, 148

Nonconformity: pp. 170–172 Counterfactual thinking: pp. 64–65 “Cultural racism”: p. 242 Culture of peace: p. 501 Definition of culture: pp. 8–9, 119–120 Depression: p. 434 Diversity: pp. 120–122 Divorce: p. 348 Evolutionary psychology: pp. 113–114 Facebook profile pictures and cultural

differences: p. 32 Facebook posts expressing positive emotion in India

and the United States: p. 126 Group polarization in terrorist organizations:

pp. 220–221 Fundamental attribution error and cultural

differences: pp. 78–79 Gender and culture: pp. 125–127 Generalizing from laboratory to life: pp. 22–23 Group and superordinate identities: pp. 414–415 Guilt: p. 356 Immigration, children’s preference for new culture’s

language and norms: p. 124

Implicit attitudes: pp. 90–91 Independence versus connectedness: pp. 130–133 Independent self: p. 30 Individualism: pp. 30, 170–172, 421–422

Growing individualism within cultures: pp. 31–32, 422

Influence of human nature and cultural diversity: pp. 112–119

Justice, perceptions of: p. 397 Loneliness: p. 434 Love, variations in: pp. 337–338 Norms: pp. 121–124 Obedience: pp. 151, 156–157, 167–168 Observational learning of aggression: pp. 364–365 Perceived injustice: p. 490 Physical anonymity: p. 279 Physical attractiveness: pp. 326–327 Reciprocity norm: p. 447 Religion and racial prejudice: pp. 250–251 Self and culture: pp. 30–34 Self-esteem: pp. 33–34 Self-presentation: pp. 51–52 Self-serving bias: pp. 44–50 Similarity: p. 125 Social comparison and income inequality:

pp. 496–498 Social influence: pp. 2, 5 Social loafing: pp. 210–211 Social-responsibility norm: p. 359 Socialization: p. 249 Stereotypes: pp. 239–248 “System justification”: p. 343 Tragedy of the Commons: pp. 391–392 Values in social psychology: pp. 7–10, 477–478 Violence and culture: pp. 309–311

Feature coverage of culture can be found in the following boxes: Focus On: I Knew It All Along: p. 13 Focus On: Self-Serving Bias: How Do I Love Me? Let

Me Count the Ways: p. 46 Focus On: The Cultural Animal: p. 120 The Inside Story: Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama

on Cultural Psychology: p. 35

Research Close-Up: Passing Encounters, East and West: p. 123

Research Close-Up: Measuring National Well-Being: pp. 500–501

xiii

Guide to Technology and Social Media Text coverage of technology and social media focuses on the following topics: Aggression and “rant” websites: p. 307 Altruism in online gaming: p. 379 Anonymity on the Internet: p. 225 Belief perseverance on social media: pp. 70–71 Bystander effect on Facebook: p. 367 Confirmation bias on social media: p. 61 Conformity in online gaming: p. 164 Cultural differences in Facebook posts: p. 126 Cyberbullying: pp. 266, 276 False consensus effect on Facebook: p. 48 Gender differences in Facebook posts:

pp. 129–130, 132 Gender and STEM subjects: p. 252 Group polarization on the Internet: pp. 219–220 Interactions, in person versus social media:

pp. 435, 450 Internet, television, movies and aggression:

pp. 293–298 Jury presentations: p. 477 Loneliness on social media: p. 435 Narcissism on social media: p. 43 Online dating:

Increased disclosure and liking: p. 346 Personal advertisements on the Internet, asset

matching: p. 323

Similarity: p. 330 Speed dating: p. 329

Online rumors forum: p. 126 Ostracism on social media, effects of: p. 315 Persuasion:

Credibility of fake news depends on who shares it: p. 179

Media compared: p. 191 Media influence: pp. 189–191 Online games as children’s advertising: p. 199 Political advertising: p. 189 Primacy effect and TripAdvisor reviews: p. 186 “Viral marketing”: p. 189

Pornography and sexual violence: pp. 291–293 Prejudice: pp. 310–311 Prosocial media and gaming: p. 384 Selective exposure: pp. 100–101 Self-presentation on Facebook: p. 52 Social comparison on social media: pp. 29–30,

223, 496 Suggestibility on social media: p. 146 Use of social media by young people: p. 313 Technology, affluence, and happiness: p. 493 Technology and sustainability: p. 487 Video games and aggression: pp. 298–302

Feature coverage of technology and social media can be found in the following boxes: Research Close-Up: Experimenting with a Virtual Social

Reality: p. 181 The Inside Story: Craig Anderson on Video Game

Violence: p. 303

Focus On: Does the Internet Create Intimacy or Isolation?: pp. 346–347

xiv

A Letter from the Authors

We humans have a very long history, but social psychology has a very short one—barely

more than a century. Considering that we have just begun, the results are gratifying. What a

feast of ideas! Using varied research methods, we have amassed significant insights into

belief and illusion, love and hate, conformity and independence. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

Much about human behavior remains a mystery, yet social psychology now offers partial

answers to many intriguing questions:

■ How does our thinking—both conscious and unconscious—drive our behavior?

■ What leads people sometimes to hurt and sometimes to help one another?

■ What creates social conflict, and how can we transform closed fists into helping hands?

Answering these and many other questions—our mission in the pages to come—expands

our self-understanding and sensitizes us to the social forces that work upon us.

We aspire to offer a text that

■ is solidly scientific and warmly human, factually rigorous, and intellectually provocative,

■ reveals important social phenomena, as well as how scientists discover and explain such,

and

■ stimulates students’ thinking—their motivation to inquire, to analyze, to relate principles to

everyday happenings.

We cast social psychology in the intellectual tradition of the liberal arts. By the teaching

of great literature, philosophy, and science, liberal arts education seeks to expand our

awareness and to liberate us from the confines of the present. By focusing on humanly

significant issues, we aim to offer social psychology’s big ideas and findings to pre-professional

psychology students, and to do so in ways that stimulate all students. And with close-up looks

at how the game is played—at the varied research tools that reveal the workings of our social

nature—we hope to enable students to think smarter.

To assist the teaching and learning of social psychology is a great privilege, but also a

responsibility. So please: never hesitate to let us know how we are doing, and what we can

do better. 312 Discussion 01 Essay

David G. Myers

Hope College

www.davidmyers.org

Jean M. Twenge

San Diego State University

www.jeantwenge.com