Experiments With People Revelations From Social Psychology pptx

Experiments With People

Revelations From Social Psychology

This page intentionally left blank

Experiments With People

Revelations From Social Psychology

Robert P. Abelson

Kurt P. Frey

Aiden P. Gregg

LAWRENCE ERLBAUM A550CIATE5, PUBLISHERS

2004 Mahwah, hew Jersey London

Copyright © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in

any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other

means, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers

10 Industrial Avenue

Mahwah, NJ 07430

Cover design by Sean Sciarrone

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Abelson, Robert P.

Experiments with people : revelations from social psychology /

Robert P. Abelson, Kurt P. Frey, Aiden P. Gregg,

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8058-2896-6 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 0-8058-2897-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Social psychology—Experiments. I. Frey, Kurt P. II. Gregg,

Aiden P. III. Title.

HM1011.A24 2003

302—dc21 2003040768

CIP

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid￾free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.

Printed in the United States of America

1 0 98765432 1

Contents

Introduction xi

1 Strangers to Ourselves: The Shortcomings 1

of Introspection

Nisbett, R. E., & Bellows, N. (1977). Verbal reports about causal

influences on social judgments: Private access versus public theories.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 613-624.

2 Mythical Memories: Reconstructing the Past in the Present 14

McFarland, C, Ross, M., & DeCourville, N. (1993). Women's theories

of menstruation and biases in recall of menstrual symptoms.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1093-1104.

3 Tahing the Edge Off Adversity: The Psychological 29

Immune System

Gilbert, D. T., Pinel, E. C., Wilson, T. D., Blumberg, S. J., &

Wheatley, T P. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in

affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,

75, 617-638.

4 Believing Is Seeing: Partisan Perceptions of Media Bias 41

Vallone, R. P., Ross, L, & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media

phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias

coverage of the "Beirut Massacre." Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology, 49, 577-585.

5 Frames of Mind: Taking Risks or Playing Safe? 52

Rothman, A. J., Martino, S. C., Bedell, B. T, Detweiler, J. B.,

& Salovey, R (1999). The systematic influence of gain- and loss- framed

messages on interest in and use of different types of health behavior.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 1355-1369.

v

vi CONTENTS

6 Clashing Cognitions: When Actions Prompt Attitudes 64

Festinger, L, & Carlsmith, J. (1959). Cognitive consequences of

forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,

58, 203-10.

7 Baptism of Fire: When Suffering Leads to Liking 79

Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation

on liking for a group. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,

59, 177-181.

8 Taking the Magic Out of the Markers: The Hidden Cost 90

of Rewards

Lepper, M., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining

children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the

'overjustification' hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 28, 129-137.

9 The Calvinisms Conundrum: Unconsciously Engineering 103

Good Omens

Quattrone, G. A., & Tversky, A. (1980). Causal versus diagnostic

reasoning: On self-deception and the voter's illusion. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 237-248.

10 Pitfalls of Purpose: Ironic Processes in Mood Control 114

Wegner, D., Erber, R., &Zanakos, S. (1993). Ironic Processes in

the mental control of mood and mood-related thought. Journal

of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1093-1104.

11 Familiarity Breeds Liking: The Positive Effects of Mere 127

Exposure

Mita, T. H., Dermer, M., & Knight, J. (1977). Reversed facial images

and the mere-exposure hypothesis. Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology, 35, 597-601.

12 Beneath the Mask: Tools for Detecting Hidden Prejudice 137

Dovidio, J. F., Kawakami, K., Johnson, C, Johnson, B., & Howard,

A. (1997). On the nature of prejudice: Automatic and controlled

processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33,

510-540.

13 I Think, Therefore I Act: Priming Intelligence 151

With Social Stereotypes

Dijksterhuis, A., &van Knippenberg, A. (1998). The relation between

perception and behavior, or how to win a game of Trivial Pursuit.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 865-877.

CONTENTS vii

14 What Did You Expect?: The Behavioral Confirmation 162

of the Physical Attractiveness Stereotype

Snyder, M., Tanke, E. D., & Berscheid, E. (1977). Social perception and

interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 656-666.

15 Good Vibes: Insights Into Belief in Mental Telepathy 174

Ayeroff, F., & Abelson, R. P. (1976). ESP and ESB: Belief in personal

success at mental telepathy. Journal of Experimental Social

Psychology, 36, 240-247.

16 The Eye Is Quicker Than the Mind: Believing Precedes 186

Unbelieving

Gilbert, D. T., Tafarodi, R. W, &Malone, P. S. (1993). You can't not

believe everything you read. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 65, 221-233.

17 Going Along to Get Along: Conformity to Group Morms 199

Asch, S. E. (1955, November). Opinions and social pressure.

Scientific American, 31-35.

18 The Unhurried Samaritan: When Context Determines 212

Character

Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. (1973). "From Jerusalem to Jericho": A

study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 100-108.

19 Who, Me?: The Failure of Bystanders to Intervene 222

in Emergencies

Darley, J. M., & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in

emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 8, 377-383.

20 Love Thy Neighbor or Thyself?: Empathy as a Source 233

of Altruism

Batson, C., Dyck, J., Brandt, J. R., Batson, J., Powell, A., McMaster,

M. R., & Griffitt, C. (1988). Five studies testing two new egoistic

alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 52-77.

21 Just Following Orders: A Shocking Demonstration 245

of Obedience to Authority

Milgram, S. (1963). The behavioral study of obedience. Journal

of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378.

viii CONTENT5

22 Hooded Hoodlums: The Role of Deindividuation 259

in Antisocial Behavior

Diener, E., Fraser, S. C., Beaman, A. L, & Kelem, R. T. (1976).

Effects of deindividuation variables on stealing among Halloween

trick- or-treaters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33,

178-183.

23 The Burglar's Situation: Actor-Observer Differences 268

in Explaining Behavior

West, S. G., Gunn, S. R, & Chernicky, P. (1975). Ubiquitous

Watergate: An attributional analysis. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 32, 55-65.

24 Of Cockroaches and Men: Social Enhancement 280

and Inhibition of Performance

Zajonc, R. B., Heingarter, A., & Herman, E. M. (1969). Social

enhancement and impairment of performance in the cockroach.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 83-92.

25 "We're Number One!": Basking in Others' Glory 289

Cialdini, R. B., Borden, R. J., Thome, A., Walker, M. R., Freeman, S.,

& Sloan, L. R. (1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football)

field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34,

366-375.

26 Ackmians Are From Mars, Orinthians Are From Venus: 300

Gender Stereotypes as Role Rationalizations

Hoffman, C., & Hurst, N. (1990). Gender stereotypes: Perception or

rationalization? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58,

197-208.

27 When Two Become One: Expanding the Self to Include 313

the Other

Aron, A., Aron, E. N., Tudor, M., & Nelson, G. (1991). Close

relationships as including other in the self. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 60, 241-253.

28 The Wrath of the Rejected: Being Shut Out Makes One 326

Lash Out

Twenge, J. M., Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Stucke, T. S. (2001).

If you can't join them, beat them: The effects of social exclusions on

aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,

81, 1058-1069.

CONTENTS ix

Revelations 339

Author Index 343

Subject Index 353

This page intentionally left blank

Introduction

Welcome! This book provides an opportunity to explore the fascinating,

underpublicized, and sometimes misunderstood subject of social psychol￾ogy. In it, twenty-eight intriguing studies that throw light on human social

thinking and behavior are reviewed. These studies, mostly laboratory ex￾periments, address topics such as people's unawareness of why they do

what they do, the tenacity with which they maintain beliefs despite contrary

evidence, and the surprising extent to which they are influenced by the so￾cial groups to which they belong. The results of these studies help the

reader understand many social phenomena that would otherwise remain

deeply puzzling, such as the operation of unconscious prejudices, belief in

mental telepathy, intense loyalty to questionable groups, the occasional

cruelty and indifference of ordinary people, and the nature of love relation￾ships. We chose to include each study because, in addition to being inge￾niously designed and carefully executed, it raised a question of theoretical

significance or addressed a problem of practical importance.

This volume is not a reader—we do not reproduce (lawyers take note!) any

of the original journal articles. Rather, each chapter offers a detailed exposition

of, and commentary on, a single study (though often citing closely related re￾search). We first introduce the problem that the researchers sought to solve

("Background"). We then describe how the study was conducted ("What They

Did") and what its findings were ("What They Found"). Next comes a "So

What?" section, the purpose of which is to persuade anyone inclined to view

the study as trivial that his or her misgivings are unfounded. We continue with

an "Afterthoughts" section, in which we discuss some of the broader issues

that the study raises, of a conceptual, practical, or ethical nature. Finally, each

chapter concludes with an explicit statement of the unique "Revelation" that

each study affords, often a profound and counterintuitive truth.

One of our goals in writing this volume was to make a convincing case

for the use of experiments in social psychological research. Colloquially,

the word experiment refers to the trying out of some new idea or tech￾nique. Our usage is more technical: It refers to the random assignment of

many subjects—here human participants—to different groups (condi￾xi

xii INTRODUCTION

tions) where these groups are treated identically except in one or a few

crucial respects (the independent variable[s]). The impact of these inde￾pendent variables on how participants think or act (the dependent vari￾ables) is then assessed—did the manipulation have an effect?

Experiments have a unique advantage in that they allow causal inferences

(i.e.,Xcauses Y) to be made with confidence. They also permit alternative

explanations for a phenomenon to be efficiently ruled out. Although we

do not claim that experimentation provides absolute knowledge, we do

claim that it enables researchers to better distinguish between viable and

untenable theories about the mind and behavior. Indeed, when the find￾ings of social psychological studies come in, the pitfalls of commonsense

are often shockingly exposed.

Two issues seem to cling to any discussion of psychological experimen￾tation: ethics and artificiality. First, ethics. Social psychologists are often

depicted as monsters in lab coats who do not scruple to take advantage of

unsuspecting participants. (Indeed, perhaps the very title of this volume,

"Experiments With People," sends a shiver down some spines!) This depic￾tion is a perversion of the truth. Social psychologists are, in fact, acutely

sensitive to the impact of their procedures on participants. It is common

practice, for example, to tell participants in advance what will happen in a

study, and to obtain their informed consent. Moreover, before any study

can be carried out, an independent ethics committee must first approve it.

Such precautions are all to the good, but it should be noted that the major￾ity of social psychological studies, even those that involve deception, rarely

raise ethical concerns. Most participants regard them as interesting and in￾formative ways to spend half an hour, and are often found afterwards chat￾ting amiably with the experimenter. This gives the experimenter the chance

to debrief participants thoroughly (let them in on the purpose of the study),

as well as to obtain feedback from them. Human participants are the life￾blood of social psychology, so researchers are understandably keen to

make participation as appealing as possible.

Second, artificiality. Criticism of the experimental method has centered

on the claim that, because laboratory settings do not, for the most part, re￾semble the real world, they do not tell us anything about it. This criticism is

specious for several reasons (see Mook, 1980). Primary among them is

that artificiality is necessary if ever one is to clear up what causes what, be￾cause the only way to get rid of confounds (extraneous factors that might

complicate interpretation) is to strip phenomena down to their bare essen￾tials. For example, suppose you wish to test whether the metallic element

potassium burns brightly (as it does). Unfortunately, because of potas￾sium's chemical reactivity, it is always found in nature as a salt. Conse￾quently, to test the hypothesis that potassium per se burns brightly, you

must first artificially purify potassium salts by electrolysis, in case the other

elements with which potassium is combined obscure its incandescence, or

turn out to be misleadingly incandescent themselves. In a similar manner,

INTRODUCTION xiii

to test any hypothesis about social thinking or behavior, you must first pu￾rify the phenomenon of interest in an experimental laboratory, in case the

ebb and flow of everyday life obscure its true nature, or misleadingly create

the impression that its true nature is other than it actually is.

Artificiality is only a drawback if researchers are seeking to generalize their

findings immediately to a specific setting or group of people (as is done in

applied research). However, researchers spend much of their time testing

general theories or demonstrating classes of effects. This is a worthwhile en￾terprise because our knowledge of what generally causes what enriches our

understanding of specific problems and suggests more effective solutions to

them. In any case, social psychological experiments are not always artificial,

nor is everyday life always real. The studies featured in this volume, for exam￾ple, have participants doing a variety of interesting things: they lie to others,

submerge their hands in ice water, recall their menstrual symptoms, try to

send telepathic messages, contemplate the personalities of the fictional in￾habitants of a faraway planet, offer assistance to epileptics, and prepare to

deliver a sermon. We daresay that such artificial activities are no less real than

many everyday activities, such as flipping hamburgers, driving cars, or

watching television (Aronson, Wilson, & Brewer, 1998).

What would happen if social psychologists were to study only everyday ex￾periences in people's lives? Years ago, Barker (1965) pioneered what he called

the ecological approach to human behavior. He and his colleagues had the

goal of recording the activities of people in a small Kansas town using large

numbers of observers stationed in various strategic locations. Much data was

collected in grocery stores, on park benches, near soda fountains, and so on.

Although the observations collected added up to a number of curious factoids

about what really went on in this small town, almost none of these contributed

significantly to our general knowledge of human nature. The laboratory is the

place to create conditions that put theoretical positions to the test.

On a more personal note, the writing of this book has been, by turns,

challenging and gratifying, frustrating and exhilarating. It began when fate,

and a common passion for chess, brought the three of us together at Yale

University; it has ended, years later, with us living and working continents

apart. The process has had its fair share of ups and downs. We sometimes

clashed over which studies to include, which issues to address, and which

conclusions to draw—hardly unexpected, given the differences in our

ages, areas of expertise, and perspectives on life. Yet, through mutual

openness, a willingness to compromise, and a principled commitment to

democratic decision making, we ultimately succeeded in turning into a re￾ality a wild idea that struck one of us while out for a jog. (Little did that jog￾ger, KPF, realize what he was letting himself or the rest of us in for!)

Moreover, we believe that this book distills our common wisdom and in￾sight, for, as we collaborated, we could not help enriching each others'

knowledge and understanding and curtailing each others' biases and over￾sights. We are consequently confident that the following pages present an

xiv INTRODUCTION

enlightened and evenhanded account of experimental social psychology,

past and present. Although our book may well have featured different or

additional studies—we preemptively apologize to any researchers who feel

unjustly sidelined—we nonetheless flatter ourselves that the studies we do

showcase make a prize package. Enjoy!

Please visit our website at: http://www.experimentswithpeople.com

REFERENCES

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Brewer, M. B. (1998). Experimentation in social psychol￾ogy. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology

(4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 99-142). Mew York: Random House.

Barker, R. G. (1965). Explorations in ecological psychology. American Psychologist,

20, 1-14.

Mook, D. G. (1980). In defense of external invalidity. American Psychologist, 38,

379-388.

ACKMOWLEDGMEMTS

We wish to thank Mark Lepper of Stanford University for his detailed and

useful comments on an earlier version of this book. Thanks also go to the

folks at Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, especially to Larry Erlbaum,

Debra Riegert, Marianna Vertullo, and Jason Planer for their support and

patient help.

To Kurt Lewin, Stanley Schacter, Leon Festinger, and Harold Kelley,

champions of experimental social psychology at MIT in the mid￾1940s, and especially to Alex Bavelas who gave me my first research

job.

—RPA

To Tae Woo, Alice Eagly, and Eliot Smith, who turned me on to Social

Psychology.

—KPF

To my family, for their constant support and love (and hoping this

clarifies my occupation!).

—APG