Social psychology catherine a sanderson

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This online teaching and learning environment
integrates the entire digital textbook with the
most effective instructor and student resources
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With WileyPLUS:
‡ Students achieve concept
mastery in a rich,
structured environment
that’s available 24/7

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tracking, and more

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From multiple study paths, to self-assessment, to a wealth of interactive
visual and audio resources, WileyPLUS gives you everything you need to
personalize the teaching and learning experience.

» F i n d o u t h ow t o M A K E I T YO U R S »
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ALL THE HELP, RESOURCES, AND PERSONAL SUPPORT
YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS NEED!

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SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY


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SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
C A T H E R I N E

A M H E R S

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.

A .
T

S A N D E R S O N
C O L L E G E


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Page vi

Jay O’Callaghan
Christopher Johnson
Leslie Kraham
Eileen McKeever
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To Andrew Reese,
Robert Parks, and
Caroline Kenton


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CATHERINE A. SANDERSON is an Associate Professor of Psychology at
Amherst College. She earned her A.B. at Stanford University and her M.S. and
Ph.D. at Princeton University. While at Princeton, she received the Psychology
Department’s First Year Merit Prize, a National Science Foundation Fellowship,

and a Dissertation Research Award from the American Psychological Association.
Sanderson’s research, which has received funding from the National Institute of
Health, is based in social-personality psychology and specifically on issues within
close relationships and health-related behavior, such as the interaction of individuals in close relationships; individuals’ accuracy in perceiving others’ attitudes and
behavior; and why individuals learn more when they receive personally-relevant
or “matching” messages. Sanderson is the author of Slow and Steady Parenting:
Active Child-Raising for the Long Haul as well as a textbook entitled Health
Psychology. She has served on the Editorial Boards for Health Psychology, the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Research in
Personality. In addition, Sanderson writes a “Body Talk” blog for Psychology
Today.
In her introductory psychology and social psychology courses at Amherst College,
Sanderson’s teaching emphasizes providing students with general information and
skills in interpreting and understanding research that can then be explored in more
detail in future classes as well as be used in some way in their day to day lives.
She also teaches more specialized classes that focus in depth on health psychology, close relationships, and sports psychology. These classes offer a different type
of challenge, namely working with students to critically examine, discuss, and
write about empirical research in particular areas.

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TAKE STUDENTS FURTHER!

Catherine Sanderson’s Social Psychology helps open students’
minds to a world beyond their own experience so that they will better understand
themselves and others. Sanderson’s uniquely powerful program of learning
resources was built to support you in moving students from passive observers to
active course participants.

Go further in applying social psychology to everyday life.
Sanderson includes six application boxes on business, law, media, environment,
health, and/or education in every chapter right as the relevant material is introduced, rather than at the end of the book. This allows students to make an immediate connection between the concept and the relevant application – and provides
a streamlined 13-chapter organization that helps you cover more of the material
in a term.

Go further with research. Help your students understand and appreciate the importance of research in social psychology and how social psychologists know what they know.

Go further with culture. More than any other book, Sanderson’s Social
Psychology helps students understand how key social psychological concepts in
each chapter of the book apply to people from other cultures. The last section
of each chapter reviews the topics in the chapter in the context of other cultures.

Go further with homework and study materials with a robust
set of end-of-chapter activities and our powerful media resource, WileyPLUS.
This online teaching and learning environment integrates the entire digital
textbook with the most effective instructor and student resources to fit every
learning style.

XI


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PREFACE
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
Students vary considerably in their backgrounds, interests, experiences, and personal and professional aspirations. This book brings social psychology to all of
these students—students who will continue their interest in social psychology in

graduate programs, students who will become educators, business people, or
health professionals, and students who take this course out of sheer curiosity about
social psychology.
Through a combination of a lively and current introduction to social science
research, a uniquely accessible approach to thinking scientifically, and online teaching and learning resources that immerse students in social psychology in the world
today, this book will help you open students’ minds to a world beyond their own
experience so that they can better understand themselves and others. My primary
goal is to help students see the many intersections of social psychology in everyday life. An appreciation of the scientific processes behind these connections will
enable them to develop the skills to become critical consumers of information in
the world around them.
To reach every student, the writing about social psychology must be accessible, the research presented with clarity, and the content stimulating and comprehensive, but not overwhelming. This text is therefore written in a light and
engaging style, to appeal to every student—non-majors and majors. Both classic
and contemporary research is described in a clear and vivid way, with examples
of research studies throughout specifically chosen to be interesting and relevant
for the college student reader.
Students benefit as they see themselves reflected in the discussion of social psychology and are given the opportunity to connect to this discussion and see social
psychology through the lens of their daily lives. In addition, the diversity of the
student population is mirrored in the evolving and diverse views in the field of
social psychology (which has growing research on culture, gender, and neuroscience). The role of culture in social behavior is incorporated in every chapter of
this book, reflecting the growth of research in this field and encouraging cultural
awareness in students.

FEATURES
Social Psychology helps students learn to think critically, to apply social psychology to everyday life, and to address the central role of diversity, in the student
population, the world at large, and even in the field of social psychology. It frames
content coverage with five key ideas, designed to get students actively participating
in the study of social psychology.
•
•
•

•
•

Think Critically
Make Connections
Understand the Big Picture
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Culture Matters

These ideas are carefully interwoven throughout the narrative and pedagogy. The
Illustrated Book Tour on the following pages provides a guide to the innovative
features contributing to Social Psychology’s pedagogical plan.
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THINK CRITICALLY
Social Psychology shows students the many ways that social psychology helps
them to think about the world. It provides the tools they need to actively engage
in critical thinking and analysis.
• A separate chapter on research methods describes the strengths and weaknesses
of different methods, as well as strategies for increasing validity of research
studies.

• QUESTIONING THE RESEARCH queries
in each chapter prompt students to actively
question the results and implications of
particular research studies. For example, if
you find that college students who come to a
workshop entitled “stopping binge drinking”
are shown to drink less than their peers, can
you be sure that the workshop caused this
change? Why or why not? These features
encourage critical thinking and facilitate
students’ awareness of the many ways that
social psychology helps them to think about
the world.

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MAKE CONNECTIONS
Social Psychology helps students learn to think critically, to apply social

psychology to everyday life, and helps students make critical connections to real
life and to their own lives. Students will be most willing to commit time and
energy to a topic when they believe that it is relevant to their own life or to their
future career. There is no better way to demonstrate relevance than to ground
discussion in the real world.

• CONNECTIONS BOXES apply topics in each
chapter to the broader themes of Health, Law,
Environment, Business, Education, and Media.
These applications are uniquely integrated directly
with the topics as they are discussed, instead of
being grouped in chapters at the end of the book.
This organization responds to the preference
expressed by a vast majority of reviewers.

• RATE YOURSELF QUIZZES occur in each
chapter to encourage students to become active
participants in the material they are learning and
see how their personal results or reactions to the
material compare with those discussed in the text.
Several of these occur in each chapter as a way to
encourage the reader to make a connection to the
topic and to increase awareness of their own
thoughts and perceptions.

• TAKE ACTION queries at the end of each chapter ask students to
take an active role in applying social psychology to their own lives.

PREFACE

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UNDERSTAND THE BIG PICTURE
To help students appreciate the connections between the broad range of topics
covered throughout the book and understand how each topic contributes to the
whole of social psychology, the first chapter describes three central themes of
social psychology:
• The social world influences how we think about ourselves
• The social world influences our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors
• Our attitudes and behavior shape the social world around us
A Big Picture summary table at the end of each chapter connects the specific
material learned in each chapter to these key ideas in the course.

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A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
In Social Psychology, art is a true learning tool! This text features a completely
unique new approach to research-based graphs throughout all chapters.
Graphs are annotated to help students interpret the key findings in the research
and to help students understand the Independent and Dependent variables in the
research studies through consistent reinforcement of these concepts.

PREFACE

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CULTURE MATTERS
How Does Culture Influence…? sections at the end of each chapter review
chapter topics with a focus on how the findings and theories that have been
presented might in fact differ in various cultures. These sections simultaneously
review prior material from the chapter and engage students meaningfully with

cultural issues. Through this consistent approach, students will better appreciate
the role of culture in social behavior. For example, students will learn that some
expressions that are extremely popular in American culture (e.g., “Be Yourself”)
might not work so well in countries that value connection and interdependence
over individualism.

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FOCUS ON GENDER AND NEUROSCIENCE
• RESEARCH FOCUS ON GENDER sections in most chapters examine a
particular issue related to gender in depth. This information will help
students understand how research in social psychology contributes to our
understanding of gender differences and similarities.
• RESEARCH FOCUS ON NEUROSCIENCE sections in most chapters
examine specific neuroscience research studies in depth. This information
will help students understand how the rapidly growing field of neuroscience
contributes to our knowledge about social psychological theories in a way
that is not currently seen in other books.

PREFACE

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BRING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TO LIFE
• SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION The accompanying online
WileyPLUS course offers materials for both students and instructors that are
fully integrated, not tacked on as an afterthought. The built-in study material
is tied to learning objectives in each chapter and is fully assignable and
assessable.
• RESEARCH CONNECTIONS activities take students from passive
observers to active participants in the process of “doing” social psychology
and will help to ensure their mastery of core concepts and ideas. The on-line
environment allows students the freedom to accomplish things they couldn’t
do otherwise, such as participating in research studies, testing research
hypotheses, designing their own social psychology experiments, manipulating
data, and analyzing their results.

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PREFACE

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ORGANIZATION AND PEDAGOGICAL PLAN
The book moves logically from beginning to end, starting with how we see
ourselves and others, and then moving to address how we interact with others in
group settings, including both positive and negative interactions. The chapters
can be covered in any order, depending on the organization of a particular
course. The table of contents has been kept to 13 chapters so that instructors are
more likely to be able to cover the entire book.
I encourage readers to ask themselves these questions as they read each
chapter, and chapters are organized to facilitate this:
•
•
•
•

What does the research say about this topic?
How can I think critically about the research?
How does this concept relate to everyday life?
How does culture influence this concept?

Each chapter follows a carefully developed pedagogical approach designed to

help students master the material. Chapters are organized around five central
topics, listed on the opening page of the chapter under the heading What You’ll
Learn, and each of these topics is introduced via a specific research study with
compelling and highly relevant findings. Did You Ever Wonder? questions at the
start of the chapter introduce these high-interest findings which are then
described in detail at the start of each of the five sections throughout the chapter.
Then, at the end of each of these major sections comes a Concepts in Context
summary table. These section summaries help students synthesize the material,
but more importantly, understand its real-world applications. Finally, at the end
of the chapter comes What You’ve Learned, a summary of the material in the
chapter, organized around each of the five main chapter headings. The chapter
concludes with Review Questions, Take Action activities and Research
Connections activities, all organized around the five main chapter headings and
designed to help students review and apply core concepts while, at the same time,
allowing them to take the material further through real world applications and
opportunities to experience social psychological research first hand.

WileyPLUS
This online teaching and learning environment integrates the entire digital textbook
with the most effective instructor and student resources to fit every learning style.

WITH WileyPLUS:
• Students achieve concept mastery in a rich, structured environment that’s available 24/7.
• Instructors personalize and manage their course more effectively with assessment,
assignments, grade tracking, and more.
WileyPLUS can complement your current textbook or replace the printed text
altogether.

FOR STUDENTS
PERSONALIZE THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Different learning styles, different levels of proficiency, different levels of preparation—each of your students is unique. WileyPLUS empowers them to take advantage of their individual strengths:
• Students receive timely access to resources that address their demonstrated needs,
and get immediate feedback and remediation when needed.
PREFACE

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• Integrated, multi-media resources—including audio and visual exhibits, research
activities, and much more—provide multiple study-paths to fit each student’s
learning preferences and encourage more active learning.
• WileyPLUS includes many opportunities for self-assessment linked to the relevant portions of the text. Students can take control of their own learning and
practice until they master the material.

FOR INSTRUCTORS
PERSONALIZE THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE
WileyPLUS empowers you with the tools and resources you need to make your
teaching even more effective:
• You can customize your classroom presentation with a wealth of resources and
functionality from PowerPoint slides to a database of rich visuals. You can even
add your own materials to your WileyPLUS course.
• With WileyPLUS you can identify those students who are falling behind and

intervene accordingly, without having to wait for them to come to office hours.
• WileyPLUS simplifies and automates such tasks as student performance assessment, making assignments, scoring student work, keeping grades, and more.

STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR SUPPORT
Social Psychology is accompanied by a host of ancillary materials designed to
facilitate a mastery of social psychology.

WILEYPLUS

www.wileyplus.com

This online teaching and learning environment integrates the entire digital
textbook with the most effective instructor and student resources to fit every
learning style.

RESEARCH CONNECTIONS ACTIVITIES
These interactive online activities created by Catherine Sanderson and Katherine
Dowdell of Des Moines Area Community College, and available in WileyPLUS,
take students from passive observers to active participants in the process of
“doing” social psychology and will help to ensure their mastery of core concepts
and ideas. These online activities allow students to participate in research
studies, test hypotheses, and design their own research studies.

VIDEOS (UPON ADOPTION)
Wiley partners with the Films for the Humanities to offer an outstanding selection of videos (including Roger Bingham’s series on the brain). Perfect for
introducing new topics, enlivening your classroom presentations, and stimulating
student discussion.

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCE WEBSITE
This comprehensive website is uploaded with resources to help you prepare for

class, enhance your presentations, and assess your students’ progress. The textbook’s Test Bank, Instructor’s Resource Guide, Power Points, and Image Gallery
can be accessed directly from the website.

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TEST BANK (AVAILABLE IN RESPONDUS FORMAT, AND IN
WORD FORMAT)
Prepared by Robin Musselman of Lehigh Carbon Community College, the test
bank to accompany Social Psychology is available in printed form as well as online.
Instructors can customize exams by adding new questions or editing existing ones.

INSTRUCTOR’S RESOURCE GUIDE
Prepared by Chris Mazurek of Columbia College, this comprehensive resource
includes a wealth of resources for instructors. For each text chapter in the text,
this comprehensive resource includes:
•
•
•
•

•

chapter outline
lecture launchers
key points the student should know,
key terms
discussion stimulators

POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS
Prepared by Brian Parry of Mesa State College of Colorado, this full set of
dynamic and colorful PowerPoints for each chapter highlights the major terms
and concepts.

POWER POINT IMAGE GALLERY
Online electronic files are available for most figures and tables in the text, which
allow you to easily incorporate them into your Power Point presentations or to
create your own overhead transparencies and handouts.

STUDENT LEARNING RESOURCES
Student Resources, such as flashcards, self-quizzes (prepare by Andrea Mercurio
of Boston University), and chapter objectives are available on the student website
to provide a wealth of support materials that will help students develop their
understanding of class material and master the material.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a textbook is a labor of love, and hence I want to acknowledge and thank the
numerous people who have contributed in large and small ways over the year.
To the reviewers and focus group participants, I offer my sincere appreciation. Thank
you for taking time away from your own research and teaching to read drafts of my
book or evaluate the art and media programs, and provide thoughtful and constructive feedback. I am deeply indebted to all of the individuals listed below.

MANUSCRIPT REVIEWERS
Allison Abbe, George Washington University
Mark Agars, California State University, San Bernardino
Joan Bailey, New Jersey City University
Daniel Barrett, Western Connecticut State University
Frank Barrios, University of Northern Iowa
Carolyn Becker, Trinity University

PREFACE XXIII