Chapter 16: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
How familiar are you with American idioms? Match each item in column A with the appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context given below. Answers are given on last page of this document.
COLUMN A / COLUMN Ba. looks / 1. a reciprocal relationship
b. to jump to / 2.a collaborator; a co-conspirator
c. a scapegoat / 3. people who are very much alike
d. a jingle / 4. to agree with
e. birds of a feather / 5. an innocent person blamed for a wrong-doing
f. cloud nine / 6.to make clear details, specifics
g. a knight in shining armor / 7. extremely happy
h. in the long run / 8. songs and slogans
i. to go along with / 9. finally, after everything is considered
j. an accomplice / 10. a perfect man, without faults
k. to spell out / 11. physical appearance
l. a two-way street / 12. to conclude too quickly
Sentence context
- Looks are the primary factor in our initial feelings of attraction, liking and romantic love. (p. 586)
- Why do we so often jump to internal, personal explanations? (p. 569)
- There is strong historical evidence for the dangers of scapegoating. (p. 574)
- It also explains why modern advertisers tend to run highly redundant ad campaigns, with familiar faces and jingles. (p. 577
- In other words, “Birds of a feather flock together.” (p. 578)
- When you think of romantic love, do you think of falling in love, a magical experience that puts you on cloud nine? (p. 579)
- Our beautiful princess isn't supposed to snore. And our knight in shining armor doesn't look very knightly flossing his teeth. (p. 580)
- In the long run, however, romantic love's most important function might be to keep us attached long enough to move on to companionate love. (p. 580)
- Would you stick with your convictions and say line B, regardless of what the others have answered? Or would you go along with the group? (p. 582)
- The “learner” was an accomplice of the experimenter and simply pretended to be shocked. (p.585)
- These roles (or sets of behavioral patterns connected with particular social positions) are specifically spelled out and regulated in some groups (e.g., the different roles of teachers and students). (p. 586)
- However, the link between media violent media and aggression appears to bea two-way street. (p. 591)
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
As you have no doubt learned, the passive voice in English is used to emphasize the recipient of an action, to make generic explanations and statements, or if the agent (or actor) is unknown or unimportant. Frequently, it is used in definitions of key terms and concepts. Study the examples below, giving close attention to the form and structure of the verb. Also, note that in the cases where the agent is expressed, it follows in an adverbial statement with by.
This is called the foot-in-the-door technique.
The fire was started when government armored vehicles stormed the building.
Social psychologists study how an individual's behavior is influencedby other people.
We've all been subjected to this tactic by friends and family.
The subjects may have been seducedby the gradual nature of the increasing demands.
Read over the paragraph below. Then, fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in parentheses. When you have finished, check your answers with the answer key.
Perhaps the most famous experiment of the role of group membership and conformity ______(call) the Stanford prison experiment. It ______(conduct) by Phillip Zimbardo. In this study, 20 well-adjusted young college men ______(pay) $15.00 a day for participating in a simulation of prison life. Approximately half of the participants ______(select) to be prisoners and the remainder ______(designate) as guards. The results are shocking, even today: prisoners ______(expect) to obey even the most degrading orders and ______(punish) strongly if they did not. After only six days, the experiment ______(terminate), given the extreme psychological changes evidenced by the participants.
Finding key information
In previous chapters, we have looked at cause-effect relationships. In these kinds of relationships, there is an identifiable cause and a direct effect which can be traced to this cause. However, real life situations are not always this simple. Especially in the social sciences, where there is not always a direct cause-effect relationship between two factors, writers must be careful about the way in which they present information. In presenting their ideas, authors often use words which qualify what they are saying and allow room for disagreement. These qualifying words include certain modal verbs such as may or might, along with other verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Study the sentences below, in which the qualifying words are indicated in bold-faced type:
People also tend to see more diversity among members of their own ingroup and less among the outgroup. This bias can be particularly dangerous.
People with low self-esteem may be less confident of their opinions, but they also tend to be less confident of their opinions and are therefore harder to persuade.
When groups are strongly cohesive, they generally share a strong desire for agreement. This desire may lead them to ignore important information or points of view.
Given that lowered serotonin is related to alcohol abuse, overeating, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, it may bethat serotonin has something to do with suppressing impulsive behaviors.
In the following paragraph from page 582 the author discusses cultural differences in proximity. Because they are making a generalization, they are very careful to express this as a tendency rather than a fact. Identify the qualifying language which they use by circling the appropriate words. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
Culture and socialization have a lot to do with shaping norms for personal space. People from Mediterranean, Moslem, and Latin American countries tend to maintain smaller interpersonal distances than North Americans and Northern Europeans (Axtell, 1991: Steinhart, 1986). Children also tend to stand very close to others until they are socialized to recognize and maintain a greater personal distance.Furthermore, friends stand closer than strangers, women tend tostand closer than men, and violent prisoners prefer approximatelythree times the personal space of nonviolent prisoners (Axtell, 2007; Gilmour & Walkey, 1981; Lawrence & Andrews, 2004)
Examining structural clues
The authors of this text often use analogies, which are a type of comparison, to help explain new concepts or ideas. In an analogy, a comparison is usually made to something you already know that functions in a similar manner to the new idea being presented.
One signal that the author is going to make an analogy is the phrase just as: Just as women are often blamed for being raped, minorities are often blamed for their poverty and lower class standing.
Another signal used to introduce an analogy is like:
Like a basket of newborn kittens, there is nothing more appealing than a dewy-eyed poster child with crutches and a brave smile.
Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which contain an analogy and write these sentences in the spaces provided. Study your sentences to see if they follow the patterns noted above.
1.______
______
2.______
______
3.______
______
4.______
______
5.______
______
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of American idioms
a. 11; / b. 12; / c. 5; / d. 8; / e. 3; / f. 7; / g. 10; / h. 9; / i. 4; / j. 2; / k. 6; / l. 1;Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Perhaps the most famous experiment of the role of group membership and conformity was called the Stanford prison experiment. It was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo. In this study, 20 well-adjusted young college men were paid $15.00 a day for participating in a simulation of prison life. Approximately half of the participants were selected to be prisoners and the remainder were designated as guards. The results are shocking, even today: prisoners were expected to obey even the most degrading orders and were strongly punished if they did not. After only six days, the experiment was terminated, given the extreme psychological changes evidenced by the participants.
Finding key information
Culture and socialization have a lot to do with shaping norms for personal space. People from Mediterranean, Moslem, and Latin American countries tend to maintain smaller interpersonal distances than North Americans and Northern Europeans (Axtell, 1991: Steinhart, 1986). Children also tend to stand very close to others until they are socialized to recognize and maintain a greater personal distance. Furthermore, friends stand closer than strangers, women tend tostand closer than men, and violent prisoners prefer approximatelythree times the personal space of nonviolent prisoners (Axtell, 2007; Gilmour & Walkey, 1981; Lawrence & Andrews, 2004)
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers