Readings

Syllabus (PDF)

Read carefully all the introductory parts up to and including the detailed syllabus for this class session. Glance through the rest, trying to get some idea of what lies ahead.

Aronson, Elliot, ed. "Front Matter" (pp. i-xiii); "Front Matter" (pp. 430-512); Chapter 1 (pp. 1-11); Chapter 9 (pp. 404-429) in The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9780716759669.

Note the number of the author's publications and the range of his interests. Check out the dedication and the table of contents; read the author's Preface: "Why I Wrote this Book", and Acknowledgments. Reflect on the meaning to you of the epigram that Aronson borrows from Aristotle's Politics.

Additional notes on Aronson text (PDF)

Milgram, Stanley. "The Perils of Obedience." Harper's Magazine, 1974.

This text (which appeared in Harper's Magazine - year is not certain) is abridged and adapted from Obedience to Authority by Stanley Milgram, 1974. In it, Milgram summarizes the essential features of the experiment, and revises his original article "Behavioral Study of Obedience", which was published in The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1963... (PDF)

Baumrind, D. "Some Thoughts on the Ethics of Research: After Reading Milgram's 'Behavioral Study of Obedience'." American Psychologist 19 (1964): 421-423.

Milgram, S. "Issues in the Study of Obedience: A Reply to Baumrind." American Psychologist 19 (1964): 848-852.

Aronson, E., and D. Bridgeman. "Jigsaw Groups and the Desegregated Classroom: In Pursuit of Common Goals." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 5 (1979): 438-446.

As we proceed, we will organize ourselves into a collaborative learning system that enables us to pursue some common learning goals without resorting to deception.

Additional notes on Aronson text (PDF)

Viewings

The Human Behavior Experiments. Directed by Alex Gibney. Film, Viewing time 58 minutes. 2006.

Milgram, S. Obedience to Authority. Copyright 1965, renewed 1993 A Milgram. Distributed by The Pennsylvania State University Media Sales. (Black-and-white film of the experiment, shot by Milgram.) Videotape, Viewing time 51 mins.

In this original film Milgram documents the actual participants in a session of the famous experiment. In unit 2.2 we will return to a consideration of the experimental details. For present purposes we want to focus on the study as a rather extreme but not atypical example of experimental social psychological studies based on a version of the modern scientific laboratory model that requires the experimenters to engage in deception of the experimental subjects and fail to obtain fully informed consent of participants.

Aronson, Elliot, ed. "Conformity." Chapter 2 in The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2003, pp. 12-57. ISBN: 9780716759669.

Asch, S. E. "Opinions and Social Pressure." Scientific American 193, no. 5 (1955): 17-26. Variables that increased and decreased conformity in Asch's experiment were group composition, unanimity, prior commitment, self esteem, cultural differences, task difficulty/complexity...

Additional notes on Asch article (PDF)

Jones, S. You Will Do As Directed.

Milgram, Stanley. "The Perils of Obedience (PDF)." Harper's Magazine, 1974.

We have been here before. (The Milgram Experiment) but this time we take a deeper look at how social influences induce conformity in various contexts. We have already seen how ready, willing and able people are to abjure their own responsibility and obey directions from "responsible" and ostensibly legitimate academic/professional authorities.

Viewings

The Wave. Directed by Alexander Grasshoff. Videotape, Viewing time 46:30 minutes. 1981.

It is important here to remind you to monitor your own attitudes and take their influence into account: In the 1970s film, The Wave, you are not the young people being more or less unwittingly drawn by their teacher into an informal "experiment" in social influence. There are obvious differences between them and yourselves (e.g. in age, context, dress and deportment, background, etc). These differences might be the reason why you would want to refrain from identifying with them and their predicament...

Additional notes on The Wave (PDF)

Part 1: The Challenger Disaster. Scientists, Engineers and Public Controversies. Directed by C. Wiener. Videotape, Viewing time 6:30 mins.

Aronson discusses the idea that we can understand the behavior of "uninvolved bystanders" as an instance of conformity (e.g. The Case of Kitty Genovese). What is it like for scientists in a situation in which their personal desires to be faithful in fulfilling scientific, technical and social responsibilities is directly contradicted by their corporate superiors enunciating the short term organizational ("bottom-line") imperatives of the company? Lives are on the line. Consider the case of the Challenger Disaster, in which one of your own - your fellow MIT student, Ronald McNair - and six others perished.

Aronson, Elliot, ed. "Social Cognition." Chapter 4 in The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2003, pp. 116-179. ISBN: 9780716759669.

Ash, C., et al. "Living in Societies." Science 317, no. 5843 (2007).
Special Section, pp. 1291, 1293, 1301, 1307, 1308, 1310, 1321, 1326-29, 1337-1354, 1360-1366, 1402-1405.

Crowe, Beryl. The Tragedy of The Common Revisited. 1969. Reprinted in Hardin, Garrett, and John Baden. Managing the Commons. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman, 1977. ISBN: 9780716704768.
Hardin's classic article poses some essential socio-psychological questions about attitudes toward ecological issues... (PDF)

Macy, Joanna Rogers. Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. Published/Created: Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers, 1983. ISBN: 9780865710313.

This important book, now sadly out of print, was written in 1983, in the midst of an escalating nuclear arms race between the U.S. and USSR. In it Macy uses the fear of nuclear annihilation to show precisely how we deal with information that is threatening to our personal security. She offers an explanation of what has been called "the dynamics of inaction." Arguably, her thesis has contemporary relevance. Do you see it as applicable to current events? If so how? If not, why not?

Rowe, J. "The Parallel Economy of the Commons." In State of the World 2009 - Innovations for a Sustainable Economy. Worldwatch Institute, 2009, pp. 138-150.

Assadourian, E. "Engaging Communities." In State of the World 2009 - Innovations for a Sustainable Economy. Worldwatch Institute, pp 151-165.

Calder, J. S. "Mobilizing Human Energy." In State of the World 2009 - Innovations for a Sustainable Economy. Worldwatch Institute, pp. 166-179.

Aronson, Elliot, ed. "Self-Justification." Chapter 5 in The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2003, pp. 180-251. ISBN: 9780716759669.

Haney, C., C. Banks, and P. Zimbardo. "A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison." Naval Research Reviews 30 (1973): 4-17.
This is the original published report of a famous (infamous?) social psychology experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971. The experiment raises important scientific and ethical questions about research involving human subjects.

The Stanford Prison Experiment. This Web site presents a more graphic version of the actual experiment with links to related sites.

Murray, Bridget. "Film Criticized as Irresponsible." Monitor on Psychology 33, no. 3 (March 2002).

In 2001, a group of German movie-makers, apparently seeking to capitalize on "the reality TV" aspect of the Stanford study, made a movie "adaptation" of it full of gratuitous sex and violence. In this Web site, Zimbardo responded to the distortions involved.

Osherow, N. "An Analysis of Jonestown." 1978.

In November 1978, close to 1000 members of a settlement in Guyana, under the direction of the Reverend Jim Jones, fed a poison-laced drink to their children and drank it themselves. Their bodies were found lying together, arm in arm. How could such a tragedy occur? The images of an entire community destroying itself, of parents killing their own children, appears incredible. The media stories about the event and full-color pictures of the scene documented some of its horror. Here, a social psychologist endeavors to illuminate the causes and to explain the processes that led to the deaths. Does this event teach us anything of contemporary relevance?

Zimbardo, P. Response to the German Movie "Adaptation" of The Stanford Prison Experiment.

Aronson, Elliot, ed. "Prejudice." Chapter 7 in The Social Animal. 9th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2003, pp. 300-355. ISBN: 9780716759669.

PBS "Frontline." A Class Divided. Produced and Directed By William Peters. Videotape, Viewing time 54 mins. First broadcast on Frontline March 26, 1985.

This video deals with what began in 1968 as an Iowa elementary school teacher's idea for a classroom "experiment" intended to teach her all-white and relatively socioeconomically non-differentiated students a lesson about prejudice, using a seemingly trivial aspect of human diversity (eye color) as a basis for distinguishing between two groups. Some highly instructive extensions of the work into other institutional contexts are also described.

Mindwalk. Directed by Bernt Amadeus Capra. Film, Viewing time 112 minutes. 1991.

Crash. Directed by Paul Haggis. Film, Viewing time 122 minutes. 2005.

Storming/Norming

Working on final projects; finalizing production and distribution of evaluation forms