Princeton University

Department of Sociology

SOCIOLOGY 241: THE SOCIAL BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

Spring 1996 Professor Howard F. Taylor

1:30 Tuesday and Thursday

Robertson 100

Preceptors: H. Taniguchi and K. Healy

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• One mid-term examination (essay, open book), on Thursday, March 14.
• One final examination, take-home format (essay).
• One short term paper. Due date: Dean's date, Tuesday, May 14, 4:30 in Room 2N1 Green Hall.
• Precept participation.
• Reading from purchased texts plus packet purchased from Pequod Copy Center.

BASIC TEXT (AT U-STORE)

S. Taylor et. al. Social Psychology (Eighth Edition), Prentice Hall, 1994.

PAPERBACKS (AT U-STORE)

E. Aronson, Readings About the Social Animal, Freeman, 1995 (Seventh Edition).

S. Milgram, Obedience to Authority, Harper, 1974.

READING PACKET AT PEQUOD COPY, 6 NASSAU STREET

PART I: THEORY AND METHOD

Week 1 (February 6 and 8): Levels of Analysis: Structure, Culture and Personality

1) S. Taylor, Preface, and pp. 1-12 in Chapter 1.

Week 2 (February 13 and 15): Basic Theories and Methods

1) S. Taylor, pp. 12-33 in Chapter 1; and Chapter 2.

2) Zimbardo, pp. 1-47 (reading packet).

3) Selection, "What is the Nature of Man," pp. 1-34 (reading packet).

4) Sacks, "To See and Not See," pp. 59-73 (reading packet).

Week 3 (February 20 and 22): Basic Theories and Methods (continued)

1) S.Taylor, Chapters 3 and 4; and read pp. 497-504 in Chapter 16; and skim Chapter 5.

2) Selection, "How Do People Perceive and Organize Their Social Environment," pp. 35- 51 (reading packet).

3) Curran, "Why Investors Make the Wrong Choices," pp. 63-68 (reading packet).

Week 4 (February 27 and 29): Attitudes: Definition and Measurement

1) S. Taylor, Chapter 6.

2) Zimbardo, "The Experiment as a Source of Information," and "Techniques of Attitude Measurement," pp. 197-220 (reading packet).

Week 5 (March 5 and 7): Attitudes: Attitude and Behavior Change

1) S. Taylor, review Chapter 6.

2) Rosenblatt, "How Do Tobacco Executives Live With Themselves?" (reading packet).

3) "Using Dissonance to Encourage Water Conservation," pp.277 in Aronson.

WEEK 6 (MARCH 12): WEEK FOR REVIEW AND MID-TERM EXAMINATION (March 14)

PART II: THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

Week 7 (March 26 and 28): Interpersonal Attraction

1) S. Taylor, Chapters 9 and 10.

2) Selection by Kerlinger, "Sociometry," pp. 556-563 (reading packet).

3) "Some Evidence for Heightened Sexual Attraction Under Conditions of High Anxiety," pp. 501ff. in Aronson.

Week 8 (April 2 and 4): Deviance and Conformity; Ethics and Experimentation

1) S. Taylor, Chapters 8 and 14.

2) "A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison," pp. 52ff. in Aronson.

3) Milgram (book), Chapters 1-9 and especially Chapter 15. Also selection by Colman, pp. 81-108 (reading packet).

4) Selection by H. Taylor, on separated twins, pp. 75-111 (reading packet), and selection by Colman, pp. 15-49 on "Nature vs. Nurture," (reading packet).

5) H. Taylor, "Intelligence," pp. 941-949 (reading packet).

Week 9 (April 9 and 11): Small Group Dynamics (I)

1) S. Taylor, Chapters 11 and 13.

2) "The Effects of Observing Violence," pp. 293ff in Aronson.

Week 10 (April 16 and 18): Small Group Dynamics (II)

1) S. Taylor, Review Chapters 11 and 13; skim Chapters 15 and 16.

2) "From Jerusalem to Jericho," pp. 37ff in Aronson.

Week 11 (April 23 and 25): Prejudice, Racism, and Sexism

1) S. Taylor, Chapters 7 and 12, and Chapter 5.

2) Selection by Jones, "Prejudice and Racism," pp. 114-167 (reading packet).

3) "The Ultimate Attribution Error," to be handed out. 4) R.B. Moore, "Racist Stereotyping in the English Language," pp.317-329 (reading packet).

Week 12 (April 30): Social Psychology and Public Policy

1) S. Taylor, Chapter 17.

2) "Attribution Versus Persuasion," 100ff. in Aronson.

Week 12 (May 2): Synthesis: Core Issues in the Study of Attitudes, Social Structure, and Interpersonal Behavior.

No new reading assignments.

APPENDIX

Following is a list of sources which will be of use as a start for term paper topics and also for precept assignments. These sources are not now on reserve, but a select number of them may be placed on reserve if the need arises. In the main, the following topics represent areas of recent research interest, and areas which we have found are of particular interest to students in courses like this one. Each of the following topics are covered to a greater or lesser degree in the lectures.

1. Labeling theory of deviance

• D.L. Rosenhan, "On Being Sane in Insane Places," Science, Vol. 179 (January 19, 1973), pp. 250-258.

• K.T. Erikson, Wayward Puritans (Wiley, 1966).

• C. Haney et. al., "Interpersonal Dynamics in Simulated Prison," International Journal of Criminology and Penology, Vol. 1, 1973, pp. 52ff.; in Aronson, assigned above.

2. Risky shift and polarization

• M. Wallach et. al., "Group Influence on Individual Risk-Taking," in R.J. Ofshe, Interpersonal Behavior in Small Groups (1973), pp. 340 ff.

• J. Blascovich et. al., "Blackjack and the Risky Shift," Sociometry, Vol. 36 (March 1973), pp. 42 ff.

• S. Taylor, pp. 354-355, assigned above.

3. Sex differences in interpersonal behavior

• S. Taylor, Ch. 12.

• Article on "Sexual Script for First Date," S. Rose and I.H. Frieze, Gender and Society, Vol. 3(1989), pp. 258ff.

• J.S. Hyde and M.C. Lim, The Psychology of Gender: Advances Through Meta-Analysis (1986).

4. Proxemics and interpersonal space

• N.J. Russo and R. Sommer, "Invasions of Personal Space," in R.J. Ofshe, Interpersonal Behavior in Small Groups (1973), pp. 276 ff.

• E.T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (1966); cf. also S. Taylor, Ch. 16.

• H.W. Smith, "Territorial Spacing on a Beach Revisited: Cross-National Exploration," Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 44 (June 1981), pp. 132 ff.

5. The Milgram experiments

• Milgram, assigned above.

• A.M. Colman (1987), pp. 81-108, assigned above as required.

• J. Martin et. al., "Obedience Under Conditions Demanding Self-Immolation," Human Relations, Vol. 29 (April 1976), pp. 345 ff.

• C.L. Sheridan and R.G. King, "Obedience to Authority with an Authentic Victim," APA Proceedings, 1973 (copy from Prof. Taylor) (The "Puppy Study").

• Fireman, Gamson, Rytina and Taylor, "Encounters with Unjust Authority," 1979, copy from Prof. Taylor.

6. Coalition formation

• W.E. Vinacke and A. Arkoff, "An Experimental Study of Coalitions in the Triad," in R.J. Ofshe, Interpersonal Behavior in Small Groups (1973), pp. 726 ff.

• T. Caplow, Two Against One (Prentice Hall, 1968).

• P.V. Crosbie and V. Kullberg, "Minimum Resource or Balance in Coalition Formation," Sociometry, Vol. 36 (December 1973), pp. 476 ff.

7. Unconscious group processes

• P.E. Slater, Microcosm (Wiley, 1966).

• W.G. Bennis and H.A. Shepard, "A Theory of Group Development" in W.G. Bennis et.al., The Planning of Change, pp. 321 ff.

8. Structural effects and multi-level effects

• P. Blau, "Structural Effects," American Sociological Review, Vol. 25 (April 1960), pp. 178-193.

• J.A. Davis, "The Campus as a Frog Pond," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 72 (July 1966), pp. 17-31.

• Selection by W. Mason, from Professor Taylor.

9. Analysis of plays (and movies; stories; etc.) with graph (and network) theory

• R.G. Stanton, "'A Midsummer Night's Dream': A Structural Study," Psychological Reports, Vol. 20 (1967), pp. 657-658.

• H.F. Taylor, Balance in Small Groups (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970), Ch. 3.

10. Prejudice and racism in Black-White interaction

• Kluegel, J.R., "Trends in Whites Explanations of the Black-White Gap in Socio-economic Status," American Sociological Review, Vol. 55(1990), pp. 512ff.

• Davidio, J.F. and S.L. Gaertner (eds.) (1986), Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism. (Collection of essays).

• H. Schuman, C. Steeh and L. Bobo, Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations (1985).

• D. Ugwuegbu, "Racial and Evidential Factors in Juror Attribution of Legal Responsibility," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 15 (1979), pp. 133-146. (c.f.: the trial of O.J. Simpson!
• R.W. Rogers and S. Prentice-Dunn, "Deindividuation and Anger-Mediated Interracial Aggression: Unmasking Regressive Racism," pp. 327A in Aronson.

11. Nonverbal communication

• S. Taylor, pp. 57-69 (assigned above).

• R. Rosenthal et. al., "Body Talk and Tone of Voice: The Language Without Words," Psychology Today, Vol. 8, No. 4 (September 1974), pp. 64 ff.

• B. Schwartz et. al., "Dominance Cues in Nonverbal Behavior," Social Psychology Quarterly, 45 (June 1982), pp. 114-120.

12. Bystander intervention

• J.M. Darley and B. Latane, "Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility," in R.J. Ofshe, Interpersonal Behavior in Small Groups (1973), pp. 64 ff.

• B. Latane and J. Dabbs, "Sex, Group Size and Helping in Three Cities," Sociometry, Vol. 38 (June 1975), pp. 180 ff.

• T.L. Huston et. al., "Bystander Intervention Into Crime: A Study Based on Naturally-Occurring Episodes," Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 44 (March 1981), pp. 14 ff.

• S. Spacapan and Oskamp, eds., Helping and Being Helped: Naturalistic Studies, Sage, 1992.

13. Structural (mathematical) properties of sociograms

• P.W. Holland and S. Leinhardt, "A Method for Detecting Structure in Sociometric Data," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 76 (November 1970), pp. 492 ff, also in Leinhardt, ed., Social Networks (Academic Press, 1977), pp. 49-66.

• See selection by H. Taylor on Network Structure of America's Black Leadership, 1990.

• H.F. Taylor and C.A. Hornung, "On a General Model for Social and Cognitive Consistency," Sociological Methods and Research, Vol. 7 (February 1979), pp. 259-287.

• H.F. Taylor, "Linear Models of Consistency," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 78 (March 1973), pp. 1192-1215.
• D. Heise, selection from Prof. Taylor.

15. Communication networks (cf. topic 13, above)

• M.E. Shaw, "Communication Networks," in L. Berkowitz, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 1 (1964), pp. 111 ff.

• S. Taylor, pp. 348-350.

16. "Groupthink"

• I.L. Janis, Victims of Groupthink (Houghton Mifflin, 1972); see also second (1983) edition, with appendix on Watergate.

• M. Flowers, "A Laboratory Test of Some Implications of Janis' Groupthink Hypothesis," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 1977, pp. 888-896.

• S. Taylor, pp. 355-357, assigned above.

• "Making Sense of the Nonsensical: An Analysis of Jonestown," pp. 68ff. in Aronson.

• See the magazine Society, Vol. 15 (May-June 1978), an entire special issue on cults. See especially I. Doress and J.N. Porter, "Kids in Cults," pp. 69 ff; and A.D. Shupe and D.G. Bromley, "Witches, Moonies, and Evil," pp. 75 ff.

• L. Festinger et. al., When Prophecy Fails, 1956, on a "doomsday cult".

• Selection by Wuthnow, from Professor Taylor.

18. Biases and heuristics in perception and inference

• J.J. Curran, "Why Investors Make the Wrong Choices," Fortune Magazine (Fall 1987), pp. 63-68. (Note: written before October, 1987, "black Monday"!). Assigned above.

• R. Nisbett and L. Ross, Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment (Prentice Hall, 1980).

• Sears, Ch. 3 (already assigned).

• M.D. Pugh, "Contributory Fault and Rape Convictions: Loglinear Models for Blaming the Victims," Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 46 (September 1983), pp. 233-242.

• D. Kahneman, et. al., Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (1982).

• S. Taylor, pp. 87-91, assigned above.

19. Misattribution

• S. Schachter and J.E. Singer, "Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Psychological States," Psychological Review, Vol. 69 (September, 1962), pp. 379-399.

• S. Taylor, pp. 115-117.

20. Learned helplessness

• M. Seligman, Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death (San Francisco: Freeman, 1975).

• S. Taylor, pp. 128-130.

21. Violence and media aggression

• R. Kaplan and R. Singer, "Violence and Viewer Aggression: A Reexamination of the Evidence," Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 32, 1976, pp. 35-70.

• See also S. Taylor, ch. 14, esp. 450-455.

• "The Impact of Mass Media Violence [prize fights] on U.S. Homicides," ASR, pp. 132ff. in Aronson.

• "The Facilitation of Aggression by Aggression: Evidence Against The Catharsis Hypothesis," pp. 305ff. in Aronson.

22. Romantic relationships

• C.T. Hill, et. al., "Break-ups Before Marriage: The End of 103 Affairs," Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 32, No. 1 (1976), pp. 147-168.

• D. Reed and M.S. Weinberg, "Premarital Coitus: Developing and Established Sexual Scripts," Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 47 (June, 1984), pp. 129-138.

• N.R. Parks, et. al., "Romantic Involvement and Social Network Involvement," Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 46 (June 1983), pp. 116-131.

• "The Search for the Romantic Partner: Effects of Self-Esteem and Physical Attractiveness on Romantic Behaviors, pp. 477ff. in Aronson.

23. Ethics in research; and deception in social psychological research

• M. Hunt, "Research Through Deception," New York Times Magazine (September 12, 1982), pp. 66 ff.

• "Problems of Ethics in Research," Appendix (pp. 193 ff) to Milgram's book (book assigned above as required reading).

• A.M. Colman, Facts, Fallacies and Frauds in Psychology (1987), pp. 81-108, assigned above as required reading.
• L. Christensen, "Deception in Social-psychological Research: When Is Its Use Justified?" Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (December, 1988), pp. 664ff.

24. Violence against women

• "Predictors of Naturalistic Sexual Aggession," pp. 344ff. in Aronson.

25. Juries

• M. Hunt, "Putting Juries on the Couch," New York Times Magazine (November 28, 1982), pp. 70 ff.

• C. Nemeth, "Social Psychology in the Courtroom," in L. Berkowitz (ed.), A Survey of Social Psychology (New York: Holt, 1980), pp. 443-463.

• C. Nemeth, "Jury Trials: Psychology and Law," in L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 14 (1981), pp. 309-367.

• M.J. Saks and R. Hastie, Social Psychology in Court (1979).

• R. Brown, "Jury Size and Decision Rule," in R. Brown, 1986 Social Psychology: The Second Edition (New York: Free Press).

26. Social networks and the "small world" phenomenon

• S. Milgram, "The Small World Problem," Psychology Today, Vol. 1 (May 1967), pp. 61-67.

• J. Travers and S. Milgram, "An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem," Sociometry, Vol. 32 (December 1969), pp. 425-443 (Reprinted in Leinhardt, 1977).

• M. Granovetter, "The Strength of Weak Ties," in Leinhardt, 1977.

• H. Taylor, "The Structure of a National Black Leadership Network: Preliminary Findings" (1990), copy from Professor Taylor.

27. IQ: nature or nurture or both?

• H.F. Taylor, The IQ Game (1980), especially Chs. 1-3 and 4.

• L. Kamin, The Science and Politics of IQ (1974), Chs. 1-4.

• A.M. Colman, Facts, Fallacies and Frauds in Psychology (1987), Chs. 1-3.

• R. Herrnstein and C. Murray, The Bell Curve (1994), Introduction plus Chapters 1, 2 and 13.

• H.F. Taylor, "Ringing the Bell Curve" (1995), copy from Professor Taylor; also, Review Symposium of The Bell Curve by R. Hauser, H. Taylor, land T. Duster, Contemporary Sociology (March, 1995), pp. 149-161.

• C. Steele and J. Aronson, "Stereotype Vulnerability and African-American Intellectual Performance", pp. 409ff. in Aronson.

28. Social psychology's methodology

• D.O. Sears, "College Sophomores in the Laboratory: Influences of a Narrow Database," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51 (1986), pp. 515-520.

• E.J. Webb, et. al., Unobtrusive Measures (1966).

29. Interpersonal games: Prisoner's Dilemma and others

• G.P. Knight and C. Chao, "Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Social Values Among Eight and Twelve Year Old Siblings, Friends, and Acquaintances," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(1991), pp. 201ff.

• Reading selection on Nash Equilibrium.