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Social psychology has maintained a keen interest over the years in issues related to intergroup behavior, such as ingroup favoritism and discrimination. The field has also been preoccupied with ways to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Intergroup contact has been offered as the main mechanism for prejudice and discrimination reduction. In the last 15 years, the social cognitive perspective has been applied to the study of intergroup relations. Theoretical advances have been made regarding such issues as the representation of information about ingroup and outgroup members, the structural pro

Experimental Social Psychology: Text with Illustrative Readings represents a new approach to undergraduate social psychology by combining both text and readings. This book grew out of the authors' laborious and yet rewarding collaboration as associate editors of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The book is organized into three parts that cover the three overlapping categories of social psychology: attitude and belief change, interpersonal processes, and small groups. The investigation of attitude and belief change typically involves the persuasive impact produced by a written or

This study attempts to examine the role of task-oriented cohesion and its relationship to social-emotional cohesion within the groupthink framework. Specifically, it was predicted that the symptoms of groupthink would be least likely to appear when task-oriented cohesion exceeded social-emotional cohesion. In addition, it was predicted that the symptoms of group-think would be most likely to appear when social-emotional cohesion was high. The design manipulated type of cohesion (social-emotional cohesion: high vs. low; task-oriented cohesion: high vs. low) with the symptoms of groupthink serving as dependent variables. Group members were asked to indicate the degree to which they experienced the symptoms of groupthink after completing a decision-making task. Results indicated that the combination of low social-emotional and high task-oriented cohesion resulted in the lowest perception of groupthink symptoms. In addition, groups high in social-emotional cohesion were more likely to experience the symptoms of groupthink than were groups high in task-oriented cohesion. Implications of these findings for cohesion and the groupthink model are discussed.

The present research was designed to explore the role of communication on interindividual-intergroup discontinuity in the context of the PDG-Alt matrix. (The PDG-Alt matrix is a prisoner's dilemma game matrix that adds a third withdrawal choice to the usual cooperative and uncooperative choices of the PDG matrix, and interindividual-intergroup discontinuity is the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive and less cooperative than interindividual relations.) Several predictions implied by the fear and greed explanations of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity were tested. One prediction, an implication of the fear hypothesis, is that communication should produce a larger increase in the cooperation of individuals than of groups. This prediction is based partially on the assumption that the outgroup schema, which leads to more fear of groups than of individuals, should reduce the credibility of between group communication. Given, however, that without communication individuals may not cooperate, what will they do? Will they withdraw or will they compete? Another prediction, an implication of the greed hypothesis, is that the absence of communication should result in a greater increase in withdrawal for individuals than for groups. This prediction is based partially on the assumption that the social support provided to fellow group members for self-interested competitiveness is absent for individuals. These predictions were confirmed. It was argued that the lesser tendency of individuals to cooperate when there is no communication with the opponent may explain partially the differing results of past discontinuity research (which has involved communication) and research reported in the PDG literature (which typically has not involved communication).

The present research involved an examination of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity in the context of three different generalizations of the prisoner's dilemma game (PDG). (Interindividual-intergroup discontinuity is the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive and less cooperative than interindividual relations.) Experiment 1 used a multi-prisoner's dilemma (MPD) game to compare interaction between three individuals with interaction between three groups. Results revealed just as much discontinuity between three players (MPD) as between two players (PDG). Experiment 2 used the approach of n-person games to examine two further generalizations from the PDG. One generalization involved the intergroup public goods (IPG) game, and the other the intergroup prisoner's dilemma (IPD) game. With both games, it was found that groups were more competitive than individuals. It was also found that discussion between groups is characterized by a higher frequency of fear and greed statements than is discussion between individuals.