yes over the First 10INTRODUCTIONThe Purpose of This Book0ne of the most rewarding aspects of teaching social psychology is that most students are interested in socialpsychological issues. Most of us--students as well as instructors--are interested in explaining the causes of others'behaviors, in predicting how people will react in various situations, and in understanding the attraction or hostilityI~tween people. But this interest can also present an important challenge to instructors. When people learn socialpsychological theories or findings that are at odds with their own intuition or personal observations, they may be tooquick to dismiss these theories or findings as wrong or unrepresentative. Then when they learn other theories orfindings that are consistent with their own intuition or personal observations, they may disparage the first theoriesand findings as mere common sense. The difference between the discipline of social psychology and people's intuitions and observations is empiricalresearch. Intuition and common sense can be frustratingly accommodating. One can, for example, cite, "Absencemakes the heart grow fonder," to explain the continued success of a romantic relationship after the couple has beenforced to spend some time apart from each other, and yet also cite, "Out of sight, out of mind," to explain the failure0fa different couple to endure a similar amount of time apart. Social psychology, in contrast, cannot have it so easy.Social psychological theories must be more rigorous, and they must be supported by the results of systematic,methodically sound research. To fully understand and appreciate social psychology, therefore, one must understandand appreciate the research on which the field of social psychology has been, and will continue to be, based. Yourtcxtb00k, the Fifth Edition of Social Psychology by Sharon Brehm, Saul Kassin, and Steven Fein explains much ofthis research clearly, concretely, and compellingly. The authors have made it a point to make this research comealive to students, to give students enough information so that they can imagine what it would be like to be a subjectin many of these studies. This book of readings was designed to take this emphasis a step further by presenting a diverse sample ofimportant, unabridged, original research articles. Whereas a textbook and class lectures can offer summaries of aamber of studies, only a sample of representative studies can give valuable insight into the process as well as the c0ntent of social psychology. The goal is to encourage students not only to learn the important theories and principles of the field, but also to think critically about them--to see where they came from, how they have been supported, why they have been supported, and what their potential flaws are. This kind of critical thinking not only makes the material more interesting and compelling but also leads to a deeper understanding of the material. Another goal of this book of readings is to illustrate the creativity involved in designing studies to test one's hypotheses. In this process, social psychologists often are challenged to combine elements of theater and science. Their experiments must be controlled and precise; procedures should be identical across conditions, with the exception of the manipulated independent variable(s); and potential alternative explanations should be anticipated ~ad ruled out. Within these constraints, however, researchers often need to create an artificial but very real world for their subjects. They need to anticipate the thoughts, feelings, and reactions of the people who participate in their studies, and they must create situations that are realistic and meaningful. "Doing" social psychology, therefore, often involves acting like a playwright; in conducting research, the social psychologist often must create characters, dialogue, and interactions among characters, must place these characters into various situations, and must create a ~tting, all with the intention of drawing the participants into this fabricated reality so that their reactions and resp0nses are real and spontaneous. Not all social psychological experiments require this level of creativity. Some studies are, by necessity, simple, whereas others are quite elaborate. Some involve a great deal of deception; others involve no deception. Some elicit slr0ng emotional reaction; others are quite mundane. Some are conducted in a laboratory; others are conducted in the field. But whatever the level of complexity, the process that begins with a set of hypotheses and proceeds