Prosocial Behavior: Why People Help Others
Prosocial behavior is any action intended to benefit others — helping, sharing, comforting, cooperating, or volunteering. It is one of …
Social Psychology
Groupthink: When Smart Groups Make Bad Decisions
Groupthink is what happens when a group’s desire for agreement overrides its desire to make a good decision. Irving Janis …
Attribution Theory: How We Explain Other People’s Behavior
Attribution theory studies how we explain behavior — our own and other people’s. When a colleague snaps at you, do …
Social Identity Theory: Us, Them, and Belonging
Social identity theory explains a puzzle: why do people favor their own group and distrust other groups, even when the …
Obedience to Authority: What Milgram’s Experiments Revealed
Obedience to authority is following orders from someone perceived as an authority figure. Stanley Milgram’s experiments in the 1960s made …
Conformity: Why We Go Along With the Group
Conformity is changing your behavior or beliefs to match those of a group. Solomon Asch demonstrated its power in the …
Social Psychology: How Other People Shape Mind and Behavior
Social psychology is the study of how other people — real, imagined, or implied — shape what we think, feel, …