W
hy would two brothers set off bombs
on a beautiful spring day at the Boston
Marathon—bombs designed to inflict as
much harm and destruction as possible?
Were they psychopaths or otherwise men-
tally ill? Were they unusually brutal and
heartless? Even before the young men were
identified, people everywhere were specu-
lating on why anyone would commit such
a callous act: Was it a random act of
madness? Planned terrorism, domestic or
foreign?
In an Israeli courtroom in 1961, Adolf
Eichmann, who had been a high-ranking
officer of the Nazi elite, was sentenced to
death for his part in the deportation and
killing of millions of Jews during World
War II. But he insisted that he was not
anti-Semitic. Shortly before his execution,
Eichmann said, “I am not the monster I am
made out to be. I am the victim of a fallacy”
(R. Brown, 1986). The fallacy to which
Eichmann referred was the widespread be-
lief that a person who does monstrous deeds
must be a monster. There does seem to be
so much brutality in the world, and yet so
much kindness, sacrifice, and heroism, too.
How can we even begin to explain either
side of human nature?
The fields of social psychology and cul-
tural psychology approach this question by
examining the powerful influence of the so-
cial and cultural environment on the actions
of individuals and groups. In this chapter,
we will focus on the foundations of social
psychology, basic principles that can help us
understand why people who are not “crazy”
or “monstrous” nonetheless do unspeak-
ably evil things, and, conversely, why some
otherwise ordinary people may reach heights
of heroism when the occasion demands. We
will look at the influence of roles and atti-
tudes, how people’s behavior is affected by
the groups and situations they are in, and
the conditions under which people conform
or dissent. Finally, we will consider some of
the social and cultural reasons for prejudice
and conflict between groups.
You are about to learn...
• how social roles and cultural norms regulate be-
havior without our being aware of it.
• the power of roles and situations to make
people behave in ways they never would have
predicted for themselves.
• how people can be entrapped into violating their
moral principles.Roles and Rules LO 10.1
“We are all fragile creatures entwined in a cobweb
of social constraints,” social psychologist Stanley
Milgram once said. The constraints he referred to
are social norms, rules about how we are supposed
to act, enforced by threats of punishment if we
violate them and promises of reward if we follow
them. Norms are the conventions of everyday life
that make interactions with other people predict-
able and orderly; like a cobweb, they are oftennorms (social) Rules
that regulate social life,
including explicit laws
and implicit cultural
conventions.was soon pronounced dead; his brother fled the
scene on foot. After a massive 26-hour manhunt,
Dzhokhar was found hiding in a boat behind a
suburban house, bleeding.
At a press conference the day after the
bombing, Boston mayor Thomas Menino (2013)said, “This is a bad day for Boston but I think
that if we pull together we’ll get through it.
We’re a strong city. A lot of people are willing to
work together to make this a better place for all
the people, and so, as we gather here today with
all our officials, let’s say Boston will overcome.”