Chapter 5 Further Reading: The Social Psychology of...

Foundational Empirical Studies

1. Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.

Psychological Monographs, 70(9), 1–70.

The original, comprehensive report of Asch's conformity experiments. While often cited through secondary sources, the primary publication rewards close reading: Asch was a sophisticated phenomenologist who attended carefully to what participants reported experiencing, not just what they did. His analysis of the mechanisms of conformity — whether participants experienced genuine perceptual change, self-doubt, or strategic compliance — anticipates debates that continue in contemporary social cognition research. Students reading the original will find a richer account than any summary provides. Asch's later work in the same volume on conditions for independence (particularly the dissenter studies) is equally important.

Difficulty: Moderate. Technical by 1950s standards but accessible to contemporary readers. Key finding: ~37% conformity on critical trials; unanimity the critical variable; single dissenter dramatically reduces conformity.

2. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict.

In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.

The foundational theoretical statement of Social Identity Theory. Tajfel and Turner set out to explain intergroup discrimination and hostility at a social-psychological level, arguing that mere categorization into groups is sufficient to produce discrimination because individuals derive self-esteem from group memberships. This paper's core insight — that group identity motivates systematic in-group favoritism — provides the theoretical foundation for understanding how group membership shapes information processing. Essential reading for understanding why identity is such a powerful driver of belief.

Difficulty: Moderate. Dense theoretical argument but clearly written. Key concepts: Social identity, positive distinctiveness, minimal group paradigm, intergroup discrimination.

3. Janis, I. L. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes (2nd ed.).

Houghton Mifflin.

The full version of Janis's groupthink theory, including detailed case analyses of the Bay of Pigs, the Korean War escalation, Pearl Harbor, and successful decision-making contrasts (Cuban Missile Crisis, Marshall Plan). More rigorous and nuanced than the popular summaries suggest. Janis is careful about the theory's limitations and conditions, and his case analyses demonstrate both the explanatory power and the interpretive challenges of the groupthink concept. The prescriptive chapters on preventing groupthink are particularly useful for applied contexts.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for a general academic audience. Key concepts: Eight symptoms of groupthink, structural antecedents, case study methodology.

4. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion.

Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123–205.

The definitive statement of the Elaboration Likelihood Model by its originators. This comprehensive review covers both the theoretical framework and the extensive experimental evidence supporting it. The ELM is one of the most cited frameworks in social psychology, and this paper provides the theoretical depth necessary for sophisticated application. Particularly useful are the discussions of the boundary conditions — when peripheral cues operate as arguments, when arguments operate as cues — and the implications for designing effective communication.

Difficulty: Advanced. Dense with experimental detail. Key concepts: Central vs. peripheral route, elaboration likelihood, argument strength, source credibility, attitude change durability.

5. Cialdini, R. B. (1984). Influence: The psychology of persuasion.

William Morrow.

Essential popular science reading that combines rigorous research with accessible writing and vivid illustrations. Cialdini spent years embedded in the "compliance professions" — sales, advertising, fundraising, public relations — learning how influence practitioners deploy psychological principles. The six principles framework (Reciprocity, Commitment/Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, Scarcity) has held up remarkably well and provides a useful diagnostic vocabulary for analyzing manipulative communication. The 2021 updated edition adds a seventh principle (Unity/shared identity) that is particularly relevant to online community dynamics.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for general audiences with rigorous empirical foundation. Key concepts: Six principles of influence, compliance, persuasion, influence defense.

6. Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion.

Pantheon Books.

Haidt's comprehensive presentation of Moral Foundations Theory for a general audience, including the evolutionary and cultural origins of the six foundations, their differential weighting across political groups, and their implications for political disagreement and communication. Haidt argues that the liberal vs. conservative divide is fundamentally a difference in moral taste profiles, not a difference in intelligence or information, with important implications for how partisans should communicate across divides. The book is rich with empirical data and theoretical depth while remaining accessible.

Difficulty: Accessible. Aimed at thoughtful general readers. Key concepts: Six moral foundations, moral taste profiles, moral intuition vs. reasoning, political psychology.

7. Surowiecki, J. (2004). The wisdom of crowds: Why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes business, economies, societies, and nations.

Doubleday.

Engaging and well-researched account of conditions under which groups outperform individuals, with extensive case studies from markets, science, politics, and everyday life. Surowiecki is honest about the conditions under which crowds fail — including several chapters devoted to coordination problems, cascades, and conditions for collective stupidity — making the book a balanced rather than simply optimistic account. Essential for understanding when to trust collective judgment and when to be skeptical of it.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for general audiences. Key concepts: Four conditions for collective intelligence, information cascades, prediction markets, deliberation failures.

Contemporary Empirical Research

8. Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Dawson, E., & Slovic, P. (2017). Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government.

Behavioural Public Policy, 1(1), 54–86.

The key paper establishing that higher numeracy is associated with greater partisan divergence on politically contested empirical questions. Kahan et al. present data showing that Republican and Democrat high-numeracy respondents interpret identical climate science data in systematically different directions aligned with their political identities. This paper provides the definitive empirical challenge to the knowledge deficit model and establishes that analytical sophistication is a resource for motivated reasoning rather than a corrective to it.

Difficulty: Moderate. Statistical but accessible. Key concepts: Identity-protective cognition, motivated numeracy, knowledge deficit model failure.

9. Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). Moral contagion in social networks.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(28), 7313–7318.

The large-scale Twitter analysis demonstrating that moral-emotional language dramatically increases sharing rates (~20% per additional moral-emotional word). This paper provides quantitative empirical grounding for the intuition that moralized content spreads faster, and the finding that effects are stronger within ideologically homogeneous networks has direct implications for echo chamber dynamics. Rigorous and accessible, with clear practical implications.

Difficulty: Moderate. Large-N empirical study; statistical but not heavily technical. Key concepts: Moral contagion, moral-emotional language, sharing rates, within-group amplification.

10. Bakshy, E., Messing, S., & Adamic, L. A. (2015). Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook.

Science, 348(6239), 1130–1132.

The large-scale Facebook study comparing algorithmic filtering effects to individual choice effects in reducing ideological diversity. Bakshy et al. find that both factors reduce exposure to diverse viewpoints, with individual choice having the larger effect. This paper is essential for the empirically-grounded discussion of filter bubbles — it complicates both the algorithm-blaming and the "filter bubbles don't exist" camps. Also important for the methodological debate it generated about platform research access.

Difficulty: Moderate. Statistical findings but clearly explained. Key concepts: News Feed algorithm, ideological diversity, filter bubble, individual vs. algorithmic effects.

11. van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., & Compton, J. (2020). Inoculating against fake news about COVID-19.

Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 566790.

Research demonstrating that brief inoculation interventions can improve detection of COVID-19 misinformation at scale, using the "Go Viral!" game. This paper provides accessible evidence for the efficacy of pre-bunking approaches and the potential for gamified inoculation delivery. The design and evaluation of the intervention are described clearly enough to inform practical application.

Difficulty: Accessible to moderate. Clearly written empirical paper. Key concepts: Psychological inoculation, prebunking, gamified intervention, COVID-19 misinformation.

12. Pennycook, G., Epstein, Z., Mosleh, M., Arechar, A. A., Eckles, D., & Rand, D. G. (2021). Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online.

Nature, 592(7855), 590–595.

Demonstrates that simply prompting users to consider the accuracy of a headline before sharing it significantly improves the quality of information they share — discriminating better between true and false content. The intervention works by shifting attention from social (is this interesting/funny/outrageous?) to epistemic (is this true?) evaluation, consistent with the ELM framework. Accessible, rigorous, and directly applicable.

Difficulty: Accessible. Very clearly written. Key concepts: Accuracy nudges, attentional reorientation, sharing behavior, misinformation intervention.

Theoretical Depth and Extension

Harvard University Press.

Kuran's theory of preference falsification — the gap between privately held beliefs and publicly expressed ones — provides deep theoretical grounding for understanding how conformity dynamics affect collective belief and political life. The book analyzes how societies can maintain stable public orthodoxies that are privately doubted by most members, and how sudden revelations of private doubt (what Kuran calls "preference cascades") can produce rapid shifts in apparent consensus. Particularly relevant for understanding how rapid cultural change, including misinformation corrections, can happen faster than gradual evidence accumulation alone would predict.

Difficulty: Advanced-moderate. Rigorous theoretical argument. Key concepts: Preference falsification, preference cascade, pluralistic ignorance, cumulative radicalization.

14. Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2015). From gulf to bridge: When do moral arguments facilitate political influence?

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(12), 1665–1681.

Systematic experimental research on moral reframing — the strategy of presenting arguments using the moral vocabulary of the target audience rather than the speaker. Feinberg and Willer demonstrate that reframing pro-environmental arguments in conservative moral terms (purity rather than harm) significantly increases persuasive efficacy for conservative audiences. This paper has direct implications for cross-partisan communication strategy and for understanding how misinformation can be tailored to moral profiles.

Difficulty: Moderate. Experimental research clearly presented. Key concepts: Moral reframing, cross-partisan persuasion, moral foundations, persuasive tailoring.

Princeton University Press.

Sunstein's extended analysis of the epistemic and democratic risks of personalized media environments, expanding his earlier "Republic.com" (2001) into the social media era. Sunstein draws on his extensive research on group polarization to argue that the self-selection of information environments represents a serious threat to deliberative democracy. While some of his specific claims about filter bubbles have been contested by empirical research (see Bakshy et al.), his theoretical analysis of the conditions deliberative democracy requires — and the ways social media undermines them — remains important.

Difficulty: Accessible to advanced. Written for policy and academic audiences. Key concepts: Group polarization, deliberative democracy, information cocoons, epistemic autonomy.

Chapter 5 Further Reading: The Social Psychology of Belief and Group Conformity