3. Why do you think natural disasters such as the hurricane that fl ooded the Vermont town where Perley Farm was located bring out heroic examples of helping behavior in otherwise ordinary people? We have touched on some of the major ideas, research topics, and experimental fi ndings of social psychology.

We examined how people form, maintain, and change attitudes and how they form impressions of others and assign attributions to them. We also saw how groups, through conformity and tactics of compliance, can infl uence individuals’ actions and attitudes.

Finally, we discussed interpersonal relationships, including both liking and loving, and looked at aggression and prosocial behavior, the two sides of a coin that represent the extremes of social behavior.