Illusions of Reality: A History of Deception in Social Psychology

Examines the origins and the development of the use of deception in psychological research to create illusions of reality.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Varieties of Deception Deception in Strange Places How Would You Like a Shot in the Arm? May I Watch You Urinate? Would You Help a Bloody Stranger? Defining Deception The Significance of Deception in Research Intrinsic Interest Social Significance of the Research An Overlooked Topic in History Ethical Questions The Image of Psychology Deception Is a Characteristic of American Culture Deception in Other Social Sciences A Sense of History 2. The Growth of Deception The First Deceptions The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology: 1921 to 1947 Surveys of Deception: 1948-1989 Table 1: Percent and Number of Articles Using Deception in Various Journals from 1948 to 1989 3. Social Psychology Becomes Experimental Experimental Social Psychology 4. Lewin's Legacy Lewin in Germany Lewin in America The Father of Deception 5. Military Deception Assessment of Men Stress and Deception in Military Research The "Ditching" Situation Three Threats to Life and Limb Demolitions Military Medicine 6. A Voice of Independence Group Pressure: Independence and Conformity An Independent Voice 7. Leon Festinger, The Seminal Theorist The Seminal Theorist Predissonance Years Dissonance and the Shaping of Social Psychology Research as Theater. I Prophecy and Privacy The Festinger Family 8. Stanley Milgram and the Illusion of Obedience Behavioral Study of Obedience Revelation Variations on a Theme The Ethics of Obedience Research Research as Theater. II 9. The Stage Production Era Growth and Change Directions for Deception Ubiquitous Watergate Ubiquitous Deception Chemical Deception Helping in False Emergencies Aggression and "Pleasuring" Life with Bogus Strangers Into the Nineties 10. Questions of Right and Wrong Psychologists' Ethical Principles for Research Informed Consent in Medicine and Law The Deception Debate Vulnerable Experimenters Did Psychologists Break the Law? The Albany Shock Experiments The Pittsburgh Victims Research Ethics in 1993 11. Deception in Psychology and American Culture Con Men and Sitcoms Popular Philosophy Social Psychology and Academic Life 12. The Power of Positive Illusions Acceptable Deception and Effective Illusions Social Psychology as a Positive Force Notes References Index

About the Author :
James H. Korn is Professor in the Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Psychological Society.

Review :
"This book provides an interesting slice of the history of psychology that is usually ignored or simply an aside in other books of the history of psychology." - Neil E. Grunberg, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences