Highlights
Enduring Themes of Social Psychology Bring Focus to the Narrative
Social Psychology provides a concise, coherent narrative organized around two enduring social-psychological themes—the power of the situation and the role of construal. Throughout the text, these themes focus discussion of psychological principles and phenomena to help students understand their broader significance in interpreting behavior.
Emphasis on Real-World Phenomena and Applications
To encourage critical thinking and reinforce core concepts, Social Psychology challenges students to explore compelling real-world situations at the beginning of each chapter and major topic, before they read about related principles and research. This format underscores the relevance of social psychology in students’ lives and helps them understand how social-psychological theories proceed from real-world inquiry.
Coverage of Research Methodology Integrated Throughout
Rather than treating research methodology separately, Social Psychology integrates this coverage throughout the text. Emphasizing the cumulative nature of research, the authors show how classic studies inform contemporary ones. Each chapter clearly and engagingly tells the story of how researchers assess problems, experiment, draw conclusions, and modify theories, building on classic studies to produce new research and theories. This approach maintains students’ interest and helps them better understand methodology by placing it in a concrete narrative.
Strong Coverage of Evolution, Culture, and Automaticity
Social Psychology offers strong coverage of culture, evolution, and automaticity, exploring how these cutting-edge topics broaden our understanding of social behavior. Treating culture and evolution as complementary rather than conflicting perspectives of social behavior, the text examines how studies from different cultures and inquiries into human evolution have led to new insights about the self, human relationships, aggression, emotional experience, and moral judgment. Coverage of automaticity accessibly outlines how new research reveals that much of human thought, emotion, and action is instigated by causes that lie outside of our awareness.
Copyright © 2005, W. W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.
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