Social Psychology

'Robin Vallacher offers an exceptional guide to social psychology. The book directs and escorts the reader by laying the psychological foundations of intrapersonal experiences, on which he builds the interpersonal and collective extensions that are necessary to understand social behavior. The book not only explains the basic findings and insights of the field; it also embeds them into a broader framework that extends the boundaries of social psychology. Last but not least, it is exceptionally well-written and fun to read.' - Fritz Strack, Emeritus Professor, University of Wrzburg, Germany. 'Probably the clearest, most coherent, and engaging presentation of social psychology that I have seen. Rather than providing a laundry list of topics, or exhaustively reciting the available research, Vallacher focuses on presenting a core set of ideas and findings, with the aim of ensuring that students understand key concepts. The book is clearly organized around a set of key principles for understanding human social behavior, and the presentation of topics nicely progresses in line with those principles.' - Stephen Read, Mendel B. Silberberg Professor of Social Psychology, University of Southern California, US. 'One of my favorite books in our field, The Self In Social Psychology, was cowritten by Dan Wegner and Robin Vallacher. It is of no surprise then, that Robin Vallacher has written a highly accessible summary of research and theory in this introductory social psychology textbook. Notably, Vallacher provides enough detail on methods so that students can understand why the researchers came up with their conclusions, and also so that students may practice being good consumers of research by having enough information to evaluate the validity of the claims.' - Kip Williams, Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Purdue University, US.

Robin R. Vallacher is Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, USA, and Research Associate in the Center for Complex Systems, Warsaw University, Poland. He has authored or edited eight professional books and published over 150 journal articles and book chapters on topics ranging from intrapersonal processes (e.g., self-concept) to societal phenomena (e.g., conflict, social change).

Part I Chapter 1. The Scope of Social Psychology Chapter 2. The Approach of Social Psychology Part II Chapter 3. Beliefs, Attitude, and Values Chapter 4. Emotion Chapter 5. Self-Concept Chapter 6. Personal Control Part III Chapter 7. Social Judgment Chapter 8. Social Interaction and Friendship Chapter 9. Close Relationships Chapter 10. Social Influence Part IV Chapter 11. Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior Chapter 12. Group Dynamics Chapter 13. Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination Chapter 14. Dilemmas of Social Life Part V Chapter 15. The Relevance of Social Psychology