Saul Kassin is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA, and Professor Emeritus at Williams College, USA. He has received numerous awards for his pioneering research on false confessions, including the APA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Research in Public Policy (2017) and the APS James McKeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award for Applied Research (2021).

'This is a masterpiece of an introduction to social psychology. The greatest living scientists from the first three generations tell their stories about how they discovered, fell in love with, and, in many cases, transformed the field of their dreams with now classic studies of social experience and influence. As social psychologists will tell you, learning ideas through stories about people is the most effective way to learn a subject. Because it's also the most enjoyable way, I'd recommend this book to any teacher of psychology who wants to both inform and inspire their students with these stories from the 'golden age' of social psychology.' Joshua Aronson, New York University, USA

• 1. Introducing the pillars of social psychology Saul Kassin; 2. Seven decades in social psychology Thomas Fraser Pettigrew; 3. A career emerging from an unnecessary analysis Robert Rosenthal; 4. Once a social psychologist, always a social psychologist Florence Denmark; 5. Abe and Leon and me Elliot Aronson; 6. My contributions to social psychology over many decades Philip G. Zimbardo; 7. Influences and dissonances Jonathan Freedman; 8. From ideomotor theory to the IAT in just 35 years Anthony G. Greenwald; 9. Curiosity Elaine Hatfield; 10. The emergence and evolution of social realities Bibb Latané; 11. The good old days Bernard Weiner; 12. “What ever happened to that blond girl?" Ellen Berscheid; 13. A quest for social psychology that spans the psychological and the social Alice H. Eagly; 14. Reasoning Richard E. Nisbett; 15. Chance and choice: My career in social psychology Kay Deaux; 16. Looking back on a charmed career Wolfgang Stroebe; 17. My train ride to social psychology Joel Cooper; 18. The making and remaking of a cross-cultural psychologist in six acts Michael Harris Bond; 19. A professional past of arranging to be compelled Robert B. Cialdini; 20. A social-psychological and personality approach to human motivation Edward L. Deci; 21. Wandering into psychology and law Phoebe C. Ellsworth; 22. My meandering journey into social psychology James M. Jones; 23. A career in ten episodes Claude Steele; 24. Getting lucky Daniel Batson; 25. Mindsets: From bathtubs to hot beliefs to social change Carol S. Dweck; 26. Social psychology and me: The ties that bind Mark Snyder; 27. My life as a social psychologist Letitia Anne Peplau; 28. You can't be a self by yourself Hazel Rose Markus; 29. Getting to here from there Michael F. Scheier; 30. A relational life Margaret Clark; 31. Planning is overrated: A case study John F. Dovidio; 32. Symptoms, secrets, writing, and words James W. Pennebaker; 33. How chance encounters can foster a career Richard E. Petty; 34. A multi-decade journey between the lab and the real world Gary L. Wells; 35. A long and winding road Timothy D. Wilson; 36. Tales of a devoted but disillusioned party crasher Roy F. Baumeister; 37. Social cognition, always the great beyond Susan T. Fiske; 38. The accidental social psychologist Brenda Major; 39. The power of firmly-held beliefs: A troubled child, Schachter's incredulity, and the roots of extreme behavior William B. Swann, Jr.; 40. A career in social psychology: More than just fun and games Rupert Brown; 41. Chasing self-esteem Jennifer Crocker; 42. The basement tapes John A. Bargh; 43. Evolutionary social psychology: A scientific revolution in progress David M. Buss; 44. One man's search for (the assignment of) meaning Thomas Gilovich; 45. Meetings with remarkable men: A fortunate journey in social psychology Miles Hewstone; 46. Dear Vera, Chuck, and Dave Daniel Gilbert; 47. Always buy the Handbook of Social Psychology (1968) at a railway station in India Mahzarin R. Banaji; 48. Empowering people to break the prejudice habit: (Re)Discovering my inner Cialdini Patricia G. Devine; 49. Seeking the middle way: An exploration of culture, mind, and the brain Shinobu Kitayama; 50. The pillars, their stories, retrospectives, and signals loud and clear Saul Kassin.