Research on the interactions of social psychological and physiological processes has become a major focus of interest among psychologists in the past two decades. The study of these interactions deserves a central role in psychology because bi ological determinants of complex behavior are often postulated, or even assumed, and, conversely, pathophysiological processes are often vaguely attributed to psy chological or social processes, such as stress. Sociophysiology was designed to bring together in one volume a representative sample of the broad range of work currently being done in the area of social psychophysiology. Some of the chapters provide a review of the literature while others focus more specifically on current programs of research. All provide new insights into basic relationships and several provide broad integrative schemes. Sociophysiology can serve as a text for both graduate and higher level under graduate courses in psychophysiology or social psychology. The authors represented provide an extensive overview of the discipline and are in the forefront of stimulating further theoretical and empirical development.
