Published titles in the Social Psychology: A Modular Course series
Social Cognition
How Individuals Construct Social Reality
- By Herbert Bless, Klaus Fiedler, Fritz Strack
How do people think about the world? How do individuals make sense of their complex social environment? What are the underlying mechanisms that determine our understanding of the social world?
Social cognition - the study of the specific cognitive processes that are involved when we think about the social world - attempts to answer these questions. Social cognition is an increasingly important and influential area of social psychology, impacting on areas such as attitude change and person perception. This introductory textbook provides the student with comprehensive coverage of the core topics in the field: how social information is encoded, stored and retrieved from memory; how social knowledge is structured and represented; and what processes are involved when individuals form judgements and make decisions.
The overall aim is to highlight the main concepts and how they interrelate, providing the student with an insight into the whole social cognition framework. With this in mind, the first two chapters provide an overview of the sequence of information processing and outline general principles. Subsequent chapters build on these foundations by providing more in-depth discussion of memory, judgemental heuristics, the use of information, hypothesis-testing in social interaction and the interplay of affect and cognition. Social Cognition will be essential reading for students and researchers in psychology, communication studies, and sociology.
Published November 18th 2003 by Psychology Press.
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Prosocial Behaviour
- By Hans-Werner Bierhoff
How can social bonds in society be strengthened? How do we learn and develop prosocial behaviour?
This comprehensive textbook provides up-to-date coverage of the social phenomenon of prosocial behaviour, incorporating all the major developments in the fields of developmental and social psychology. The first section identifies different forms of prosocial behaviour, including estimates of prevalence in everyday situations and the controversy between biological and cultural perspectives as explanatory models of prosocial behaviour. The second and third sections focus on learning and development, with emphasis on social learning, responsibility, empathy and guilt. The fourth section explores the prevalence of prosocial behaviour, in particular the situational and personality factors which inhibit urgently needed prosocial behaviour. The final section is devoted to practical applications, such as how to increase the likelihood that people will work as volunteers in community organisations and how to heighten the willingness to offer first aid.
This book will be an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of social psychology and sociology, as well as anyone with an interest in social services and voluntary organisations.
Published August 29th 2002 by Psychology Press.
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Attitudes and Attitude Change
- By Gert Bohner, Gerd Bohner, Michaela WANKE, Michaela Wanke
Attitudes - cognitive representations of our evaluation of ourselves, other people, things, actions, events, ideas - and attitude change have been a central concern in social psychology since the discipline began. People can - and do - have attitudes on an infinite range of things but what are attitudes, how do we form them and how can they be modified?
This book provides the student with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the basic issues in the psychological study of attitudes. Drawing on research from Europe and the USA it presents up-to-date coverage of the key issues that will be encountered in this area, including attitude formation and change, functions of attitudes, attitude measurement, attitudes as temporary constructs, persuasion processes and prediction of behaviour from attitudes.
Published February 21st 2002 by Psychology Press.
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Attribution
An Introduction to Theories, Research and Applications
- By Friedrich Försterling
Attribution concerns the scientific study of naive theories and common-sense explanations. This text provides a thorough and up-to-date introduction to the field, combining comprehensive coverage of the fundamental theoretical ideas and most significant research with an overview of more recent developments.
The author begins with a broad overview of the central questions and basic assumptions of attribution research. This is followed by discussion of the ways in which causal explanations determine reactions to success or failure and how our causal explanations of other people's actions shape our behaviour toward them. The manner in which attributions may shape communication, and how people often quite indirectly communicate their beliefs about causality, is also explained. Finally, the issue of changing causal connections in training and therapy is addressed.
With end of chapter summaries, further reading and exercises to illustrate key attribution phenomena, Attribution will be essential reading for students of social psychology and associated areas such as personality, educational, organisational and clinical psychology.
Published July 19th 2001 by Psychology Press.
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The Social Psychology of Aggression
- By Barbara Krahe
This book provides an up-to-date overview of social-psychological research in the field of aggression. It presents a balanced account of both theoretical and applied issues and explores strategies designed to control, reduce and prevent aggression on both an individual and a societal level.
The book follows the broad division of basic and applied research in the area. First, it deals with the theoretical approaches that have been taken to conceptualise, explain, measure and predict the occurrence of aggression as a particular form of social behaviour. Issues discussed include individual differences in aggressive behaviour, the role of situational factors such as alcohol in eliciting aggression and the impact of media violence on viewers' aggressive response tendencies. Second, it addresses the manifestations of aggression in different areas of life, and the concerns of applied psychologists and practitioners regarding the damaging effects of aggression on individuals, groups and societies. Included are chapters on aggression in the public sphere, domestic violence, and sexual aggression. Topics such as bullying, gang violence, ethnic violence, and violence in the family are also covered.
The Social Psychology of Aggression will be of interest to students and researchers in psychology, sociology, law, media studies, and social work. It will also be useful to practitioners and policy makers working in areas such as domestic violence, sexual aggression, childhood and adolescent aggression, bullying and gang violence.
Published April 26th 2001 by Psychology Press.
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