Published titles in the European Monographs in Social Psychology series

Consumer Culture, Identity and Well-Being

The Search for the 'Good Life' and the 'Body Perfect'

By Helga Dittmar
Series Editor: Professor Rupert Brown

Advertising, materialism and consumption are central aspects of contemporary Western culture. We are bombarded with idealised images of the perfect body, desirable consumer goods, and affluent lifestyles, yet psychology is only just beginning to take account of the profound influence these consumer culture ideals have on individuals’ sense of identity and worth.

Consumer Culture, Identity, and Well-Being documents the negative psychological impact consumer culture can have on how individuals view themselves and on their emotional welfare. It looks at the social psychological dimensions of having, buying and wanting material goods, as well as the pursuit of media-hyped appearance ideals. In particular, it focuses on:

the purchasing of material goods as a means of expressing and seeking identity, and the negative consequences of this
psychological buying motivations in conventional buying environments and on the Internet
the unrealistic socio-cultural beauty ideals embodied by idealized models, which for women is typically expressed as ultra-thinness and for men as muscularity, and how this creates body dissatisfaction.

Throughout, different approaches from social psychology are integrated, such as self-completion, self-discrepancy and value theory, to create a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding the impact of internalising core consumer culture ideals on how individuals see themselves and the implications this has for their psychological and physical health.

Consumer Culture, Identity, and Well-Being will be of interest to anybody who wants to find out more about the psychological effects of living in modern consumer societies on children, adolescents, and adults. More specifically, it will be of interest to students and researchers in social psychology, sociology, media studies, communication and other social sciences, as well as to psychologists, health workers, and practitioners interested in the topics of identity, consumption pathologies, body image, and body-related behaviours.

Published August 2nd 2007 by Psychology Press.

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The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity

By Maykel Verkuyten

In contrast to other disciplines, social psychology has been slow in responding to the questions posed by the issue of ethnicity. The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity demonstrates the important contribution that psychology can make.

The central aim of this book is to show, on the one hand, that social psychology can be used to develop a better understanding of ethnicity and, on the other hand, that increased attention to ethnicity can benefit social psychology, filling in theoretical and empirical gaps. Based on recent research, The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity brings an original approach to subjects such as:

* ethnic minority identity: place, space and time
* hyphenated identities and hybridity
* self-descriptions and the ethnic self.

The combination of diverse approaches to this burgeoning field will be of interest to social psychologists as well as those interested in issues of identity, ethnicity and migration.

Published November 25th 2004 by Psychology Press.

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Stereotyping as Inductive Hypothesis Testing

By Klaus Fiedler, Eva Walther

Traditional social hypotheses have a built-in tendency to verify themselves and so involuntarily resist attempts at stereotype change or correction. This is the insight demonstrated and discussed as the start point for an alternative approach to the problem of stereotyping and hypothesis testing. Stereotyping as Inductive Hypothesis Testing explicates the proposition that many stereotypes originate not so much in individual brains, but in the stimulus environment that interacts with and constitutes the social individual. This cognitive-ecological approach is then used to analyse the different aspects of language, sign systems and communication that can implicitly govern hypothesis testing procedures and lead to circular or reinforcing outcomes. The authors describe factors in tests such as judgment, memory and expectation and go on to suggest viable ecological learning approaches to them. An original research project based on a classroom situation is used to demonstrate and verify findings. The cognitive-ecological approach is then contextualised in relation to both the traditional approaches it can replace and the contemporary statistical sampling practices it can improve. Written with a profound understanding of the link between theoretical rigour and good empirical research practice this monograph will be invaluable to anyone with an interest in stereotyping or who wishes to enhance the reliability and self-awareness of their research methods.

Published November 6th 2003 by Psychology Press.

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Intergroup Relations in States of the Former Soviet Union

The Perception of Russians

Edited by Louk Hagendoorn, Hub Linssen, Sergei Tumanov

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 left 25 million Russians living outside the Russian Federation. This important new book explores their social identity, examining the mutually held perceptions, fears and resulting nationalism of both the ethnic Russians living outside the Russian Federation and the indigenous, or 'titular', populations they live amongst.
Based on a unique study involving national surveys conducted in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Kazakhstan, the book maps the main individual, intergroup and cross-national factors that shape the fears of 'titulars' and Russians as well as the possible consequences and the risk of ethnic conflict in the five republics. There is detailed statistical analysis of how background factors (personal and national) affect intergroup perceptions; along with discussion of mutual stereotypes, social distance, language and the perception of citizenship and analysis of the dynamics of assimilation and separation of Russians in former soviet states. The attitudes of both groups to other smaller minority groups are also examined.
This book provides significant new conclusions on the complexity of intergroup relations and seeks to relate these findings to a general theory of intergroup relations. It will be essential reading for those working in this area within the disciplines of Psychology, Sociology and Politics.

Published July 19th 2001 by Psychology Press.

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Conflict and Decision Making in Close Relationships

Love, Money and Daily Routines

By Erik Holzl, Erich Kirchler, Katja Meier, Christa Rodler

Love and money are important aspects of the everyday lives of couples. This book focuses on the daily routines of disagreement, conflict and joint decisions on these, and other issues such as work, leisure and children, create in the household.
Central to the authors' research is a unique diary study of forty couples, who kept a daily record of their joint decisions over the course of a year. The diaries show how challenging, varied and complex the conflicts and decision making of normal everyday life can be and reveal that goals frequently change during the decision-making process with the result that the final outcome often achieves a goal distinct from the original intention. Furthermore, the dynamics of decision making differ according to the problem at stake, the decision-making history of the couple, and the quality of the partnership. The results of the diary study are discussed within the overall context of current research in the field as a whole, including discussion of joint decision-making case studies, close relationships, decision-making research in general and special research methods. Numerous results of psychological, sociological, economic and consumer behaviour studies are summarised and integrated into a model of household decision-making.
This book will be primarily of interest to students and researchers in social psychology and economic psychology, but its interdisciplinary and applied nature will also make it of relevance to professionals working in the fields of family therapy and consumer behaviour.

Published November 30th 2000 by Psychology Press.

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Social Context and Cognitive Performance

Towards a Social Psychology of Cognition

By Pascal Huguet, Jean-Marc Monteil

Based on twenty years of research on the social regulation of academic performances, this book offers theoretical and empirical arguments in favour of the inclusion of the social dimension of human beings as essential for their cognitive activities.
We all engage in social interactions, compare ourselves with other people, belong to social groups, and are the object of a myriad of categorisations. Not only do such social experiences affect cognition, but they actually determine its form and its content. Several experiments indeed reveal that cognitive performance depends on the relationship between the individual and the social context in which cognition takes place. And this relationship is not forged directly by features of the situation, but rather by personal construals of these features (most notably social comparison). This fact alone justifies granting the individual's social experiences a psychological status and it further strengthens the key idea of this book, namely that the social context only exists through the intervention of cognitive processes of contextualization (producing a "cognitive context of the self") such as those involved in autobiographical memory. A "social psychology of cognition" is suggested, in which the fashionable distinction between cognition and social cognition makes no sense.
From this innovative perspective it is indeed more the social nature of the individual rather than that of the object to be processed that defines the social nature of cognition. Well-known phenomena such as social facilitation and social loafing as well as established educational practices are also re-examined from this perspective.

Published June 17th 1999 by Psychology Press.

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The Social Psychology of Collective Action

By Sara Breinlinger, Caroline Kelly

In recent years there has been a growth of single-issue campaigns in western democracies and a proliferation of groups attempting to exert political influence and achieve social change. In this context, it is important to consider why individuals do or don't get involved in collective action, for example in the trade union movement and the women's movement.
Social psychologists have an important contribution to make in addressing this question. The social psychological approach directly concerns the relationship between the individual and society and a number of theories have been developed in the field, particularly by contemporary European researchers. Yet, surprisingly, there has never been, until now, a concerted attempt to bring these various strands of research together in a coherent, detailed presentation of the social psychological approach to collective action.
The authors of The Social Psychology of Collective Action review and integrate a number of theories developed in this field as well as presenting their own original research and data. The research discussed in the book ranges over a number of different contexts, with a particular focus on women's groups organizing around issues of gender. Questions addressed include: why do women get involved in women's groups? What part is played by experiences of discrimination in the family and in the workplace? What are the benefits of group involvement? How are feminist activists perceived by others who choose not to get involved? Findings from questionnaires and interviews are integrated with contemporary social psychological theory, especially social identity theory.

Published April 9th 1996 by Taylor and Francis.

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A Radical Dissonance Theory

By Jean-Leon Beauvois, R.V. Joule

This text provides an account of dissonance theory and reduction. It studies the evolution of cognitive dissonance theory, providing a review and a new interpretation of Festinger's original theory - the "radical conception". The authors present research arising from this new interpretation, adding to Festinger's theory by emphasizing the importance of the status of behaviour. Their research and evidence is intended to strengthen and clarify Festinger's original and innovative arguments.

Published March 8th 1996 by Taylor and Francis.

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The Quantitative Analysis of Social Representations

By Alain Clemence, Willem Doise, Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi

Published August 15th 1995 by Taylor and Francis.

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