“Given the need to be selective and to provide a coherent perspective on each theme within a single book, the editors have generally tackled a difficult brief extremely well. The breadth and depth make a volume suitable for use in many final-year and masters-degree courses in social psychology. It also provides an ideal introduction to top-level original research articles that should motivate students to pursue the current literature in a more targeted way. […] This is an excellent series that will provide an invaluable compendium of the themes that have dominated the 20th Century.” - Diane Houston, University of Kent, in the Times Higher Education Supplement
The aim of the series is to make available to senior undergraduate and graduate students key articles in each area of social psychology in an attractive, user-friendly format.
Many professors want to encourage their students to engage directly with research in their fields, yet this can often be daunting for students coming to detailed study of a topic for the first time.
Moreover, declining library budgets mean that articles are not always readily available, and course packs can be expensive and time-consuming to produce.
Key Readings in Social Psychology aims to address this need by providing comprehensive volumes, each one of which is edited by a senior and active researcher in the field.
Articles are carefully chosen to illustrate the way the field has developed historically as well as current issues and research directions.
Each volume has a similar structure that includes:
Edited
By John T. Cacioppo, Gary G. Berntson
January 27, 2005
Neuroscientists and cognitive scientists have collaborated for more than a decade with the common goal of understanding how the mind works. These collaborations have helped unravel puzzles of the mind, including aspects of perception, imagery, attention, and memory. Many aspects of the mind, ...
Edited
By Tom Postmes, Nyla R. Branscombe
July 06, 2010
This reader brings together the founding texts of the "Social Identity Approach" - a set of concepts, ideas, and principles contained in Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory. This approach originated in social psychology and is increasingly part of the standard curriculum in ...
Edited
By Jeff Victoroff, Arie W. Kruglanski
April 03, 2009
Substate terrorism now represents one of the gravest threats to human civilizations. As the frequency of interstate wars has declined since the end of the Second World War, terrible violence against innocent civilians is increasingly perpetrated by non-state groups with extreme agendas and ...
Edited
By John M. Levine, Richard L. Moreland
July 06, 2006
Research on small groups is highly diverse because investigators who study such groups vary in their disciplinary identifications, theoretical interests, and methodological preferences. The goal of this volume is to capture that diversity, and thereby convey the breadth and excitement of small ...
Edited
By Russell H. Fazio, Richard E. Petty
October 11, 2007
The study of likes and dislikes - what social psychologists refer to as "attitudes" - has been a central focus of the field for decades. What are attitudes? How can we study and measure them scientifically? How are they formed and changed? Of what functional value, if any, are they? How do they ...
Edited
By Diederik A. Stapel, Hart Blanton
May 03, 2007
Self-perception and behavior do not occur in a social vacuum: who we are, and what we do, is often a function of what other people are and do. Others can inform us of who we are ("I am the only sane person here"), or where we stand ("I am quite intelligent compared to him"); others can inspire us (...
Edited
By David Hamilton
January 27, 2005
This collection features articles that have shown a significant impact on the field of social cognition. The articles are organized into eight major sections: (1) social information processing; (2) cognitive representation of social information; (3) activation and use of cognitive representations; ...
Edited
By Harry T. Reis, Caryl E. Rusbult
August 26, 2004
Each of the chapters in this reader is written by leading scholars in the area of relationships, reflecting the diversity of the field and including both contemporary and key historical papers for comprehensive coverage of research....
Edited
By John T. Jost, Jim Sidanius
April 29, 2004
Political psychology is a dynamic subfield at the intersection of psychology and political science. The specific relationship between politics and social psychology has been steadily evolving in recent years, making it a compelling and exciting area of study. The chapters in this reader were ...
Edited
By Robin M. Kowalski, Mark R. Leary
February 12, 2004
Virtually every major area of interest in social psychology has implications for understanding, diagnosing, and treating emotional and behavioral problems. The intent of this volume of readings is to locate published articles that apply important theories and concepts from social psychology to the...
Edited
By Peter Salovey, Alexander J. Rothman
September 25, 2003
This volume describes classic and contemporary theory and research in social psychology that sheds light on how people think about health and illness, as well as their willingness to engage in health-relevant behaviors. The Editors have selected papers that serve to illustrate the reciprocal ...
Edited
By Arie Kruglanski, E. Tory Higgins
February 20, 2003
The articles in this volume have been selected on the basis of their readability, accessibility, and brevity. They include not only highly influential papers which have had an outstanding impact on the field, but also papers that showcase important social psychological principles. Each article in ...
