Despite the importance and amount of research activity devoted to assimilation and contrast processes by social psychologists, there has been no volume that is devoted to this topic. Assimilation and Contrast in Social Psychology consists of original essays on classic and contemporary developments concerning assimilation and contrast. The editors have invited a set of leading researchers who represent a wide range of theory, evidence and application of these phenomena. The book will also include a chapter presenting a historical survey of relevant developments in psychophysics and social and cognitive psychology. A closing chapter will provide a synthesis and suggest future directions. This volume is suitable for professionals, graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

This book examines how standards and expectancies affect judgments of others and the self. Standards are points of comparison, expectancies are beliefs about the future, and both serve as frames of reference against which current events and people (including the self) are experienced. The central theme of the book is that judgments can be characterized as either assimilative or contrastive in nature. Assimilation occurs when the target of evaluation (another person, the self) is pulled toward or judged consistently with the standard or expectation, and contrast occurs when the target is differentiated from (judged in a direction opposite) the comparative frame. The book considers factors that determine whether assimilation versus contrast occurs, and focuses on the roles of contextual cues, the self, and stereotypes as standards for judging others, and the roles of internalized guides, stereotypes, and other people for judging the self.

Comparison of objects, events, and situations is integral to judgment; comparisons of the self with other people comprise one of the building blocks of human conduct and experience. After four decades of research, the topic of social comparison is more popular than ever. In this timely handbook a distinguished roster of researchers and theoreticians describe where the field has been since its development in the early 1950s and where it is likely to go next.

A comprehensive overview of the mechanisms involved in how cognitive processes determine thought and behavior toward the social world, Cognitive Social Psychology: *examines cognition as a motivated process wherein cognition and motivation are seen as intertwined; * reviews the latest research on stereotyping, prejudice, and the ability to control these phenomena--invaluable information to managers who need to prevent against bias in the workplace; and *provides a current analysis of classic problems/issues in social psychology, such as cognitive dissonance, the fundamental attribution error, social identity, stereotyping, social comparison, heuristic processing, the self-concept, assimilation and contrast effects, and goal pursuit. Intended for psychology and management students, as well as social, cognitive, and industrial/organizational psychologists in both academic and applied settings. This new book is also an ideal text for courses in social cognition due to its cohesive structure.

Originally published in 1980, this title came about after many late night discussions between the authors during a 3-week workshop on Mathematical Approaches to Person Perception in 1974. In subsequent meetings a mutual interest emerged in the development of cognitive information processing metaphors for human thought and their application to problems of social perception, memory and judgment. Within the context of modern research on social cognition, the most distinctive aspects of the authors’ work was its empirical focus on how people cognitively represent people in memory, and its theoretical emphasis on models of cognitive organization and process. They concluded that an adequate theory of social memory was the necessary foundation for solutions to many questions concerning social perception and judgment that had dominated the 1974 workshop. This volume summarizes work conducted between 1974 and 1979 on social memory by these authors. In addition to six chapters summarizing individual research programs, the volume includes a general introduction and a concluding theoretical integration.

This book presents current research on self-regulation and autonomy, which have emerged as key predictors of health and well-being in several areas of psychology.

The Oxford Handbook of Social Influence restores this important field to its once preeminent position within social psychology. Editors Harkins, Williams, and Burger lead a team of leading scholars as they explore a variety of topics within social influence, seamlessly incorporating a range of analyses (including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intragroup), and examine critical theories and the role of social influence in applied settings today.