This special issue provides a view of the past, present, and future of the field of personality and social psychology as an interdisciplinary endeavor. Collectively, the articles illustrate the vital contributions that can be made pursuing the reciprocal connections between personality/social psychology and psychobiology; developmental psychology; comparative psychology and evolutionary biology; clinical and health psychology; communication studies; organizational studies and systems theory; and cultural anthropology. The papers reflect the collective past and present of the field and set an agenda for a collective future.

Uniquely integrative and authoritative, this volume explores how advances in social psychology can deepen understanding and improve treatment of clinical problems. The role of basic psychological processes in mental health and disorder is examined by leading experts in social, clinical, and counseling psychology. Chapters present cutting-edge research on self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal processes, social cognition, and emotion. The volume identifies specific ways that social psychology concepts, findings, and research methods can inform clinical assessment and diagnosis, as well as the development of effective treatments. Compelling topics include the social psychology of help seeking, therapeutic change, and the therapist–client relationship.

This volume presents the reader with a stimulating tapestry of essays exploring the nature of personal autonomy, self-determination, and agency, and their role in human optimal functioning at multiple levels of analysis from personal to societal and cross-cultural. The starting point for these explorations is self-determination theory, an integrated theory of human motivation and healthy development which has been under development for more than three decades (Deci & Ryan, 2000). As the contributions will make clear, psychological autonomy is a concept that forms the bridge between the dependence of human behavior on biological and socio-cultural determinants on the one side, and people’s ability to be free, reflective, and transforming agents who can challenge these dependencies, on the other. The authors within this volume share a vision that human autonomy is a fundamental pre-condition for both individuals and groups to thrive, and that without understanding the nature and mechanisms of autonomous agency vital social and human problems cannot be satisfactory addressed. This multidisciplinary team of researchers will collectively explore the nature of personal autonomy, considering its developmental origins, its expression within relationships, its importance within groups and organizational functioning, and its role in promoting to the democratic and economic development of societies. The book is aimed toward developmental, social, personality, and cross-cultural psychologists, towards researchers and practitioners’ in the areas of education, health and medicine, social work and, economics, and also towards all interested in creating a more sustainable and just world society through promoting individual freedom and agency. This volume will provide a theoretical and conceptual account of the nature and psychological mechanisms of personal motivational autonomy and human agency; rich multidisciplinary empirical evidence supporting the claims and propositions about the nature of human autonomy and capacities for self-regulation; explanations of how and why different psychological and socio-cultural conditions may play a role in promoting or undermining people’s autonomous motivation and well-being, discussions of how the promotion of human autonomy can positively influence environmental protection, democracy promotion and economic prosperity.

In Social Psychology and Theories of Consumer Culture McDonald and Wearing present a critical analysis of social psychology from the perspective of classical and contemporary theories of consumer culture.

Includes established theories and cutting-edge developments. Presents the work of an international group of experts. Presents the nature, origin, implications, an future course of major unresolved issues in the area.

Publisher Description

The second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology beautifully captures the history, current status, and future prospects of personality and social psychology. Building on the successes and strengths of the first edition, this second edition of the Handbook combines the two fields of personality and social psychology into a single, integrated volume, offering readers a unique and generative agenda for psychology. Over their history, personality and social psychology have had varying relationships with each other-sometimes highly overlapping and intertwined, other times contrasting and competing. Edited by Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder, this Handbook is dedicated to the proposition that personality and social psychology are best viewed in conjunction with one another and that the synergy to be gained from considering links between the two fields can do much to move both areas of research forward in order to better enrich our collective understanding of human nature. Contributors to this Handbook not only offer readers fascinating examples of work that cross the boundaries of personality and social psychology, but present their work in such a way that thinks deeply about the ways in which a unified social-personality perspective can provide us with a greater understanding of the phenomena that concern psychological investigators. The chapters of this Handbook effortlessly weave together work from both disciplines, not only in areas of longstanding concern, but also in newly emerging fields of inquiry, addressing both distinctive contributions and common ground. In so doing, they offer compelling evidence for the power and the potential of an integrated approach to personality and social psychology today.