Providing a clearer understanding of contemporary issues through a broad, historical perspective, this scholarly overview unites the multidisciplinary roots of social psychology into one coherent book. The author attempts to unite the works and theories of all social psychological subdivisions. Clearly and concisely, he presents readers with a history of social psychology using a minimum of technical jargon. Rather than merely cataloging theories and works, he provides an intellectual context for contemporary research, practice, and study.

A pragmatic social cognitive psychology covers a lot of territory, mostly in personality and social psychology but also in clinical, counseling, and school psychologies. It spans a topic construed as an experimental study of mechanisms by its natural science wing and as a study of cultural interactions by its social science wing. To learn about it, one should visit laboratories, field study settings, and clinics, and one should read widely. If one adds the fourth dimen sion, time, one should visit the archives too. To survey such a diverse field, it is common to offer an edited book with a resulting loss in integration. This book is coauthored by a social personality psychologist with historical interests (DFB: Parts I, II, and IV) in collaboration with two social clinical psychologists (CRS and JEM: Parts III and V). We frequently cross-reference between chapters to aid integration without duplication. To achieve the kind of diversity our subject matter represents, we build each chapter anew to reflect the emphasis of its content area. Some chapters are more historical, some more theoretical, some more empirical, and some more applied. All the chapters reflect the following positions.

For the first time in the history of social psychology, we have a handbook on the history of social psychology. In it, leading luminaries in the field present their take on how research in their own domains has unfolded, on the scientists whose impact shaped the research agendas in the different areas of social psychology, and on events, institutions and publications that were pivotal in determining the field’s history. Social psychology’s numerous subfields now boast a rich historical heritage of their own, which demands special attention. The Handbook recounts the intriguing and often surprising lessons that the tale of social psychology’s remarkable ascendance has to offer. The historical diversity is the hallmark of the present handbook reflecting each of this field’s domains unique evolution. Collectively, the contributions put a conceptual mirror to our field and weave the intricate tapestry of people, dynamics and events whose workings combined to produce what the vibrant discipline of social psychology is today. They allow the contemporary student, scholar and instructor to explore the historical development of this important field, provide insight into its enduring aims and allow them to transcend the vicissitudes of the zeitgeist and fads of the moment. The Handbook of the History of Social Psychology provides an essential resource for any social psychologist’s collection.

The vast majority of research in social psychology focuses on momentary events: an attitude is changed, dissonance is reduced, a cognition is primed, and so on. Little attention is a paid to the unfolding of events over time, to social life as an ongoing process in which events are related in various ways as life unfolds. Originally published in 1984, Historical Social Psychology opens a space for theory and research in which temporal process is central. Contributors to this broad-ranging work provide a rich range of perspectives, from the theoretical to the methodological, from micro-sequences to the life-span, and from contemporary history to the long durée. Together, these authors set the stage for a major shift in the focus of social psychological inquiry.

This fascinating book makes an important contribution to the history of the social sciences. It tells the largely hidden story of how social psychology became an international social science, vividly documenting the micro-politics of a virtually forgotten committee, the Committee on Transnational Social Psychology, whose work took place against the back-drop of some of the most momentous events of the twentieth century. Overcoming intellectual, institutional and political obstacles, including the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the military coups in Chile or Argentine, the committee struggled to bring social psychology to global recognition, not as part of a programme of intellectual imperialism, but motivated by a mixture of intellectual philanthropy and self-interest. Few authors could tell this unique story. Serge Moscovici is undoubtedly the best-placed insider to do so, together with Ivana Markova providing a lucid, erudite and carefully documented account of the work of this remarkable group. This book will be an essential resource for any scholar interested in the history of social psychology, as well as upper-level students studying the history of the social sciences.

This definitive work--now extensively revised with virtually all new chapters--has introduced generations of researchers to the psychological processes that underlie social behavior. What sets the book apart is its unique focus on the basic principles that guide theory building and research. Since work in the field increasingly transcends such boundaries as biological versus cultural or cognitive versus motivational systems, the third edition has a new organizational framework. Leading scholars identify and explain the principles that govern intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup, and intergroup processes, in chapters that range over multiple levels of analysis. The book's concluding section illustrates how social psychology principles come into play in specific contexts, including politics, organizational life, the legal arena, sports, and negotiation. New to This Edition *Most of the book is entirely new. *Stronger emphasis on the contextual factors that influence how and why the basic principles work as they do. *Incorporates up-to-date findings and promising research programs. *Integrates key advances in such areas as evolutionary theory and neuroscience.