Experimental Social Psychology: Text with Illustrative Readings represents a new approach to undergraduate social psychology by combining both text and readings. This book grew out of the authors’ laborious and yet rewarding collaboration as associate editors of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The book is organized into three parts that cover the three overlapping categories of social psychology: attitude and belief change, interpersonal processes, and small groups. The investigation of attitude and belief change typically involves the persuasive impact produced by a written or orally presented communication when directed at a person. The area of interpersonal processes typically involves two people, puts greater emphasis upon the interactive nature of social relations, and is not restricted to just certain effects such as attitude or belief change. The study of interpersonal processes includes person perception, interpersonal attraction, conformity, conflict resolution, norm formation, etc. The area of small groups includes the study of groups varying in size between two and the number beyond which face-to-face interaction among all the members does not, or cannot easily, occur. Included within this category is the study of leadership, status, group decision-making, etc.

This bestselling text introduces social science research methods to study diverse social processes and to improve our understanding of social issues. Each chapter illustrates principles and techniques in research methods with interesting examples drawn from social science investigations and everyday experiences. The many updates to the Seventh Edition include: new examples of contemporary research including on social media and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; new developments in methods including the challenges of the 2020 U.S. Census, survey response rates and survey question design, and more emphasis on culturally responsive research ethics; a new "Research in the News" feature in every chapter give topical examples of social research from the news media; new statistical data is incorporated throughout including from the 2022 General Social Survey; and the text is now available on the Sage Vantage platform, which includes learning tools such as highlighting, note-taking, exploration of related resources, videos, knowledge checks and assessment.