Social Psychology (9th edition) By Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Samuel R. Sommers

Book Preface

When we began writing this book, our overriding goal was to capture the excitement of social psychology. We have been pleased to hear, in many kind letters and e-mail messages from professors and students, that we succeeded. One of our favorite responses was from a student who said that the book was so interesting that she always saved it for last, to reward herself for finishing her other work. With that one student, at least, we succeeded in making our book an enjoyable, fascinating story, not a dry report of facts and figures.

There is always room for improvement, however, and our goal in this, the ninth edition, is to make the field of social psychology an even better read. When we teach the course, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing the sleepy students in the back row sit up with interest and say, “Wow, I didn’t know that! Now that’s interesting.” We hope that students who read our book will have that same reaction.

Brief Contents

1 Introducing Social Psychology 1
2 Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research 23
3 Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World 51
4 Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People 84
5 The Self: Understanding Ourselves in a Social Context 119
6 The Need to Justify Our Actions: The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction 157
7 Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings 188
8 Conformity: Influencing Behavior 226
9 Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups 269
10 Interpersonal Attraction: From First Impressions to Close Relationships 303
11 Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help? 344
12 Aggression: Why Do We Hurt Other People? Can We Prevent It? 375
13 Prejudice: Causes, Consequences, and Cures 413
Social Psychology in Action 1 Using Social Psychology to Achieve a
Sustainable and Happy Future 455
Social Psychology in Action 2 Social Psychology and Health 476
Social Psychology in Action 3 Social Psychology and the Law 496