Общественное животное. Введение в социальную психологию

by Эллиот Аронсон

Эта книга - самое новое расширенное и дополненное издание одного из лучших современных учебников по социальной психологии - науке о поведении человека в социуме. Знание законов социальной психологии позволяет нам понять причины поступков, мыслей и эмоций других людей; узнать, как можно влиять на человека и избежать влияния; уяснить, какие механизмы лежат в основе развития общества и что следует предпринять, чтобы общество процветало. Главное достоинство этой книги в том, что с исследованиями, выводами, теориями, гипотезами, экспериментами и законами социальной психологии вас будет знакомить один из патриархов этой науки и один из ведущих ученых современности - Эллиот Аронсон. Чтение книги доставит вам особое удовольствие: от интереснейшего материала - с одной стороны, и от совершенства его подачи - с другой.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Sociology, Science, Philosophy, Self Help, Social Science

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best and most illuminating books I have ever read.

This book is what every self-help book dreams of being; instead of anecdotes or feel-good advice, there's 400 pages of meticulously referenced (sadly just endnotes, not sidenotes or footnotes) peer-reviewed articles. Aronson's life work is, as he concludes the book, understanding "how we think, how we behave, what makes us aggressive, and what makes us loving." So many books peck around the edges of that topic; this book, now in its 13th edition, is the sum total Aronson's life work as a social psychologist dedicated to providing scientific answers in that field.

It's certainly a slow read, as it's very nearly a textbook; there's some repetition, and there are likely topical and perhaps scientific differences between editions. (Early editions, I am told, focused overmuch on the Kent State shooting. That is how long Aronson has worked on this book.) However, even with those extremely minor caveats, this woefully under-read book painstakingly encapsulates so much of what makes us human, good and bad, and nearly all of it is based on landmark scientific research from all over the world. It is a brilliant life's work.

[Pedro Pacifico Book.ster]

O animal social, de Elliot Aronson

Não é segredo que sou fã de ficção e que a maioria das minhas leituras está inserida nesse gênero. Mas a verdade é que frequentemente sou surpreendido - de forma positiva - quando me aventuro em obras mais técnicas e que buscam aproximar o leitor de temas relevantes. E foi esse o caso de “O animal social”, uma referência na área da psicologia social, publicado em 1972.

Sou totalmente leigo na área e a verdade é que o próprio termo “psicologia social” não era tão conhecido por mim. E foi nesse ponto que me surpreendi, porque percebi o quanto esse tema é amplo e interessantíssimo, ao buscar explicações sobre o comportamento humano e nossa interação em uma sociedade cada vez mais complexa. Dentre os assuntos que mais me interessaram está a análise do preconceito, das relações amorosas e da nossa tendência de buscar pertencer a algum grupo. Por que agimos como agimos?

E apesar de o livro ter sido publicado há mais de 50 anos, essa edição da @editoragoya foi recentemente atualizada pelo autor, com a ajuda do seu filho. Várias teorias foram revistas e debates contemporâneos, como redes sociais e seu impacto nas relações, foram incluídos. Ou seja, o texto continua dialogando com o leitor jovem e é impossível não se enxergar em vários dos exemplos explorados pelo autor.

Também não há como negar que a leitura é densa. São várias as teorias apresentadas e o texto tem um cunho técnico e informativo, o que me fez levar um tempo maior para concluir a leitura (leia junto com um livro de ficção). Mas a leitura é acessível e repleta de exemplos que permitem uma aproximação do leitor com os assuntos discutidos. É um texto que demanda atenção, sobretudo pela quantidade de informação, embora não se apresente como um desafio para quem é leigo.

Ou seja, se você se interessa pelo tema e pelas discussões propostas pelo autor, recomendo demais. “O animal social” continua sendo uma relevantíssima referência sobre a psicologia social e que, sem dúvidas, mudou a minha compreensão sobre muitos assuntos que enfrento no meu dia a dia.

Nota 9/10

Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_RLQzdyxCm/
Site: https://booksterpp.com.br/

[May · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe it! I’ve finally finished The Social Animal!
Took me quite a while but it was worth every minute. I learned about conformity, persuasion, social cognition, self-justification, aggression, prejudice, love, and social psychology as a science. The book includes many scientific experiments that I found very interesting and insightful.
I highly recommend it to anyone interested in how society affects us and shapes our thoughts and actions.

[Zach Zhao · Rating 4 out of 5]

For every subject, there is a Bible textbook. This has to be the one for Social Psychology.

[Amir Tesla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, full of lessons and wisdom which literally makes you a more Cute and effective person in life.

[Jurij Fedorov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I really wanted to like it. I love psychology and I love social psychology. This seemed like a book written by a knowledgeable person on the topic... but in the end this is too much pseudoscience for my liking. I read everything I can about psychology and even I thought this was boring. So, I really don't know who will enjoy this book. So it really baffles me that so many people give it high ratings. Who the hell reads this book? If you actually know a bit about psychology you will discover that he doesn't understand basic concepts or how the brain actually works. Which is weird as he on the other hand does understand other basic concepts! So who reads this book and says it is good? Probably the same people who like Sex at Dawn I guess.

Pro:
This book has a lot of experiments in it. That's always a good thing. A lot of these experiment are exiting and interesting. And when he stays on the actual science his explanations are good. So about 50% of this book is really good.

Con:
Okay, the science is good... at times. But he keeps going back to being a social justice supporter, time and time again. And every time he writes about black people or women he totally abolishes all science and starts talking about affirmative action and whatnot. I really don't like him mixing social science and his personal opinions like that. He keeps talking about women and black people and keeps bringing up what we should do, and how bad they have it. And every single time he somehow archives to fit the experiments into his view of the world. If he had just made those opinions separate from the science or found experiments that supported his bias it would have been quite fine. Very biased book.
As a book on social science it is just not good. As a book on social justice it might be for you. But the philosophical aspect of it is very low level. Too me it seemed like it didn't know what it was. Was it a scientific book or a manifesto? At the end it read like a boring manifesto. And the at times terrible science makes this a bad read for anyone interested in social psychology. Find something unbiased if you can.

Again, it could have been a good book, even without pictures. But currently this is not acceptable. Maybe someone can rewrite it?

Also, another thing. What the hell is wrong with all these books with terrible social science in them? I am getting very tired of this. Superfreakomics was not about psychology as such, but it also had the same problem with terrible psychology science every time they tried to find solutions or explain problems. And this is interesting as Elliot Aronson is clearly very left leaning and the Freakonomics guys are very libertarian. So, it's not like only one political side is misusing this science. And I am not picking one or the other side personally. I just want to read good science, nothing else. I don't want even my biases needlessly supported, whatever they might be.

[عبدالرحمن عقاب · Rating 4 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب يعتبر بحق مقدمة نافعة و متقنة في مجال علم النفس الاجتماعي.
فصوله الثلاث الأولى أهم في موضوعاتها وأكثر إتقانا في عرضها من الأخيرة.
يمتاز الكتاب بسلاسة الأسلوب، وترتيب الأفكار. ويعيبه طول فصوله وإسهابه في مواطن لا تحتاج إلى الإسهاب والإطالة ويمكن فيها الاستغناء بذكر تجربة أو اثنتين والتركيز على النتائج. وينقصه الجداول والملخصات في الهوامش فهي لو أضيفت ستعطيه إفادة وتميزا وفائدة أكبر.

[Hossein Bayat · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب روانشناسی اجتماعی آرونسون بسیار بسیار عالی بود. تجربه خوانش این کتاب برایم یکی از لذت بخش ترین تجربه هاییه که به خاطر انتخاب رشته مشاوره تجربه اش کردم.

فضا و مباحث موجود در روانشناسی اجتماعی به شدت جذاب هست و کاربردی. به این معنا که آنچه که بیان میشه رو تو در جریان زندگیت می‌بینی و لمس می‌کنی و واقعاً نسبت به خیلی از مباحث مثل تبلیغات، اقناع، ارتباطات و ... دید تازه و دقیق تری پیدا می‌کنید.

حتی اگر از فضای روانشناسی یا مشاوره دور هستید احتمالاً از بخشهایی از این کتاب لذت خواهید برد...

[Mai Tien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book!!!! One of the most mind blown reads ever

Especially fascinated about the topic of cognitive dissonance which was elaborated excessively on this book. Let's say you hold a 2 conflicting ideas about something such as 1) you think you always the person taking initiative and 2) you find yourself unable to ask someone out. So #2 will be in conflict with what you think about yourself aka #1. The conflict will create a discomfort for us and naturally we will reduce this discomfort by 1) change what we think about ourselves or 2) change what we think about the other person. So you either 1) think you may not always take the initiative or 2) convince yourself that the other person's not worth for you to ask her out.

It’s a made up funny example but if this is applied in a more serious context like serial killers or wars, then the interesting questions is under which circumstances and to what extent will we degrade or lower others to self justify, and in which situation will we modify our original belief about ourselves.

Scientific and thorough while still engaging, The social animal discusses different psychology concepts that deciphers why human act the way they do. Various research and historic events are used to demonstrate the application of discussed concepts, making this book really engaging and fascinating. (Events such as the Columbine high school massacre, 9/11, American wars, etc.).

If one interested in questions such as why there’s discrimination towards a group of minority or religion, what’s this phenomenon called love, aggression, altruism, basically everything that makes up of what it means to be a human, then this book is perf for u

[Said · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in college, I first got interested in social psychology because it dealt with some of the most exciting aspects of being human: love, hate, prejudice, aggression, altruism, social influence, conformity, and the like. At that time, I didn’t care a great deal about how this impressive body of knowledge came into existence. I simply wanted to know what was known. It wasn’t until I entered graduate school that it suddenly dawned on me that I could be more than a consumer of this knowledge—I could become a producer, as well. And a whole new world opened up for me—the world of scientific social psychology. I learned how to ask important questions and do the experiments to find the answers to those questions—contributing, in my own small way, to the body of knowledge that I had read about as a student. And I have been passionately involved in that activity ever since.

- Elliot Aronson

کتاب خیلی قویه و درباره ی مهروزی و پرخاشگری انسان ها فصل های بسیار قوی داره
شاید بعضی از مطالبش با کتاب های دیگه تداخل داشته باشه ولی سبک کتاب به این صورت که جدیدترین یافته های علمی روان شناسی اجتماعی رو نویسنده با قدرت تمام برای خواننده بازگو میکنه. بدون شک این کتاب رو همه باید بخوانند

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author states that he purposely left this book brief so that it could serve as an introduction to social psychology. As valid a goal as that might be, Elliot Aronson's approach leaves the reader with a book that only provides examples and defines barely any terms or theories. Aronson must have known that his book may be used as primary text for a social psychology class (as it was in mine), which makes the inadequacies of this book inexcusable.

The author bolds key terms but a review of the dictionary proves it exceedingly lacking. Many of the definitions are social psychology spins on general terms with which many people are already familiar (i.e. self-esteem, self-justification, stereotype, prejudice, insufficient punishment, etc.). Other definitions are of words not specific to psychology that people could easily look up in a regular dictionary (i.e. amygdala, heuristics, catharsis, etc.). Terms actually used in the discipline with which the reader might not be familiar are not even briefly defined (i.e. Prejudiced Personality Theory).

Within the text itself, social psychology theories are still only briefly introduced and not expanded upon. The author seems to think that providing one or two examples of the theory's application will be enough for the reader to understand it. This may be true for simple theories but not the intricate ones with several prongs that were developed over significant periods of time.

Lastly, purely from a layout standpoint, the text is extremely dense. There are so many sections that could have benefited from bullet points that it appears as if the author left it out deliberately so he could avoid having to outline the actual theories in any detail. This makes it difficult for the student to study for tests and there were definitely one or two questions on an exam that I got wrong because I could not remember which set a certain prong belonged to. Ultimately, this book is at best a supplemental text but should not be relied upon to provide any significant understanding of social psychology.

[Sid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social Psychology is a really captivating topic, and as a primer this book was great. The author sure seems to know what he is writing about, giving examples and case studies from findings. But along with that his writing is captivating and drew me to read more and become more curious on the matter he was writing. I am keen on knowing more about the subject and applications of it.

Strongly recommend this book, can't think of a reason how it cannot impact anybody and everybody. We all are social animals and need to figure out how and why we do what we do.

[Sadhbh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a bit dated now, but this is the book that pretty much taught me everything I wanted to know about people and social psychology when I signed up to do my BA. The discussion of Bystander Syndrome absolutely blew my mind at the time. Well worth a read.

[Jivko Djamiarov · Rating 5 out of 5]

С основание книгата е бестселър. Тя особено полезна като наръчник как да разберем хората и техните емоции, особено в сегашното несигурно време на социална изолация, страх и разделение между хората.

[Ravikiran Gunale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book about social psychology and behaviours. How good/bad stereotypes are created. It explains lot about how we develop good/bad attitude towards certain groups. Why people conform to a ideology . In what situation people are most/least influenced. Basically its a toolbox to understand individual and group interactions. Almost every statement made by author is scientifically validated by experiments.

[Anita Tóth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aronsont jó olvasni és nagyon fontos témákról ír!! Én egy 1994-es kiadást olvastam, de biztosan kezembe veszem majd az újabb kiadást is, főleg, hogy rájöttem, az is a polcomon csücsül. Ráadásul az általam olvasott kiadásban találtam olyan gondolatokat melyekről a szociálpszichológia már többet és pontosabbat tud mondani.
Néhány téma a kötetből: konformitás, propaganda, önigazolás, emberi agresszió, előítélet. Bővebb értékelést inkább az újabb kiadásról írnék.

[Христо Блажев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Човекът като „социално животно“, като неизбежна част от цялото: https://knigolandia.info/chovekut-sot...

„Човекът – „социално животно“ на Елиът Арънсън излезе на български през 2009 г., годината, в която влязох в книжния бранш. И някъде оттогава я следя, исках да я прочета, но все си мислех, че ще е твърде сложна за разбиранията ми. През годините четох много други книги за механизмите ни на мислене – „Как работи умът?“ на Стивън Пинкър, „Вярващият мозък“ на Майкъл Шърмър, „Жива мрежа“ на Дейвид Игълман, „Мозъкът разкрива“ на Вилаянур Рамачандран, та до „Мисленето“ на Даниъл Канеман, сам често цитиран от Арънсън, и в крайна сметка реших, че съм дораснал до нея и я взех. И се оказа, че съм грешал да я пропускам досега – защото това е достъпно въведение в социалната психология – „влиянията, които хората оказват върху убежденията, чувствата и поведението на другите“, – която трябва да бъде прочетена от всекиго, защото толкова много проблеми в нашето съвремие са породени от неразбирането на тези влияние. И така една книга, чието първо издание е от 1972 г. (след това ревизирана многократно), може да ни казва истини за нашата дигиталнообсебена епоха, без изобщо да са споменати в нея всички джаджи, които обсебват вниманието и неуловимо формират мисленето ни по всички теми.

Издателство Дамян Яков
https://knigolandia.info/chovekut-sot...

[Arina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes I read this for class. Honestly I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! I thought it was cool that he provided research based evidence for all of the topics, but he also kept it entertaining and lighthearted. One of the better class textbooks I’ve read 👍🏼

[Kaneda (Vy K Nguyen) Bibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book about social influences that helps explain why people behave the way they do in different situations. The fundamental philosophy of The Social Animal is that human behaviors, belief, and attitude do not reflect dispositional qualities in individuals because it is the variables in the situations that produce behaviors, belief, and attitude. This is a very generous view in regard of human nature. It implies that we have the capacity to change people for the better if we understand and know how to adjust the right variables in our social environment. Every chapter offers illuminating examples backed by research on relevant kinds of situations we face in life. I could not help reflecting on my own experience when the chapters touched on common things such as cognitive dissonance, self-justification, human aggression, or prejudice. What is also important and adds great value to the read is how the author explain solutions, strategies, or ideas for possible ways to drive prosocial behaviors, especially on violence and prejudice reduction. They give a sense of hope when we get to explore how to handle our human natures and allow us to have stronger believes in those natures’ capability to improve our lives.

[Maide Karzaoğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sıradan insan kendisini benzersiz ve öngörülemez görmeyi, özel ve farklı hissetmeyi çok istiyor elbette ama... O kadar basitiz ki çoğu zaman; sinir bozucu seviyede basit, ilkel ve içgüdüseliz. Psikoloji bölümünde okuduğumuz pek çok kitabı o kadar kompakt bir şekilde bir araya getirmiş ki insan bu beceriden etkilenmeden edemiyor.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Social Psychology class and it was (quite possibly) the only "text" book I ever actually read. It was a fascinating merging of psychology in a social context. The subject is immediately applicable to real life.

[Elari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great refresher on a social psychology class I took in 2013 (time flies). Definitely accessible to the layperson.

[Danilo Weiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primeira edição é super antiga, aí aparecerem novas edições, com experimentos e exemplos diferentes, mas que acredito tenha mantido a aura revolucionária e, principalmente, funcionar como a grande matriz de todos os livros e estudo de economia comportamental que surgiram a partir dele.

Para mim, é uma leitura sempre agradável e oportuna que ainda desafia o senso comum, apoiado na teoria econômica tradicional. Ao mesmo tempo que para outras pessoas que já leram muito sobre o assunto, já aplicaram no trabalho e, por que não, fizeram alguns testes caseiros / acadêmicos, tudo pode soar um pouco repetitivo.

Meu único ponto de atenção é o penúltimo capítulo dedicado a relacionamentos, algo que já vi em algum livro do Dan Ariely e, tal qual um CD antigo de 11 músicas, parece ter sido feito só pra preencher o CD...

[Camila Bonetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poderia ler este livro 10 vezes e ainda encontrar algo para aprender.

Um livro de estudo, denso, com muitas pesquisas que torna a leitura lenta mesmo que bastante rica.

A escrita de Elliot é excelente. Nos conduz ao entendimento dos fenomenos de forma bastante didática com exemplos e também com pequenas histórias que momentamente não se resolvem, deixando-nos com aquela vontade de continuar para entender melhor.

A separação dos capítulos ajuda também na leitura, setorizando os temas.

O conteúdo é surreal. Nos ensina, conflitando com nosso senso comum. Ajuda a entender melhor porque somos como somos e a grandiosa importância das nossas relações em nossas vidas.

Uma leitura explendida.

[Tatao Burduli · Rating 4 out of 5]

წიგნს ვუწერ 5-იანს, შესანიშნავი შესავალია, ძალიან კარგად არის შედგენილი და დაწერილი, როგორც თემატიკის თვალსაზრისით, ასევე თხრობის სტილითაც. თუმცა, ვაკლებ ქულას, რადგანაც თარგმანში უამრავი შეუსაბამობაა, მათ შორის სტილისტიკის, ზოგიერთი ინგლისური ტერმინის არაერთგვაროვანი და არასწორი/არაზუსტი ქართული ვერსიის, და, რაც ყველაზე მნიშვნელოვანია, შინაარსობრივი შეცდომების თვალსაზრისთ - გარკვეულ მონაკვეთებში თარგმანი ორიგინალთან შეუსაბამოა და, რიგ შემთხვევებში, მოყვანილია ორიგინალის საპირისპირო დასკვნა. მუდმივად მიწევდა წიგნის ინგლისურ ვერსიასთან შედარება ზუსტი ინფორმაციის მისაღებად.

[ჩომ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ყველაწ რო უნდა ჰქონდეს წაკითხული, ეგაა.

[Weronika;)) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardzo polecam 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 Książka której dosłownie szukałam. Opisuje wpływ propagandy, mediów, stereotypów czy uprzedzeń na zachowanie i interakcje człowieka w społeczeństwie. Jest dużo przytoczonych badań, które potwierdzają teoretyczne założenia dotyczące zachowań międzyludzkich.

[VRDrive · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bible of social psychology, absolute beast of a book. Easy to read even for a layman. Though hilariously outdated on a couple of subjects, a third of the books examples are not applicable in today's strange society.

[dantelk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gayet beğendim. Değindiği konularda aşırı derinlere girmiyor (ama üstünkörü de geçmiyor). Hiç sıkılmadan dikkatim dağılmadan okudum. Ne kadar ilginç ve günlük hayatın tam içerisinden meseleler... Bu konularda daha çok okuyanlar için biraz fazla yüzeyde kalmış gibi gelebilir, ama benim için öyle olmadı :)

Tabii en çarpıcı olan, kendimizin de kör noktalarının olduğunu bilmek - bunu anlamak ve kabullenmek bence oldukça değerli, bu nedenle bu eseri ne kadar çok kişi okursa o kadar iyi diye düşünüyorum.

Kitabın çok iyi bir referans bölümü de var.

Diğer not aldıklarım;
-> kötü tecrübelerin iyi olanlardan daha uzun süre hafızada kalmaları, ama sonunda her zaman "ortalamaya" dönülmesi
-> Bir gruba ait olma dürtüsünün kuvveti
-> Olayların kontrolümüz altında olmasına duyduğumuz istek, ve belirsizliğin getirdiği içgüdüsel endişeler. Hayatının patronu olmayanların stresinin hem daha fazla oluşu, ve erken ölmeleri
-> Kendimize verdiğimiz değerin, başkalarının bizi değerlendirişine göre şekillendiliyor oluşu
-> Kurbanı suçlama dürtüsünün, içinde olduğumuzu hayal ettiğimiz güvenli dünya ile tezat oluşmaması için içgüdüsel türediği
-> İyi kararlar için, acele etmemek, fazla bilgiye boğulmamak, ve duygularımızın esiri olmamak
-> komedi dizilerinde kahkaha efekti olmadan izlemek - neden başkalarının gülmesi gerekiyor? (onay için)
-> Kurallara uymak, compliance, identification ya da internalization ile olur
-> İntiharların başkalarına örnek olması
-> Aşırı fikirlerin bile üniversitelerde tartışılmasının değerli oluşu.
-> Tarım kültüründe şiddetin yücelmesinin sebepleri
-> Şiddetin alevlenmesinin detaylandırılması (ki bu çok kolay, şaka ile başlayan bir enseye şaplak dayağa dönebiliyor), ve bastırılmasının zorlukları
-> Şirket içi eğitimlerde aldığım cooperation çalışmalarının nereden geldiğini artık biliyorum!
-> Bir silahın ortalıkta görünmesi bile, şiddet olasılığını hızla artırıyor. Finger pulls the trigger, and the trigger pulls the finger.
-> Empati vs şiddet. Şiddetin karşılığı olarak empati.
-> Linç ihtimali, gruptaki insan sayısı ile doğru orantılı. Suç bölüşülüyor. Hele internet agresifliği.
-> Şempanzeler vs bonobolar, De Waal.
-> Bilgisayar mühendisleri hakkındaki önyargılar (introvert white nerd vs)
-> Prejudice'ler core kısımda olduğu için engellenemeyebilirler. Ayrıca bunlar savunma mekanizmamızın parçalarıdır, onları hor görmeyelim.
-> Pek çok önyargının sebepleri de vardır, bunları görmezden gelmeyelim.
-> Güney Amerikalı ne demek? Roman kim? Arap nereli? Kim Avrupalı? Ben orta doğulu muyum?
-> Önyargıları cici mesajlarla kırmak mümkün değil. İnsanlar kendi doğrularını işitmeye meyilliler.
-> Aşk meselesi, ve burada kendimle ilgili bulduklarım.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall one of the best introductions out there for learning about social psychology. While this book is essentially a textbook, I would not let that discourage anyone from taking the time to read this. In terms of a starting place and general overview on basic concepts, this book is hard to beat. “The Social Animal” covers a lot of concepts the are relevant and things we all come across in our lives, divided into chapters dedicated to: Social cognition, self justification, conformity, influence/propaganda of the media, prejudice/bias, as well as emphasizing our feelings/behaviors regarding relationships with other people.

For me, every chapter was worth reading as there were so many relevant and interesting concepts. Unlike a lot of psychology books that can be pretty conceptual (definition of concept, collection of overused experiments, and a simple conclusion), I was engaged going through each chapter. What makes “The Social Animal” different is that it is insightful, concise and includes relevant examples that were actually pretty relatable. The concepts were thoroughly researched and the experiments were things anyone can understand (you don’t have to be studying psychology to get drawn in by this book, it’s something for anyone).

I appreciated how there were a lot of cause and effect examples mentioned as it made the book very easy to follow and kept me interested. In my opinion it’ll give any reader a clearer understanding of yourself and others around you, why things happen, and how society influences our behavior, thoughts and emotions. I think the author Elliott Arson summarizes it best when he wrote in this book, “One of the reasons I was first drawn to social psychology is that it is a field that studies change and progress.” That’s the value this book has in my opinion. After reading it, I am now more aware and mindful of a lot of things I may not have thought about much before. Identifying the “root cause” of things while understanding how ourselves and society are impacted.