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Social Psychology
For courses in Social Psychology" Show how the ever-changing field of Social Psychology is useful in students everyday lives "Social Psychology, "Fourteenth Edition retains the hallmark of its past success: up-to-date coverage of the quickly evolving subject matter written in a lively manner that has been embraced by thousands of students around the world. Authors Nyla Branscombe and Robert Baron both respected scholars with decades of undergraduate teaching experience generate student excitement by revealing the connections between theory and real-world experiences. The Fourteenth Edition offers updated content to engage students, as well as new " What Research Tells Us About " sections in each chapter that illustrate how research findings help answer important questions about social life.
NOTE: This ISBN is for aPearson Books a la Carte edition a convenient, three-hole-punched, loose-leaf text. In addition to the flexibility offered by this format, Books a la Carte editions offer students great value, as they cost significantly less than a bound textbook.
NOTE: This ISBN is for aPearson Books a la Carte edition a convenient, three-hole-punched, loose-leaf text. In addition to the flexibility offered by this format, Books a la Carte editions offer students great value, as they cost significantly less than a bound textbook.
524 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1977
119 people are currently reading
1582 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 18, 2020
Some chapters are good, but overall I cannot recommend it
Science: 5/10 - stretches out a lot of small experiements to make big claims
Political neutrality: 2/10 - progressive bias
Writing style: 5/10 - not fun or enjoyable, but has enough info per page to entice
Graphics: 5/10 - looks good but lacks more charts and photos as the text doesn't present all info clearly. Extremely biased in what they pick to present.
This is a fine enough intro to social psychology if you totally overlook the bias. There are enough experiments talked about here to educate the average layman. I have read quite a few textbooks that would have a whole page with text without any sources. Here it's much better as they do try to find some experiments to prove their hypotheses. I do feel like they are overly dependent on single studies though. Think about it this way, only 25% of big experiments in social psychology replicate. So when you just pick a single famous study to make a point there is, hypothetically, only 25% chance the study actually shows anything measurable. That leaves you with a book that is largely guesswork if it's based on single studies and not meta-studies. It's a problem in social psychology overall and it's hard to really present social science in a scientific light even by picking the best sources. It must count against a book as much of it won't hold up 10 years down the line. I already found quite a few experiments in it that are considered bunk science. I rather read a shorter book with a stronger scientific foundation.
What makes me subtract another star from the rating is that this book is not really useful for you unless you have a progressive point of view and a constant need to read positive things about Democrats. And even then it will often lead you astray by only presenting one point of view. There are several photos of female Democrat politicians and a lot of positive text about Democrats that feels out of place in a scientific textbook. They are clearly trying to sell books to mostly young American women with progressive values, but it feels super preachy and subjective. I get it, the book is not made for people who just want to read the science, but rather aimed at a specific worldview. But it's hard not to criticize this aspect in a scientific book.
Then there is yet another issue with the book. Whether you are progressive or conservative the book itself is just not fun to read. It's a slog-fest at times. It's academic writing as the one you are probably used too. But I have seen fun textbooks and know that it's possible to relax the writing style a bit while keeping the scientific level high. They already are taking a political standpoint so I don't see why they cannot relax on the presentation level too.
The charts are also hard to read. There are a lot of arrows and chart text that refers to book passages. So you can't just read them and understand them by themselves. They are also few and far inbetween, but they feel so politically biased (alongside the photos) that I kinda wish there were fewer of them at this point.
Conclusion
I don't know how anyone could recommend this textbook. It does have science in it, true. But then the research is between so many pages of progressive values that it feels like a political campaign as much as a textbook. I really don't see any university investing in a book this biased. And I don't see why even socialists would be interested in mixing science with subjective worldviews. But I can't speak for everyone. You may need this sort of bias to enjoy social science.
Science: 5/10 - stretches out a lot of small experiements to make big claims
Political neutrality: 2/10 - progressive bias
Writing style: 5/10 - not fun or enjoyable, but has enough info per page to entice
Graphics: 5/10 - looks good but lacks more charts and photos as the text doesn't present all info clearly. Extremely biased in what they pick to present.
This is a fine enough intro to social psychology if you totally overlook the bias. There are enough experiments talked about here to educate the average layman. I have read quite a few textbooks that would have a whole page with text without any sources. Here it's much better as they do try to find some experiments to prove their hypotheses. I do feel like they are overly dependent on single studies though. Think about it this way, only 25% of big experiments in social psychology replicate. So when you just pick a single famous study to make a point there is, hypothetically, only 25% chance the study actually shows anything measurable. That leaves you with a book that is largely guesswork if it's based on single studies and not meta-studies. It's a problem in social psychology overall and it's hard to really present social science in a scientific light even by picking the best sources. It must count against a book as much of it won't hold up 10 years down the line. I already found quite a few experiments in it that are considered bunk science. I rather read a shorter book with a stronger scientific foundation.
What makes me subtract another star from the rating is that this book is not really useful for you unless you have a progressive point of view and a constant need to read positive things about Democrats. And even then it will often lead you astray by only presenting one point of view. There are several photos of female Democrat politicians and a lot of positive text about Democrats that feels out of place in a scientific textbook. They are clearly trying to sell books to mostly young American women with progressive values, but it feels super preachy and subjective. I get it, the book is not made for people who just want to read the science, but rather aimed at a specific worldview. But it's hard not to criticize this aspect in a scientific book.
Then there is yet another issue with the book. Whether you are progressive or conservative the book itself is just not fun to read. It's a slog-fest at times. It's academic writing as the one you are probably used too. But I have seen fun textbooks and know that it's possible to relax the writing style a bit while keeping the scientific level high. They already are taking a political standpoint so I don't see why they cannot relax on the presentation level too.
The charts are also hard to read. There are a lot of arrows and chart text that refers to book passages. So you can't just read them and understand them by themselves. They are also few and far inbetween, but they feel so politically biased (alongside the photos) that I kinda wish there were fewer of them at this point.
Conclusion
I don't know how anyone could recommend this textbook. It does have science in it, true. But then the research is between so many pages of progressive values that it feels like a political campaign as much as a textbook. I really don't see any university investing in a book this biased. And I don't see why even socialists would be interested in mixing science with subjective worldviews. But I can't speak for everyone. You may need this sort of bias to enjoy social science.
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December 16, 2020Read for one of my side hustles. 💅
September 28, 2013
Dr Baron has done it again. But this time Dr Baron is not alone. It is a concerted effort of Dr Baron and Dr Branscombe, Dr Byrne and Dr Bhardwaj. The team together has done a wonderful job in explaining concepts and theories about Social Psychology.
The book borrows its structure from Dr Baron's book on Psychology and is written in the same style: easy, comprehensible and perfectly occupying. The book has 12 chapters each explaining a different concept and does it quite convincingly. The first chapter is an introduction about social psychology and goes on to describe the history and the experiments about it. The second chapter deals with social cognition: how we think about the social world. It talks about humans' abilities to process and use information. It also gives you an idea about how thoughts shape feelings and feelings shape thoughts.
The next chapter is about social perception: about how we perceive and understand others. Here you come to know of the many biases that humans fall for. This chapter presents a picture about how you attribute causes for yours and other's behavior and about impression management. This is one of the most interesting chapters in the book.
Next comes the chapter about Self. This is complicated since it is about you. It is about how you handle things. It is about self-presentation, self-knowledge, self-identity, self-esteem and social comparison. It is probably an exhausting chapter because it requires you to contemplate, to think about you own self. This might take up some of your cognitive energy. Chapter 5 is about Attitudes which is again one of the most interesting chapters in the book. It explains how the attitudes develop and how do they influence behavior and how do they change.
Next few chapters talk about stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination and tells us that all of the three are not same. Then Dr Baron and his team discuss questions about attraction and love, about social influence and helping others, about aggression and groups and individuals. Finally it presents a chapter about applying the findings of social psychology to the world of business, health and law. This is again an interesting chapter and makes for a compelling read.
The book tries to answer your questions about people, about humans, about how they behave, why do they behave as they do, why do they help each other or hate each other or kill each other or love each other.
This book also has a new and interesting feature which proves to be extremely relevant and helpful. And that's about common sense. The book picks up basic "common sense arguments" and provides experimental refutation or justification for them. For example: is being in a good mood always beneficial? or complementarity or similarity, which is the basis for attraction? or does "blowing off steam" really help?
There are lots of things that you will come to know about humans here. I will restate what I wrote for Dr Baron's "Psychology" :
The book has helped me understand myself better. It was kind of an introspection and the book was my teacher. The book also helps understand humans better. Humans who are all same but yet are so different. It's a feel good book and you will enjoy reading it like any other fiction book. That's what is best about the book. It is like reading stories with somebody by your side to explain those stories
Reading this book was like getting to know multiple humans, multiples personalities and finding out what goes on inside them. Read it when you are interested.
The book borrows its structure from Dr Baron's book on Psychology and is written in the same style: easy, comprehensible and perfectly occupying. The book has 12 chapters each explaining a different concept and does it quite convincingly. The first chapter is an introduction about social psychology and goes on to describe the history and the experiments about it. The second chapter deals with social cognition: how we think about the social world. It talks about humans' abilities to process and use information. It also gives you an idea about how thoughts shape feelings and feelings shape thoughts.
The next chapter is about social perception: about how we perceive and understand others. Here you come to know of the many biases that humans fall for. This chapter presents a picture about how you attribute causes for yours and other's behavior and about impression management. This is one of the most interesting chapters in the book.
Next comes the chapter about Self. This is complicated since it is about you. It is about how you handle things. It is about self-presentation, self-knowledge, self-identity, self-esteem and social comparison. It is probably an exhausting chapter because it requires you to contemplate, to think about you own self. This might take up some of your cognitive energy. Chapter 5 is about Attitudes which is again one of the most interesting chapters in the book. It explains how the attitudes develop and how do they influence behavior and how do they change.
Next few chapters talk about stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination and tells us that all of the three are not same. Then Dr Baron and his team discuss questions about attraction and love, about social influence and helping others, about aggression and groups and individuals. Finally it presents a chapter about applying the findings of social psychology to the world of business, health and law. This is again an interesting chapter and makes for a compelling read.
The book tries to answer your questions about people, about humans, about how they behave, why do they behave as they do, why do they help each other or hate each other or kill each other or love each other.
This book also has a new and interesting feature which proves to be extremely relevant and helpful. And that's about common sense. The book picks up basic "common sense arguments" and provides experimental refutation or justification for them. For example: is being in a good mood always beneficial? or complementarity or similarity, which is the basis for attraction? or does "blowing off steam" really help?
There are lots of things that you will come to know about humans here. I will restate what I wrote for Dr Baron's "Psychology" :
The book has helped me understand myself better. It was kind of an introspection and the book was my teacher. The book also helps understand humans better. Humans who are all same but yet are so different. It's a feel good book and you will enjoy reading it like any other fiction book. That's what is best about the book. It is like reading stories with somebody by your side to explain those stories
Reading this book was like getting to know multiple humans, multiples personalities and finding out what goes on inside them. Read it when you are interested.
October 13, 2019
Finally.. after breeding a long fascination for the subject, I actually got down to study it.
Social Psychology - Scientific!? ..Can topics like Love, Aggression, Prejudice be studied scientifically!
"Isn't social psychology just common sense?"
As suggested by common sense -
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" Or "Out of sight, out of mind!"
"Two heads are better than one" Or "Too many cooks spill the broth"
"Familiarity breeds content" Or "Familiarity breeds contempt" .. How about these?!
Our experiences in life allow us to build mental frameworks that help us recognize our knowledge&assumptions about people&their social roles like what to expect from situations as working in a library, family gathering, doctor's visit etc. These mental frameworks help us develop intuition for social conduct.These frameworks are called "Schemas". Now the ques.is -
Is it possible to influence the kind of Schemas we develop, or are they simply unavoidable part of our life!.. If we could influence them, what kind of "Schemas" or "mental organisation of thoughts" should we seek to develop!
How many times are you made aware of not talking on phones while driving? We all know why! It's or is about to be made law in many countries. What about GPS, do you think, they too can lead to distraction while drivers,reading maps, may cause accidents!! This takes us to topic Information Overload and ways we choose to take quick decision, but may be less accurate. Such decisions may be useful in some cases, but can get very wrong.
Are you safer in Big SUV or a small light Maruti??
Actual data indicates Death rates(no. of deaths/1crore vehicles on road)are actually higher for SUV. Why do we falsely conclude on being safer in SUV!! Because the question strike a dramatic pic in our minds of a fast moving SUV hitting a small Maruti.Such stagy events made a lasting impression, hence ease of info-retrieval mislead us.
... to be continued!
Social Psychology - Scientific!? ..Can topics like Love, Aggression, Prejudice be studied scientifically!
"Isn't social psychology just common sense?"
As suggested by common sense -
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" Or "Out of sight, out of mind!"
"Two heads are better than one" Or "Too many cooks spill the broth"
"Familiarity breeds content" Or "Familiarity breeds contempt" .. How about these?!
Our experiences in life allow us to build mental frameworks that help us recognize our knowledge&assumptions about people&their social roles like what to expect from situations as working in a library, family gathering, doctor's visit etc. These mental frameworks help us develop intuition for social conduct.These frameworks are called "Schemas". Now the ques.is -
Is it possible to influence the kind of Schemas we develop, or are they simply unavoidable part of our life!.. If we could influence them, what kind of "Schemas" or "mental organisation of thoughts" should we seek to develop!
How many times are you made aware of not talking on phones while driving? We all know why! It's or is about to be made law in many countries. What about GPS, do you think, they too can lead to distraction while drivers,reading maps, may cause accidents!! This takes us to topic Information Overload and ways we choose to take quick decision, but may be less accurate. Such decisions may be useful in some cases, but can get very wrong.
Are you safer in Big SUV or a small light Maruti??
Actual data indicates Death rates(no. of deaths/1crore vehicles on road)are actually higher for SUV. Why do we falsely conclude on being safer in SUV!! Because the question strike a dramatic pic in our minds of a fast moving SUV hitting a small Maruti.Such stagy events made a lasting impression, hence ease of info-retrieval mislead us.
... to be continued!
September 1, 2020
I can not stop praising the content and writing approach. Yes, it was lengthy, required time grasp the concepts, I tend to forget as well. But the way it traverses through topics, is absolutely wonderful. I really liked the summary section at end of each chapter. And could actually relate every topic to surroundings and life events. This is 2nd book I have read from Baron after Basic Psychology and these are praiseworthy. I am happy to read Baron after a lot of research about Psychology books to be read. Happy Reading To All !
September 22, 2011
One of the reference books in the subject of Social Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology University of Indonesia. Each chapter comes with example cases. It is interesting to understand the behavior of the community around us
July 9, 2014
Great book with splendid insights about psychology. It's especially great if you're just beginning to learn about psychology. If you already know a lot, though, skip it as it's geared toward 101 students. Fun personal stories by the authors and easy to read.
October 20, 2020
Why am I rating textbooks? For future reference.
This is really good for understanding social psychology. It is filled with examples from research and real life. It gets a bit tedious at times because of over-explanation of things, but a great book nonetheless.
This is really good for understanding social psychology. It is filled with examples from research and real life. It gets a bit tedious at times because of over-explanation of things, but a great book nonetheless.
June 12, 2011
Some of the definitions in this book were a little unclear, which was a huge pain as this was the prescribed text for my Social Psychology unit.
June 30, 2012
Clear concepts, fine examples. book is good enough to understand the nature of social psychology.
September 16, 2014
Excellent academic book. Even though psychology is not my field of study, it helped me understand many aspects of Marketing Management.
July 15, 2025
Es un texto claro, organizado y sumamente didáctico, pensado para una lectura accesible, especialmente para quienes se inician en la disciplina. Es interesante cuando habla de la influencia social, las actitudes, la cognición social, hasta los fenómenos de grupo. Todo está formulado con ejemplos cotidianos y referencias empíricas que permiten visualizar el impacto concreto de los procesos sociales en la vida diaria. En ese sentido, resulta útil para introducirse en los principales marcos teóricos y conocer investigaciones actuales del enfoque cognitivista y experimental.
Sin embargo, creo que el libro tiene una falta de problematización crítica sobre los contextos históricos, sociales y culturales en los que se producen los fenómenos que describe. La perspectiva es eminentemente norteamericana, blanca, individualista y bastante despolitizada. Hay limitadas referencias a las condiciones estructurales que sostienen ciertas dinámicas sociales, como las desigualdades de clase, raza o género. Cuando aborda temas como el prejuicio o la discriminación, lo hace sin profundizar tanto en los dispositivos ideológicos o en las tramas históricas que los sostienen.
Tampoco se detiene en los aportes de la Psicología Social latinoamericana ni dialoga con enfoques más críticos o psicoanalíticos. Desde mi lugar, echo en falta la complejización del sujeto como efecto de discurso, de historia, de relaciones de poder.
En definitiva, creo que el libro sirve para empezar, pero no para quedarse ahí.
Sin embargo, creo que el libro tiene una falta de problematización crítica sobre los contextos históricos, sociales y culturales en los que se producen los fenómenos que describe. La perspectiva es eminentemente norteamericana, blanca, individualista y bastante despolitizada. Hay limitadas referencias a las condiciones estructurales que sostienen ciertas dinámicas sociales, como las desigualdades de clase, raza o género. Cuando aborda temas como el prejuicio o la discriminación, lo hace sin profundizar tanto en los dispositivos ideológicos o en las tramas históricas que los sostienen.
Tampoco se detiene en los aportes de la Psicología Social latinoamericana ni dialoga con enfoques más críticos o psicoanalíticos. Desde mi lugar, echo en falta la complejización del sujeto como efecto de discurso, de historia, de relaciones de poder.
En definitiva, creo que el libro sirve para empezar, pero no para quedarse ahí.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2025
Read this for social psychology class. It had very interesting research topics as well as very descriptive explanations of each of the topics. Very helpful in understanding the backgrounds of friendships and relationships. Surprisingly enjoyed even though it’s a literal textbook. (Stopped at around page 300)
December 17, 2018
The text was easy enough to read, but the format kind of stunk. The subject's super interesting, but there are a ton of studies and vocab to remember.
April 21, 2019
How i can read the book?
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November 12, 2022It was OK, easy read.
March 19, 2025
Well written but very badly edited.
July 25, 2024
Está bien en cuanto a los conceptos que incluye como para introducirse en la materia, pero es demasiado redundante (toda la página puede ser resumida en dos o tres definiciones que generalmente ocupan una única oración cada una, y de hecho reescriben las definiciones al lado izquierdo o derecho de la página).
Lo que no me gustó es que no incluya el continuo de influencia social, cosa que sí aparece en el manual de Psicología Social de Kassin
Lo que no me gustó es que no incluya el continuo de influencia social, cosa que sí aparece en el manual de Psicología Social de Kassin
December 7, 2012
Una excepcional introducción a la materia, gran trabajo de los autores para mantenerse al corriente con los avances de su terreno, aunque obvia mucha de la investigación actual en torno a psicología cognitiva. Fuera de eso, muy recomendable.
February 22, 2015
The best book for Social Psychology for me. Brilliantly organized and explained. The authors have taken great effort to make the subject matter very interesting. The book must be read in its entirety. I loved the glossary of definitions at the end. Very handy.
April 1, 2020
I agree with pretty much everything Jurij Fedorov said in his review on this website. The progressive left-leaning bias is palpable in almost every sentence of this standard university textbook. It is a simplistic and ideologically driven take on Social Psychology.
July 26, 2020
Finally! This took me so long to finish. All in all it was really meh! The information was interesting, but I got extremely annoyed with the grammar and sentence construction. It's almost as if the authors and editors did not proof read it and just published it as a rough draft.
July 30, 2011
Amazing. Turned me onto social psychology.
August 17, 2014
Un excelente libro de texto. aunque ya de hace años esta edicion pero todavia vigente. No solo es para quienes estudian carreras afines sino que culturalmente sirve para todos.
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September 3, 2015FRYTRTYRY
November 16, 2016
this book is very inspiring...!!!
May 4, 2020
Another textbook.
Informative and enjoyable
Informative and enjoyable
May 28, 2015
Very good One :)
Want to read
March 11, 2019very useful
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews