Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction (4th Edition)

Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction explores how social behavior is goal-directed and a result of interactions between the person and the situation.

In addition to an overhauled design in the 4e, Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction has two elements that continue to set it apart from other social psychology textbooks.

A unique integrated approach to social behavior: Rather than providing a laundry list of unconnected facts and theories, the authors organize each chapter around the two broad questions: (1) what are the goals that underlie the behavior in question? (2) what factors in the person and the situation connect to each goal? The book thus presents the discipline as a coherent framework for understanding human behavior.  The new subtitle, “Goals in Interaction” underscores this integrated approach to understanding behavior. 

Opening mysteries: Each chapter begins with a mystery of social behavior, designed not only to grab student interest, but also to organize the ensuing discussion of scientific research: Why would a poor black washerwoman give away her hard-earned life-savings? What psychological forces led the Dalai Lama, the most exalted personage in Tibet, to forge a lifelong friendship with a foreign vagabond openly scorned by Tibetan peasants? Why would a boy falsely confess to murdering his own mother?

Douglas T. Kenrick is a professor at Arizona State University. He received his B.A. from Dowling College and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University. He taught at Montana State University for four years before returning to ASU. His research has been published in a number of places, including Psychological Review, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, American Psychologist, Handbook of Social Psychology, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Current Directions in Psychological Science, and Personality and Social Psychology Review. With John Seamon, he coauthored Psychology (1994). He has taught a graduate course on teaching psychology, and he thoroughly enjoys teaching undergraduate sections of social psychology.

Steven L. Neuberg received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his graduate degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University. He spent a postdoctoral year at the University of Waterloo in Canada and has since taught at Arizona State University. Neuberg’s research has been published in journals such as Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Science, and has long been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. He has received a half dozen teaching honors, including his college’s Outstanding Teaching Award and the ASU Honors College Outstanding Honors Disciplinary Faculty Award. He has served on federal grant review panels and as associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and teaches a graduate course on teaching social psychology.

Robert B. Cialdini is a Regents Professor at Arizona State University, where he has also been named Graduate Distinguished Professor. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and his graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina. He is a past president of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology and has received the Society’s award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. His research has appeared in numerous publications, including Handbook of Social Psychology, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His book, Influence: Science and Practice, has sold over a million copies and has appeared in 20 languages.