The Message of Social Psychology

In this book twenty-five of the world's most eminent social psychologists address what they see as the principal lessons to be learned from the study of social psychology. In doing this they provide their own provocative and original answers to the key questions for social psychology and other related social sciences, as well as a wealth of specific, up-to-date insights into the practical applications of social psychology, its key phenomena and theoretical ideas, the history of the field, and the practice conducting social psychological research.

1. Introduction and a short history of social psychology / Craig McGarty and S. Alexander Haslam 2. The theory of cognitive dissonance: The evolution and vicissitudes of an idea / Elliot Aronson 3. Discursive, rhetorical, and ideological messages / Michael Billig 4. On the social origins of human nature / Marilynn B. Brewer 5. Organizing social-psychological explanations / Willem Doise 6. Predicting, understanding, and changing socially relevant behaviors: Lessons learned / Martin Fishbein 7. Let social psychology be faddish or, at least, heterogeneous / Susan T. Fiske and Jacques-Philippe Leyens 8. Social psychology as social construction: The emerging vision / Kenneth J. Gergen 9. Social life as rule-governed patterns of joint action / Rom Harre 10. Beliefs, knowledge, and meaning from the perspective of the perceiver: Need for structure-order / O.J. Harvey