Social Psychology
Traditional and Critical Perspectives
- Paul Dickerson - University of Roehampton, UK
This thoroughly updated second edition of Social Psychology addresses pressing topics such as climate change activism, digital technology, pandemics and AI. With three new chapters on group behaviour, culture and social cognition, this edition engages in even more detail with both classic and contemporary approaches and draws on a wider range of critical perspectives. Through accessible, section-by-section critiques, a vibrant sense of relevance, debate and new possibilities are brought to the world of social psychology.
As you read this book, you will be guided by a range of chapter activities that promote deeper learning, including:- “In the news” boxes, which highlight the relevance of social psychology to today’s world
- Critical review summaries, which evaluate the literature covered
- Focus boxes, to highlight classic and contemporary research studies
- “Try it out” boxes, which contain short activities, questions or reflection prompts
- Definitions boxes, to remind you of key terms and their meanings
- Review questions, to check your understanding
- "In a nutshell" - bite-sized summaries of the ideas covered in each chapter
- And more…
This essential resource is a must-have for students who want to go beyond a superficial awareness of names and theories to develop a deep, critical understanding of social psychology and its relevance to the real world.
Paul Dickerson is Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Roehampton, London.
Supplements
Instructor Resources (Log-in needed)
- A Teaching Guide to complement the book
- Test bank - a set of questions, for directed learning or assessment purposes.
- PowerPoint Slides containing key points for each chapter, which you can adapt
- VLE/LMS Download: Upload all the lecturer and student resources into your institution’s virtual learning environment (i.e. Blackboard or Moodle), and customise the content to suit your teaching needs
A video in which Paul Dickerson discusses his motivations and intentions for the book.
I welcome this new edition of Paul Dickerson’s Social Psychology. I particularly appreciate the coverage of contemporary issues and debates such as critical race theory, and the inclusion of a wide range of research from outside the Western world. The critical reviews of topics are excellent for enriching students’ understandings, and it’s great to see coverage of communication and interaction in a Social Psychology textbook. I’ll be recommending this book to my students.
Compares and contrasts different theoretical frameworks, it tackles the question of what it means to be critical from a decolonial and discursive perspective, the opening cases are wonderful, it draws the latest developments in technology and tries to unpack its intersections and implications for social psychology.
This is a comprehensive and engaging textbook that I would recommend to other psychology students. It covers a wide range of subjects and is easy to navigate, making it ideal for writing essays. The book provides thorough explanations of psychological concepts and current case studies have been smartly interwoven throughout. The reflective questions are great to enhance your memory and the chapter summaries and recaps are extremely helpful.
