Social Psychology Seventh Canadian Edition
Faustina Trafton
This text is written from an applied perspective. In choosing this emphasis, one that appeals to our current student population, the authors have chosen to introduce the paradigms of research and theory in a somewhat fragemented order and less...read more
This text is written from an applied perspective. In choosing this emphasis, one that appeals to our current student population, the authors have chosen to introduce the paradigms of research and theory in a somewhat fragemented order and less than complete way. Missing in the text are discussions of important paradigms that are seminal organizers of current research and theory. Bandura's work needs a more complete explanation, for example. Milgram's and Zimbardo's works are presented but the very important challenges to our understanding of group process by Hassan and Reicher are absent. Tajfel and the work by symbolic interactionist, which are the cornerstone upon which much of the group and self work are based, are absent. A useful addition to this work would be to contrast attitudes, values, and norms, Nonetheless, I applaud the work that has been done by these authors with applied social psychology topics.
My review of the various chapters are that the presentations pf research are accurate , though sometimes under-developed. My only quibble is with the overarching statements like "aggression is not cathartic". Playful aggression actually is essential to optimal brain development. Sears and others have demonstrated cathartic aggression. These authors seem to get things essentially correct with material that I know more about.
Applied social psychological perspectives are very welcome to students. Social psychological perspectives can be used to understand the world and these authors champion this use well. The authors combine a lot of perspectives and topics to attempt explain the things of interest to many of us in the world. The authors use social psychology to explain violence, gender differences in behavior, loving and liking and the reasons for differences in perceptions among people. These topics seem to be of strong interest to undergraduate and graduate students.
The applied focus of the book and its "bottom up" emphasis seem to have affected the clarity of the presentation of material. Some parts of the catalog of attributional and perceptual biases are connected to each other in a less than organized manner. Instructors with a strong theoretical base may be able to connect these related topics through use of attribution and other cognitive social psychological theories so the text material can easily be made more clear and able to be understood, Nontheless, the examples used by the authors are useful to clarity material. The exercises and quizzes also support clarity of the material.
The authors have made a strong effort to define important terms and to use those terms in a consistent manner. These efforts enhance the readability of the text. The theoretical base of the work presented, while somewhat dispersed through the topics, is presented consistently (i.e. with no detected examples of contradictions)
The authors have successfully segmented topics within and between chapters. Clearly differentiated subsections exist. Reading checks and quizzes are presented after main sections of the text. Mid-chapter questions are asked. This text useful in that aspect. If an instructor has some minor suggestions for text re-organization that can be done easily through assignment of subsections of the text.
The authors choices of text order seem logical. The use of the modularity of the text could be used to refine the organization of the text, if an instructor prefers. For example, the material on attribution theory might be assigned prior to/alongside the chapter on social cognition.
The cultural relevance of the work is fine overall. More representation of cultural images and ideas could be done to augment the work that these authors have done by inclusions of multi-cultural examples. The authors might also supplement the work on culture through more use of models of culture such as Hofstede, Fiske, and other authors.
The text authors have done a good job with the writing of this text. This text might be especially useful in courses where the instructor teaches from a strong theory rather than applied base. The topics written about are of interest to students. The modularity of the text would permit easy use of the book to support the theories presented in the course and the theoretical organization of the instructor.
Though the book does make reference to cultural issues, I think these cultural issues should take more of a center stage. Social psychological principles established in Western sample do not hold true for non-western sample.
I do not teach Social Psychology as often as I would like, but social psychological issues arise regularly in many of my other courses. I am a firm believer in demoncratizing education and do not use any paid texts in any of my courses. Most of my courses are specialized upper level courses so OER texts are often difficult to acquire. My solution, piece together course material from existing OER. This text will be a valuable resource for my creation of OER in many different courses.
This book covers all of the main topics I want my undergraduate students to know in a Social Psychology course. The classic research (cognitive dissonance, bystander effect, conformity, social categorization, etc.) are all there as well as more...
This book covers all of the main topics I want my undergraduate students to know in a Social Psychology course. The classic research (cognitive dissonance, bystander effect, conformity, social categorization, etc.) are all there as well as more contemporary research. The activities were updated in 2022, which helps fill in some gaps since its original publication date (2104). Importantly, the web version is completely accessible.
The web version of this book is fully accessible, which I will take in a trade-off with completely up to date references. The references tend to end around 2010, but those updates would be easy to make in a new version of this book, or in one's lectures. I do hope the authors release an updated version of this book.
This book is a modular as any paper textbook in that the sections are divided in traditional/typical ways. This book is probably more similar to traditional textbooks because it is written in chapters. Other ebooks may break the modules down a bit more, but if you are looking to replicate, not redesign, the textbook experience this book is essentially the classic textbook but online and accessible with linked activities.
All of the chapters and sections are organized in the traditional Social Psychology textbook arrangement, starting with research methods in social psychology, then social cognition, the self, attitudes and behavior, and so forth.
The interface is relatively basic and reading this book is very similar to reading a paper textbook, but with fewer photos and sidebars. In that sense it is very straightforward, but also sometimes boring to look at. However, the accessibility of the web version is a huge benefit.
A benefit to this book is that it is an international edition and does properly explore cultural differences in social psychological theories (emotional expression, fundamental attribution error, etc.) without generalizing or perpetrating stereotypes.
Overall this book is the best option if you want to replicate your traditional textbook experience without altering too much of the content or how you organize your syllabus and assignments. In that sense it is a very good entry into the open access ebook world, and because it is accessible all students will be able use the material. If you are considering switching to an open access ebook, this one is basically a replacement for Stangor's Social Psychology textbook.
The topics and accordingly chapters are presented in a sequence that make sense and is easily comprehensible. Each chapter starts with the learning objectives, continues with the main text and ends with the references and summary.
At 12 chapters, the textbook leaves room in the syllabus for a class on symbolic communication, language, and theory of mind, and more in-depth material on organizational behavior. I have swapped chapters around in my course with no problem. I assign quizzes on each chapter in which the students offer a "take away" summary of the sections of the chapters assigned for each class, and have seen no problems for the students.
Hammond Tarry is a faculty member at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, Vancouver, Canada, and at Capilano University, North Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Tarry completed his doctoral research in psychology in 2001 at the University of Oxford, U.K. His thesis was entitled Delinquency, Moral Reasoning, and Social Control. He has published and supervised research on topics including sociomoral development, political orientation, attitudes toward institutional authority, and reputation management. He teaches a wide range of courses, including social psychology, group dynamics, research methods, and introductory psychology. He has a particular interest in open textbooks from a social justice perspective.