Social Psychology: A Very Short Introduction

Citation

Crisp, R. J. (2015). Social Psychology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book has six chapters and a short afterword in 117 pages, followed by a further-reading list and an index. Oxford's description presents it as the story of social psychology: its history, concepts and major theories, the classic studies that defined the discipline, and the key thinkers whose personal histories pushed them to ask what connects people to people. It says the book runs from the first ideas of the field to its most recent developments and keeps returning to the subject's relevance to everyday life, "from attitudes to attraction, prejudice to persuasion, health to happiness". The chapter titles below are from the contents list; the comments rest on the publisher's description and on the terms the book uses most often.

Chapter 1: All about us

The short opening chapter, about eight pages, introduces the subject. Oxford's phrase for the field is the study of the people who populate our everyday lives and how they shape our "personal universe".

Chapter 2: The social mind

The longest chapter, at about 24 pages, deals with how people think about the social world. Among the terms the book uses repeatedly, attribution theory (with Heider), the availability heuristic, the "cognitive miser", the "naive scientist", illusory correlation, stereotypes and categorization relate to this subject.

Chapter 3: Attitudes and influence

This chapter takes on attitudes and how they are changed, and the influence of other people on behaviour. Cognitive dissonance, the central and peripheral routes to persuasion, normative influence and conformity are among the terms the book uses repeatedly.

Chapter 4: Obedience, oppression and aggression

The fourth chapter is about the darker side of social behaviour. Milgram and obedience, and aggression, are among the terms the book uses repeatedly. Social facilitation and social loafing (associated with Latané), on the effects of other people's presence, recur as well.

Chapter 5: Intergroup relations

Chapter 5 covers relations between groups. Ingroups and outgroups, Tajfel, prejudice, social dominance orientation, system justification, infrahumanization and conflict are among the terms the book uses repeatedly.

Chapter 6: Love and other attractions

The sixth chapter turns to relationships and what draws people together. Facial symmetry, self-esteem and social support are among the terms the book uses repeatedly.

Afterword

A short closing section of about two pages.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2: The social mind

• Social cognition: how people think about themselves and others, the subject of Chapter 2.
• Attribution: explaining other people's behaviour by their dispositions or their situations.
• Heuristics and shortcuts: mental shortcuts such as the availability heuristic.

Chapters 3–4: Influence, obedience and aggression

• Attitudes and attitude change: Chapter 3, including the central and peripheral routes to persuasion.
• Social influence: conformity, normative influence and obedience.
• Social facilitation and social loafing: effects of other people's presence on performance.

Chapters 5–6: Groups and relationships

• Intergroup relations: ingroup and outgroup, prejudice and conflict (Chapter 5).
• Attraction: what draws people together (Chapter 6).

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A narrative approach. Oxford says the book tells the story of social psychology through its classic studies and its key thinkers, which suits readers who learn better from a storyline than from a catalogue of findings.
• Short and bounded. Six chapters in 117 pages leave room for a reader to finish the book in a weekend and still see the main areas: social thinking, attitudes, influence, group conflict and relationships.
• Scope from classic to current. The description says the book runs from the first ideas of the field to the most cutting-edge developments, and the recurring terms combine mid-twentieth-century names such as Heider, Milgram and Tajfel with later ideas such as system justification and implementation intentions.
• Author's research record. Oxford's author note describes Richard Crisp as a researcher on how people represent social diversity, an editor of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and a winner of a British Psychological Society award, which fits the book's attention to prejudice and intergroup relations.

Limitations

• Very short. Each chapter averages under twenty pages, so theories and studies can only be described briefly, and there is little room for evaluating evidence or methods.
• Selective coverage. The six-chapter layout gives social cognition, attitudes, influence, aggression, intergroup relations and attraction. Topics treated at length in full textbooks, such as the self, groups at work or cultural variation, have no chapter of their own in the contents list.
• No exercises advertised. Oxford's description lists no review questions or practice material, so students on a course will need a textbook for self-testing.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the shortest and gentlest entry in the social psychology list. Aronson's Social Psychology and Gilovich, Keltner, Chen and Nisbett's Social Psychology are full undergraduate textbooks that cover similar ground in detail; the latter pays particular attention to culture, evolution and emotion. Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a popular book on persuasion and compliance, which overlaps with the "Attitudes and influence" chapter.

For further study, Fiske's Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture develops the ideas of Chapter 2 in an advanced treatment, and Finkel and Baumeister's Advanced Social Psychology: The State of the Science is an advanced collection. Crisp's book is best read before these, or alongside a full textbook as a map of the field.

How to Use This Book

The book is for students beginning social psychology, readers from other subjects, and the general public. No psychology background is assumed.

A practical plan:

• Read it straight through, one chapter per sitting. The sequence moves from how individuals think, to how others influence them, to conflict between groups, to closeness.
• Pair it with a textbook chapter by chapter. After Chapter 3, read the attitudes and persuasion material in Aronson or Gilovich; after Chapter 4, look at their treatments of obedience and aggression; after Chapter 5, their chapters on prejudice and intergroup relations.
• Use the classic studies as anchors. For each named study in the book, such as Milgram's obedience work, look up the original description, and note what was measured and what the result did and did not show.
• Finish with the afterword and the further-reading list to choose the next book.