Social Psychology

Citation

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Sommers, S. R., Page-Gould, E., & Lewis, N., Jr. (2026). Social Psychology (12th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The twelfth edition has thirteen chapters followed by three application chapters titled "Social Psychology in Action". Pearson lists it as published on 9 February 2026 (with a 2027 copyright date), and describes the book as presenting the key concepts of the field through a storytelling approach, with classic studies set beside current research. The chapter-level notes below follow the titles in Pearson's contents list.

Chapters 1–2: Introducing Social Psychology; Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research

The opening pair defines the field and then explains how its research is done, which prepares for the evidence discussed later.

Chapters 3–4: Cultures and the Individuals Within Them; The Self: Understanding Ourselves in a Social Context

Culture comes before the self in the order of chapters: Chapter 3 treats cultures and the individuals within them, and Chapter 4 turns to understanding ourselves in a social context.

Chapters 5–6: Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World; Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People

Two chapters on how people think about the social world and make sense of others. Pearson's description says the edition considers the impact of recent advances in AI on the study of social cognition.

Chapters 7–8: Attitudes and Attitude Change; Prejudice and Discrimination

Attitudes and how they change, followed by a single chapter on prejudice and discrimination.

Chapters 9–10: Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups; Social Influence: Conformity and Obedience

Group influence and conformity and obedience have their own chapters. The publisher notes that the edition looks at social media's role in shaping conformity.

Chapters 11–13: Helping Others; Aggression: Why Do We Hurt Other People? Can We Prevent It?; Attraction and Relationships

Prosocial behaviour, aggression (including a question about prevention in its title), and attraction and relationships.

Social Psychology in Action 1–3

Three closing application chapters: Using Social Psychology to Achieve a Sustainable and Happy Future; Social Psychology and Health; and Social Psychology and the Law.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: foundations, culture, self and social thinking

• Research methodology: the subject of Chapter 2, which sets out how social psychologists do research.
• Culture and the individual: Chapter 3's pairing of cultures with the individuals within them.
• Social cognition and social perception: the two ways of understanding the social world in Chapters 5 and 6.

Chapters 7–13: attitudes, groups and relationships

• Attitudes and attitude change: the subject of Chapter 7.
• Conformity and obedience: the two forms of social influence in Chapter 10.
• Prejudice and discrimination: the topic of Chapter 8.
• Aggression and its prevention: the question posed in the Chapter 12 title.

Social Psychology in Action

• Sustainability and happiness, health and the law: the three application areas.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A mainstream sequence. The chapters run from the field and its methods through culture, the self and social thinking, to attitudes, prejudice, groups, influence, helping, aggression and relationships. That sequence covers the topics most social psychology courses organise around.
• Early place for culture. Culture is the subject of a dedicated Chapter 3, before the self and social cognition, so these chapters can be read with cultural variation in mind.
• Applications are set apart for use. Three separate application chapters (sustainability and happiness, health, the law) let a course add applied material without disturbing the main sequence.
• Current topics named in the edition notes. Pearson highlights social media and conformity, loneliness and isolation, web-based classrooms and workplaces, and AI and social cognition, which signals attention to contemporary settings.

Limitations

• Little detail beyond the contents list. The publisher page gives chapter titles and an overview but no section headings, so a reader cannot judge the depth of each chapter in advance.
• One chapter on prejudice. Aronson and colleagues give prejudice and discrimination a single chapter; Gilovich and colleagues' sixth edition divides it into two, with a separate chapter on living in a prejudiced world.
• No stand-alone chapters on emotion or morality. Gilovich's contents include "Emotion and Well-Being" and "Morality, Altruism, and Cooperation"; Aronson's contents have no equivalent titles, though helping and aggression are covered.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is one of two main textbooks for the course. Gilovich, Keltner, Chen and Nisbett's Social Psychology is the closest alternative, with fourteen chapters and three application modules; the two cover the same core, and choosing between them often comes down to which chapter list fits a syllabus. Gilovich gives emotion, morality and living in a prejudiced world their own chapters, while Aronson has a dedicated chapter on culture.

Crisp's Social Psychology: A Very Short Introduction is a brief history and overview and suits readers who want orientation before starting a full textbook. Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a focused work on persuasion that complements the chapters on attitudes and social influence. Fiske's Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture and Finkel and Baumeister's Advanced Social Psychology are follow-on books for readers who have finished a survey like this one.

How to Use This Book

The publisher lists no prerequisites, and the contents open with an introduction and a methods chapter, so a first course in psychology is the natural background. The book suits students taking social psychology for the first time and readers who want a conventional, topic-by-topic survey.

A sensible plan is to read Chapters 1–2 first, then take the self and social thinking block (Chapters 3–6), then attitudes and prejudice (7–8), then influence and groups (9–10), and finish with helping, aggression and relationships (11–13). Choose one or two of the "Social Psychology in Action" chapters to match the course. Because the edition is new, confirm the edition used in class before relying on chapter numbers from earlier printings.