Uni Reading List
Index / 001 EN
Social Psychology cover

Psychology

Psychology

Social Psychology

Thomas Gilovich; Dacher Keltner; Serena Chen; Richard E. Nisbett

An undergraduate social psychology textbook written by four active researchers that pays particular attention to culture, evolution and emotion as explanatory frameworks. It presents classic and current experiments in detail and uses recurring themes about human sociality, situational influence and construal to connect the chapters.

Prerequisites: Introductory psychology is helpful but not required; the book explains its methods from the start.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
social psychologysocial cognitioncultureemotiongroup processesTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2023). Social Psychology (6th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition has fourteen chapters, followed by three application modules. Norton says the edition is thoroughly updated and adds a new chapter, "Living in a Prejudiced World", so that two chapters now deal with stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. The updated methods chapter highlights replication and open science, and the authors say they revisit classic studies in the light of replication where relevant. The notes below follow the publisher's contents list.

Chapters 1–2: An Invitation to Social Psychology; The Methods of Social Psychology

An introduction to the field, followed by a chapter on methods. According to the publisher, the methods chapter was updated to emphasise replication and open science.

Chapters 3–5: The Social Self; Social Cognition: Thinking About People and Situations; Emotion and Well-Being

Three chapters on the individual in a social world: the self, how people think about others and situations, and emotion and well-being. The publisher says the sixth edition adds Focus On features on current topics such as wellness and climate change.

Chapters 6–8: Attitudes, Behavior, and Rationalization; Persuasion; Social Influence

Attitudes and the link between attitudes and behaviour (including rationalisation), then persuasion, and then social influence.

Chapters 9–11: Relationships and Attraction; Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination; Living in a Prejudiced World

Relationships and attraction, followed by the two chapters on stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. Chapter 11 is the one new in this edition and, in the publisher's words, addresses the experience of living with stereotyping and discrimination.

Chapters 12–14: Groups; Aggression; Morality, Altruism, and Cooperation

Groups, aggression, and a closing chapter linking morality, altruism and cooperation.

Application Modules 1–3

Social Psychology and Health; Social Psychology and Education; and Social Psychology and the Law.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–5: foundations, self and emotion

  • Replication and open science: emphasised in the methods chapter.
  • The social self: the subject of Chapter 3.
  • Social cognition: thinking about people and situations, Chapter 4.
  • Well-being: paired with emotion in Chapter 5.

Chapters 6–11: attitudes, influence and prejudice

  • Rationalization: named in the title of Chapter 6 alongside attitudes and behaviour.
  • Persuasion and social influence: separate chapters on changing minds and on wider social influence.
  • Stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination: Chapter 10, with Chapter 11 on the experience of living in a prejudiced world.

Chapters 12–14: groups and prosocial life

  • Groups: the subject of Chapter 12.
  • Aggression: the Chapter 13 topic.
  • Morality, altruism and cooperation: the combined subject of Chapter 14.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Authors with distinct research backgrounds. According to the publisher's author notes, Gilovich's research concerns judgment, decision making and well-being; Keltner's concerns the prosocial emotions, morality and power; Chen's concerns the social bases of the self and identity; and Nisbett's concerns how people in different cultures think, perceive and act. That range matches the book's emphasis on emotion, morality, culture and the self.
  • Emotion and morality have their own chapters. The contents list gives emotion and well-being a chapter (5) and morality, altruism and cooperation a chapter (14); Aronson's contents list has no equivalent titles. The sixth edition also adds a second chapter on prejudice.
  • Open science built into the methods chapter. The publisher says the methods chapter highlights replication and open science and that the authors discuss replication where it affects classic studies.
  • Digital learning features. Norton describes a new Illumine ebook with learning objectives, Check Your Understanding questions with feedback, Dynamic Data figures and Analyze the Claim writing assignments. Instructors quoted by the publisher, including Robin Kowalski (Clemson University), speak well of these interactive features and of the examples.

Limitations

  • The interactive features are tied to the ebook. Much of what Norton highlights (Dynamic Data figures, Check Your Understanding, InQuizitive) is part of the digital package, so readers using only a print copy will not have it.
  • Applications come last. The three application modules (health, education, law) follow the main chapters, so a course must decide whether to assign them separately.
  • No stand-alone chapter on culture. The contents list has no chapter devoted to culture, although Nisbett's research concerns cultural differences; readers who want a dedicated chapter can turn to Aronson's Chapter 3.

Where It Fits in the Course

Gilovich and colleagues is the second main text alongside Aronson, Wilson, Sommers, Page-Gould and Lewis's Social Psychology. The two cover the same core, and the practical difference is in chapter lists: Gilovich has chapters on emotion and well-being, living in a prejudiced world and morality, altruism and cooperation, while Aronson has a chapter on culture and separate chapters on social perception and on helping others. Choose by which structure suits the syllabus.

Crisp's Social Psychology: A Very Short Introduction is a short orientation to read first, and Cialdini's Influence is a focused companion to the chapters on persuasion and social influence. Fiske's Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture extends Chapter 4, and Finkel and Baumeister's Advanced Social Psychology is the next step for readers who finish this survey.

How to Use This Book

The publisher lists no prerequisites, and the book opens with an introduction and a methods chapter. It suits students taking social psychology for the first time.

Read Chapters 1–2 first, then the self and thinking block (3–5). Chapters 6–8 on attitudes and influence and 9–11 on relationships and prejudice can follow in order; Chapters 12–14 can be read in any order. Choose among the application modules according to the course. Because the sixth edition restructured the prejudice material into two chapters, check the edition before using chapter numbers from an older printing.