Read it or Weep
This is one of those books that you only come across by chance. I became aware of this book by snooping around a friends office and saw it on the shelf with ruffled pages and post it notes sticking out of it. At first I couldn't tell if it was a bible or not, but it seems it was my friends bible.
After memorizing the title, which I did forget, and searching all over the internet for it, I finally found it. I guess I was too embarrassed to ask my friend, because I don't think he would like the idea of my snooping around.
After reading a few pages I came to realize what the big deal was with my friend. This book covers many theories behind people's less than intuitive behavior. He explains how rewarding children for undesirable behavior will lead to less of that bahavior. For example, if you want children to play with a boring toy, just leave it in a room of other more attractive toys, but demand that the children play with the more attractive toys and even give the children some candy or some money to play with these toys and eventually these children will gravitate toward the boring toy. It doen't make sense on the surface, but when you read that these behaviors are backed by a lot of research and explained theory you will start to see how it makes sense.
There are tons of examples in this book all backed by research and with clear explanations.
Where Psychology meets Culture
Aronson's emminently readable volume is packed with useful--if not always profound--insights and information that go a long way towards explaining many of the abnomal "normalities" of our own society. Although Aronson's volume is far from being preachy, it is difficult not to make certain connections within our own society that have the character of being drawn directly from Aronson's experiments. Racism, for instance can now be explained entirely in social psychological terms. Both white and non-white behaviror--actions and interactions--follow the models of Aronson's experiments precisely. Alienation within our society and the attendant lost of a sense of community is another example of one of the secondary effects of social psychological processes made so profoundly clear from this book.
Aronson leaves us with a lot to digest and think about, and this in my view is what books of this sort should do. This is a real tour de force. I highly recommend it.
Excellent for beginners
Elliot Aronson captured a wide range of subjects making his book the perfect primer to social psychology.
The Social Animal by E. Aronson
I really enjoyed The Social Animal, it was an excellent book! And it was actually fun to read (compared to other college books). I read this book for my social psych class @CU. There are a lot of really interesting studies cited in the book about everday things that you wouldn't notice unless it was pointed out to you. And it has some very interesting points on prejudice and self-justification. Even if you're not going to be a social psychologist or, maybe, you're not even in a social psych class, I think it's important to read. I highly recommend it!
THE book of social psychology
I am a graduate student and forever labor at parties under the misconception others have about what it is that I study. This book was panacea for me -- I bought it and gave copies of it to my parents and various assorted others. In lay-person's prose, Aronson explains the major, and most influential, of social psychological achievements. He accurately explains what social psychology is and why it's helpful without ever sounding like a professor talking down to students. It is a must-read for everyone, not only because it is so clear and cogent, but because it can explain and clarify to many the basic processes underlying most of everyday life.
(15 reviews)
