Customer Reviews

The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a 2nd year PhD student someone lent me this book so that I could acquaint myself with Social Psychology (which I had very little exposure to beforehand). I felt that I had a better grasp of social psychology after reading this book than I did after taking a year of PhD level courses. Ross & Nisbett effortlessly cover the foundational works of Social Psy in a way that is immediately accessible and compelling. This is one of two books that I recommend to incoming PhD students...

This book is a wonderful introduction to the importance of situational influences on our inferences and decisions. The coverage of examples is thorough and it is easy to see how each is relevent to the topic at hand. Written in a an imminently understandable and conversational style, this book is a pleasure to read. I particularly enjoyed the ways in which the authors demonstrated the types of faulty logic we all use when trying to use dispositional information to make predictions about the behaviour of ourselves and others. This book points out quite clearly that just because an approach appears to work in the real world, doesn't mean that the rational for using it is reasonable. An enjoyable and informative read!

Offered as "a slim guide ... to the heart and muscle" of the enterprise of social psychology, this volume provides the cummulative evidence of the field organized in terms of the basic principles it supports. This is an excellent introduction and review of the field of social psychology, its research and its applications. To really absorb the knowledge accumulated here into the functioning of our general culture would require a willingess by individuals, over and over again, to transcend normal ways of thinking in order to understand others, and especially differences with others, in a less self-centered manner than is usual.

This book is amply recommended for anyone questioning the individualistic stance of human behavior. The ideas are well structured and motivate discussion. Essential reading for cognitive and AI researchers!

Some quotes:

"People sometimes construe the same object differently because they view it from different angles, rather than because they are fundamentally different people."

"Indeed, when we are confronted with behavior that seems to suggest exceptional personal attributes of any kind we tell ourselves to pause and consider the situation. What were the details of the immediate context of behavior? How was the situation construed by the actor? And what was the broader social context or social system within which the actors were functioning? More pointedly, what objective situational features or subjective construals, or tension system considerations would make these seemingly exceptional actions less exceptional, and more congruent with what experience has taught us about the way ordinary people (ourselves included) generally behave?"