Advanced Social Psychology

"'Now what do I teach?' is a common refrain among social psychologists taken aback by recent failures to replicate some prominent and classic findings. Updating a social psychology textbook is an unenviable task at a time of substantial uncertainty about theories and findings that seemed almost ordinary in the last edition. Admirably, Editors Finkel and Baumeister aim to address reproducibility directly in this 2nd Edition of Advanced Social Psychology. The first three chapters discuss replicability challenges and reforms to improve rigor and credibility. They also set the stage that science does not have a canon of inarguable facts. Scientific understanding is always in revision, and every finding, claim, and theory is open to confrontation. The other 18 substantive chapters approach replicability differently. Some highlight replicability success and challenges in their substantive domains; the chapters on Attraction, Morality, Health, and Computation stand out as effective examples. Others appear to address replicability implicitly by what is not said or cited. In those, the self-corrective process of science is working quietly by omission. Finally, a few chapters appear to have missed news of the 'reproducibility crisis.' These chapters treat each cited claim with the same enthusiastic certainty whether it is backed by a substantial body of evidence or a single paper with just significant effects. This diversity among contributed chapters reflects where we are today as a discipline--still wrestling, from many points of view, with the credibility of the rich theories and findings that comprise social psychology." --Brian Nosek, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia "This book is a must-have, and a must-read, for anyone who is interested in getting familiar with some specifics as well as the broader picture of social psychology. This collective effort by true leaders is an essential public good to the field." -- Paul van Lange, Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam "The second-edition of Advanced Social Psychology, like its predecessor, offers a comprehensive, authoritative, and engaging account of the state of the science in social psychology. The editors and authors have thoughtfully updated the now-classic first edition of the text, including new chapters on research methods, morality, and computational psychology, broadening and updating coverage of the field. The new introduction addresses current concerns about replicability, providing useful context and a practically-oriented, forward-looking take on emerging efforts to ensure that social psychology has a healthy future." -- Rick Hoyle, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke University "Finkel and Baumeister have assembled a superb cast of leading scholars who anchor the major content areas of social psychology. This excellent advanced textbook, which fills a critical gap in relation to its competitors, is required reading." -- Jeffry Simpson, Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota "The brilliance of Advanced Social Psychology emerges as much from the subject matter as it does from the collaborative effort of the many experts, each with an eye for that perfect picture and a steady hand that renders each image with superb clarity." --Mahzarin R. Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University