| Abstract: | Reviews the book, Handbook of social psychology edited by Gardner Lindzey (1954). The reviewer notes that the publication of this two-volume Handbook is a truly signal event in social psychology. The text is comprehensive, up to date, balanced. It gives extensive treatment to theory, to methodology, and to research findings and applications. It is sophisticated in its approach and makes no concession to oversimplified presentation, either in content or in style. The reviewer also reports that the editor has demonstrated a high order of intelligence and judgment in the selection and organization of the various chapters. No main area of social psychology is neglected. As contrasted with the more typical compendiums of material in a large field, this book succeeds remarkably in avoiding unnecessary redundancy. The choice of authors in this text is also excellent. Some of the authors have taken this as an occasion for creating something beyond simply a critical review of an area of social psychology; parts of some of the chapters are original contributions to the theory and method of social psychology. Overall, this Handbook offers convincing evidence that social psychology is indeed a field in its own right, continually growing in the extent to which its methods and findings bear intimate relationship with other areas of psychology, and at the same time contributing a steady stream of methods and data which are uniquely to be found in connection with social behavior of individuals and groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
