Uniquely integrative and authoritative, this volume explores how advances in social psychology can deepen understanding and improve treatment of clinical problems. The role of basic psychological processes in mental health and disorder is examined by leading experts in social, clinical, and counseling psychology. Chapters present cutting-edge research on self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal processes, social cognition, and emotion. The volume identifies specific ways that social psychology concepts, findings, and research methods can inform clinical assessment and diagnosis, as well as the development of effective treatments. Compelling topics include the social psychology of help seeking, therapeutic change, and the therapist–client relationship.

Uniquely integrative and authoritative, this volume explores how advances in social psychology can deepen understanding and improve treatment of clinical problems. The role of basic psychological processes in mental health and disorder is examined by leading experts in social, clinical, and counseling psychology. Chapters present cutting-edge research on self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal processes, social cognition, and emotion. The volume identifies specific ways that social psychology concepts, findings, and research methods can inform clinical assessment and diagnosis, as well as the development of effective treatments. Compelling topics include the social psychology of help seeking, therapeutic change, and the therapist–client relationship.

Clinical psychology makes a significant contribution to mental health care across the world. The essence of the discipline is the creative application of the knowledge base of psychology to the unique, personal experiences of individuals who are facing difficulties or changes in their lives. Rather than addressing such experiences as primarily a medical, political or legal problem, clinical psychologists approach personal distress as an unhappy outcome of certain ways of thinking, behaving and relating, often occurring within difficult social, cultural or economic circumstances. Clinical psychologists work with people to try and help them change what is distressing or concerning them, based on a belief in the value of the individual to determine what happens to them and on the importance of using approaches which have been demonstrated through research to be effective. In this Very Short Introduction Susan Llewellyn and Katie Aafjes-van Doorn provide insights into the world of clinical psychologists and their clients or patients, and cover the range of domains of practice, the difficulties tackled, and the approaches and models used. They consider the challenges and controversies facing the profession today, and also how it varies across the globe. Finally, they discuss the key questions surrounding clinical psychology, such as whether it should compete or collaborate with psychiatry, how far it is yet another instrument of social control, what new technology can offer in the future, and whether clinical psychology can ever really be considered a science. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Social psychology attempts to understand, explain, predict and, when needed, change people's thoughts, feelings and behaviours. For a relatively young discipline it has already made great strides toward this awe-inspiring goal. Pioneers such as Lewin, Asch, Kelley and Festinger began groundwork in the 1940s and 1950s, but it was only in the late 1960s that social psychology came of age. Since then it has blossomed, both in investigating the basics of the discipline and in applying the insights from fundamental social psychology to different fields related to the area. This volume is devoted to the development of understanding in the field of social psychology over the last four decades, focusing on both basic and applied social psychology. Contributions are gathered under five main areas: attitudes and attitude change; social cognition and emotions; interpersonal and group processes; health behavior; and bereavement and coping. These five domains not only illustrate the scope of social psychology, but also pay tribute to one of the key figures in modern social psychology, Wolfgang Stroebe. Remarkably, he has made significant contributions across all five of these areas, and his research achievements exemplify the progress, prospects and problems faced by modern social psychology over the last 40 years. This volume includes contributions from some of the most distinguished names in the field, and all authors provide an overview or critical look at their specific area of expertise, tracing historical developments where appropriate. The Scope of Social Psychology provides a broad-ranging, illustrative review of the field of modern social psychology.

Delineates the relevance of biases in causal attribution to a variety of clinical phenomena, and questions the cognitive mechanisms of psychological distress and the heuristics that inform its treatment. Acidic paper. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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A colleague recently recounted a conversation she had had with a group of graduate students. For reasons that she cannot recall, the discussion had turned to the topic of "old-fashioned" ideas in psychology-perspectives and beliefs that had once enjoyed widespread support but that are now regarded as quaint curiosities. The students racked their brains to outdo one ofthe historical trivia of psychology: Le Bon's another with their knowledge fascination with the "group mind," Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism, the short-lived popularity of "moral therapy," Descartes' belief that erec tions are maintained by air from the lungs, and so on. When it came his tum to contribute to the discussion, one student brought up an enigmatic journal he had seen in the library stacks: the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. He thought that the inclusion of abnormal and social psychology within the covers of a single journal seemed an odd combination, and he wondered aloud what sort of historical quirk had led psychologists of an earlier generation to regard these two fields as somehow related. Our colleague then asked her students if they had any ideas about how such an odd combination had found its way into a single journal.

Angela Sabates offers a well-researched social psychology textbook that makes full use of the unique view of human persons coming down to us from the Christian tradition. She highlights Christian contributions to a wide range of questions from the dynamics of persuasion to the social psychology of violence.