Frameworks for Applying Social Psychological Processes to Social Issues

Abstract

This volume is the first of a planned series on applications of fundamental social psychological processes to social problems. As such it is part of a much larger effort by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues to sponsor the publication of works that address the causes, nature, and possible solutions to societal concerns. Other aspects of this effort include SPSSI’s programs at professional conferences, the Journal of Social Issues, dozens of books on special topics such as international relations and racism, and the Applied Social Psychology Annual series that was initially edited by Leonard Bickman and concluded under the editorship of Stuart Oskamp. In effect, the present volume represents a continuation of the latter series but with a different focus owing to a change in publishers and editors. While most of the publications sponsored by SPSSI have emphasized a single social issue, usually discussed from the standpoint of diverse theoretical and empirical traditions, this volume takes the complementary approach of considering diverse social issues within the framework of theory and research on the single but broadly defined process of social influence. The complementarity of these alternative ways of presenting applied social science can be seen by taking a perspective that combines both general social processes and social issues.