The text is written by a distinguished group of Italian social psychologists: it reflects the joint effort of many contributors, who are experienced researcher and teacher belonging to different Faculties of Psychology. The volume is divided into four parts. Part one presents the theoretical roots of the discipline and the development of new scientific approaches to social psychology. A chapter explores the research approaches (field and laboratory) and the methodologies more frequently used in the social domain. Part two explores the basic psychological processes analyzed at the level of the individual person. In this light, impression formation, attribution theories, social thinking, and biases in judgment are presented. A chapter discusses the individual and social aspects of the self. In this section a chapter is concerned with emotional experience and the social meaning linked to it. Another chapter discusses the socialization process, stressing the role of the social agencies. A last chapter reviews the work on social attitudes: it explores the models of attitudes formation and change, including prejudice and its reduction. A third part examines the interpersonal and intergroup processes. A chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of social relations an interpersonal attraction; another compares aggressive and prosocial behaviours; another one provides an integration of two different themes, like minority influence and persuasive communication. A final chapter presents an overview of the theoretical and research topics related to the intra- and inter-group interactions. In the fourth and last part of the text, some applications of social psychology are explored: the social aspects of organizational environments, the social psychology of politics and law, and health psychology.

Luciano Arcuri is Professor of Psychology of mass communications and Social psychology at the University of Padua.