Subjects:  1. Altruistic behavior in animals    2. Behavior    3. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    4. Ethics, Evolutionary    5. Life Sciences - Evolution    6. Life Sciences - Zoology - Primatology    7. Philosophy    8. Philosophy & Social Aspects    9. Primates    10. Psychology    11. Science    12. Science/Mathematics    13. Social Psychology    14. Anthropology    15. Biological Sciences    16. Evolution    17. History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science    18. Popular science    19. Science / Life Sciences / Zoology / Primatology   

Reviews (1)

The founding stone of symbolic interactionist theory
This books represents the foundation for a major sociological approach - symbolic interactionism. The essential premise of symbolic interactionism is that all human action is essentially symbolic and that society is to be understood, not as a closed system to be studied in abstraction, but as a network of endless interactions in which human beings symbolically interpret human behavior, speech and thought. Society is the interiorised 'other' or a projected interpretation of societal 'others'. Human self therefore has a free component or I and a bound component or We.
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Subjects:  1. Behaviorism (Psychology)    2. Experience    3. General    4. Language and languages    5. Self    6. Social Science    7. Social psychology    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Social Theory    10. Behavioural theory (Behaviourism)    11. Social Science / General    12. Social, group or collective psychology    13. Sociology, Social Studies   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Psychology    3. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (4)

Worth a look--Bowen's definitely got something.
This is a well organized, thoughtful book telling the origins and details of Bowen theory. I particularly like the many cases covered in this book. It appears that they got promising results in helping families with schizophrenic children. There is also a chapter where Dr. Bowen talks about his own efforts at differentiating within his family of origin. It's one thing to talk theory--another to apply it to yourself and then write about it. Fantastic.
Read this book if you know any people
It's rare to find books that are both academically credible and accessible to the layperson. This book is the exception, and the content is truly life changing. It is unfortunate that most of the people who read this book are psychologists or psychiatrists who see it as "just another method" and go back to their simplistic "find the problem and fix it" techniques. Read this book if you know any people
It's rare to find books that are both academically credible and accessible to the layperson. This book is the exception, and the content is truly life changing. It is unfortunate that most of the people who read this book are psychologists or psychiatrists who see it as "just another method" and go back to their simplistic "find the problem and fix it" techniques.Read more

Subjects:  1. Family/Marriage    2. General    3. Mental Illness    4. Psychology    5. Child & developmental psychology    6. Family & relationships    7. Psychology & Psychiatry / Adolescent Psychology    8. Psychotherapy    9. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (113)

Little more than a collection of anecdotes
Intrigued by the relative frequency of citation of this book in the new "web 2.0" universe, I was disappointed to find only a sequence of factoids on social experiments and little in the way of analysis.From the very beginning of the book the reader is invited to agree with the central thesis (that a crowd of independent individuals does better than a smaller elite group) and it very much feels like evidence is carefully selected to reinforce the author's argument.The book could have been twice as thin without losing much of its substance.I would qualify it as a light business read, entertaining but not quite convincing if you're not part of the choir.

Great book on human behavior!
If you want to know more about the importance of shedding all political alliegences and affiliations, read this book. What a wonderful body of knowledge with just the right stories to highlight the profound insights into the recesses of our heart.

Why do the Crowds buy this book if they are so Wise?
This book is basically a magazine article that has been expanded to fill out an entire book (this has been noted by others)
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Subjects:  1. Common good    2. Consensus (Social sciences)    3. Consumer Behavior - General    4. Group decision making    5. Organizational Behavior    6. Political Process - General    7. Social Organization    8. Social Psychology    9. Social Science    10. Social sciences    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - General    13. Sociology - Social Theory    14. Social Science / General    15. Business & Economics    16. Business   

Reviews (11)

Highly recommend!
It gave me an insight of what is mind.
A NeededAcademic Not A Theological Exploration Of This Way Of Seeing ..
You don't have to sit in meditation or try various techniques of
Thought provoking
This is a book rich in provoking thought. While I have read it more than once through cover to cover, I still keep it handy to read sections of again. It approaches mindfulness from a Western thought perspective and avoids the comparisons with Eastern thought. This is not a detriment. It helps to focus the material. It is also the source of much of the ongoing playing with ideas that I still find with this book. By now, you may have realized that Ellen has not presented us with a silver bullet. But she does provide much insight in the relationship between the physical and the mental. The third party view or that of an outsider coming into a group, are both inherently examples of mindfulness. Without pre-set notions, anything is possible. Read and enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Attention    2. Cognitive Psychology    3. Consciousness    4. Mental efficiency    5. Psychology    6. Social Psychology    7. Thought and thinking    8. Cognition & cognitive psychology   

Subjects:  1. Clinical Psychology    2. Psychology    3. Psychotherapy    4. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology   

Reviews (2)

Essential reading to separate fiction from fact
The research in this book essential for understanding the complexity of religious beliefs and practices. For years, I have objected to the ways that many fine authors have portrayed religious activity in America; if writers like Dawkins, Harris, and others had accessed this book, they might find that not only are most religious practices benign, but they would also discover that America is far more secular than many people suspect. For example, in the child development chapters, I discovered that teens are far more skeptical of their parent's religion than I would have thought. I was also intrigued to discover that some young children, even when raised in anti-religious families, still maintained their belief in God. There are even some independent youngsters who will stand by their belief in the reality of the Easter Bunny, even when presented with evidence to the contrary!
Finest Review of Research of These Subjects in 20 Years
Paloutzian and Park have gathered an excellent group of scholars to make contributions to this book. The articles in the field review the research conducted in this field from before Starbuck (1899) and James (1902) to 2004. Each article not only reviews the literature but makes major contributions to the issue it discusses such as Paloutzian's article on conversion and Alemeyer and Hunsberger on fundamentalism and authoritarian.
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Subjects:  1. Psychology    2. Psychology of Religion    3. Psychology, Religious    4. Social Psychology    5. Spirituality    6. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology   

Reviews (2)

This isn't Pop Psychology
Two years ago, while doing research to teach an undergraduate course in Political Psychology, the choices were slim and none.Several books of edited chapters were available, but for an undergraduate course, I wanted a textbook that would provide structure to the field.Cottam, et al have done an admirable job of marrying basic psychological processes to political applications.Well written and informative, I would recommend this as a textbook for upper division students in Psychology and Political Science.WARNING: take Social Psychology first.You won't understand the theoretical underpinnings without Social Psychology.

Great introduction to Political Psychology
This book is very recommended for anyone interested in politics, psychology, the reasons behind political actions and of course those taking beginner classes in political pschyology. The book is in an easy readable style and motivates you to learn various psychological concepts such as perception, emotions, cognition, group, etc. The book is well structured in focusing on the individual and then on the group. A chapter on leadership helps better understand presidential behavior.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Political Ideologies - General    3. Political Science    4. Political psychology    5. Psychology    6. Social Psychology    7. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    8. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology   

Reviews (13)

Useful resource
Socail anxiety effects the quality of life of many human beings.Ive worked with a number of individuals with this difficulty and was able to aid in their recovery through the use of exercise in this workbook as well as other modalities of treatment.If you are affected by social anxiety or other fears this is a helful resource combined with the help of a trusting therapist or counselor.Remember you dont have to livce thsi way and if you have a sincere desire to improve you certainly will.Believe in yourself and and you can conquer any challenge in life.Recommended as a resource.

Cognitive thinking
This is the first Cognitive thinking book I've read I found it very helpful and it really works. You have to do your part. You can't JUST read it. Its very interesting book too. If you'd like to just become more self-aware. There are other reasons why people seem rude or what not.

Somewhat helpful
This book can be used toghether with therapy (I recommend Dr Richards selp help series that you can buy on line). The book does not teach you how to change your negative thinking, it only teaches you how to create a hierachy for social situations to work with. It is only helpful if combined with other books/therapies. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bashfulness    2. Neuropsychology    3. Personal Growth - Self-Esteem    4. Problems, exercises, etc    5. Psychology    6. Self-Help    7. Social Psychology    8. Social phobia    9. Coping with personal problems    10. Popular psychology   

Reviews (3)

Clear writing, logical structure - everything you need to know about respondent biases and how questions ought to be asked.
Tourangeau, Rips and Rasinki collaborated over four years to put this terrific volume together - and the hard work shows in its 342 pages of clearly written text and and close to 40 pages of references. Full marks all round!
An extremely useful integration
This book is very well written and researched and is a must for everyone who wants to learn more about serious social science research.

Very thoughtfully written
I've enjoyed this edition a lot.The authors incorporate the essential psychological elements with survey methodology nicely. Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Evaluation    3. Language Arts & Disciplines    4. Methodology    5. Personality    6. Psychological aspects    7. Psychology    8. Public opinion polls    9. Reference    10. Research & Methodology    11. Social surveys    12. Psychology & Psychiatry / Personality    13. Social research & statistics    14. Social surveys--Psychological aspects    15. Social, group or collective psychology   

Editorial Review

Let's say you're trying to convince a new employer to sweeten its job offer to you. Or perhaps you're buying or selling a company. Or maybe you're even solving for peace in the Middle East. If any of these scenarios is yours, Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro, and their colleagues at the Harvard Negotiation Project have ideas that they would like to share. Fisher's previous book, Read more

Reviews (24)

Using Emotions In Negotiation & Mediation
This book by Fisher and Shapiro shows the versatility and brilliance of the Harvard Negotiation Project.After decades of teaching us that negotiation and also mediation is a matter of focus on "process, interests, needs and substance" we are now told that emotions have a unique and powerful influence upon the negotiation and the results of the negotiation.
Terrific book on dealing with emotions in negotiations
This book by Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro has rightfully won a prize offered by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution for the best book on negotiation. The book focuses on the important role emotions play in negotiations and offers a practical framework for dealing with them constructively. Throughout the book Fisher and Shapiro present recognizable examples, ranging for day to day situations we all encounter to political negotiations with huge impact for millions.
Practical & Insightful Framework for Negotiations
Negotiations guru Roger Fisher has teamed with Daniel Shapiro to offer a valuable new perspective to the world of negotiations.For those in business, Emotions might not seem an obvious source of valuable data, yet they are.The authors provide 5 areas of core concerns which may be at issue during a negotiation.Those 5 areas provide a useful check list:appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status and role.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Communication - General    4. Business/Economics    5. Emotions    6. Industrial Psychology    7. Negotiating    8. Social Psychology    9. Business & Economics / Negotiating   

Reviews (16)

Pioneering work
This is a pioneering book, which provides a generalist approach to dealing with cross-cultural issues with many excellent examples. Hofstede was one of the first to bring the study of how culture affects human interaction in the field of business. The quantifying approach is very similar that cultural anthropologists use.As with all pioneering works there is some criticism about conflict resolution as other reviewers have pointed out. Another central criticisms of this model has been that nation state and culture are always presumed to be the same. Local culture does not follow political boundaries.Some readers might be tempted to think of people in simple categories, which is precisely what Hofstede counsels that we should attempt to avoid. Cultures and organizations gives good insights on how "Groupthink" controls our lives and how we could improve interaction. This is a good book for international managers and students of culture.

Science or Dogma?
Is this book scientific or dogma? Science employs unambiguous concepts, does not ignore data that contradicts; and revises in the light of valid critique. This book fails all these tests. For a comprehensive critique of its many flaws see Professor Brendan. McSweeney's widely cited paper in Human Relations(2002) 55.1. To take an example from the Hofstede's book: they state that "the masculinity-femininity dimension affects ways of handling industrial conflicts. In the United States as well as in other masculine cultures such as Britain and Ireland) there is a feeling that conflicts should be resolved by a good fight ... the industrial relations scenes in these countries is marked by such fights. If possible management tries to avoid having to deal with labor unions at all." (p.143). This claim first appeared in Hofstede (1991) and later in Hofstede (2001). Test 1: a national culture does not affect national managers but only national labor. Inconsistent. Test 2: according to the Hofstede's own ranking (p. 121) Japan is the second most masculine country and Germany is more masculine than either the US or Britain. And yet for over fifty years the industrial relations in Japan and Germany have been the least conflictful. The Hofstede's claim is contradicted even by their own data. Test 3: In 2002 McSweeney published a second paper in which he showed that mascluninity-femininity has no predictive or explanatory power in relation to industrial relations. His data showed that sometimes such relations in feminine countries are more aggressive than in masculine countries, sometimes they are less. Despite this data the Hofstede's repeat a claim that is clearly contradicted by the data (others and even their own). A company which believed the Hofstede's claim would be discouraged from considering investing in Britain, Ireland, or the US and would be encouraged to invest in feminine countries such as the Hofstede's Netherlands which they claim is the third most feminine country in the world. Hopefully, not too many are misled by the dogma in this book which bears no relation to reality.

It's good. For a textbook.
I'm a grad student working on an international MBA and this was one of our required texts. I admit to being rather intimidated by all of the buzzwords in it when I first got the book, but after sitting down and actually churning through it, it's not bad at all. It didn't exactly drastically alter my perspective with regards to international/intercultural communications, but it definitely provided some 'hmmm... neat' points to think on.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. General    5. Intercultural communication    6. International - General    7. International Business Administration    8. Organizational Behavior    9. Organizational Behavior In Business    10. Pluralism (Social sciences)    11. Workplace Culture    12. Business & Economics / General    13. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (1)

A Good Introductory Book
It covers a breadth of various topics in Group Dynamics. It doesn't go into too much depth though but it suffices in getting the reader's feet wet on the subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Group Psychology    2. Human Relations In Business    3. Industrial & Organizational Psychology    4. Management - Teams    5. Psychology    6. Teams in the workplace    7. Organizational theory & behaviour    8. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology    9. Social work    10. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (10)

More insightful than Macchiavelli
This is a short book whose pages have a far greater impact than the title might suggest. As many reviewers have already noted, the book simply explains the mechanisms that guide the popualr imagination and outlines the simple principles that enable the few who grasp them to hold control over vast populations. What struck me particulalry was how the recipes for power suggested by Gustave Le Bon are reflected in contemporary neo-liberal economic and socio-cultural agendas. Those who are involved in developing education policies will find the book especially useful. Writing over a century ago,Le Bon criticized the liberal education system and advocated the more common sense practical type of learning that neo-liberal agendas have been pushing for since the late 70's. It also makes a strong case for the impact of simple messages over crowds. Common sense arguments, logic and thoughtful concerns, LE Bon argues, are lost on the masses. Indeed, it is widely believed that this was one of Benito Mussolini's favorite books. We are living ever more in an era of simplistic thinking. By reading this book you will understand how this has occurred and how demagogues rise to power. As with another reviewer, I also stay away from crowds. This book unraveled the unconscious instincts that always make me avoid crowds and anything that is too popular.

9/11 and 'The Crowd'
I think the reviewer Derek Pillion summed up this book rather well.But I want to relate something that came into my mind after reading the following passage from chapter III: Why I Avoid Large Groups of People.
_The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind_ by French social theorist Gustave LeBon is a short treatise on the principles of large gatherings of people.As the disclaimer on the title page notes, the ideas in LeBon's book were popular at the time of the late 19th century but are no longer in vogue today.The reasons for this are obvious, as LeBon unpretentiously puts to fault all the rhetoric about "democracy," "equality," "fraternity," and "equality" as being mere catchphrases that self-serving demagouges use to control the spirit of the masses.He cites the French Revoloution and the demands of Socialism and Communism during his time.LeBon outlines the way crowds tend to think (in vivid images illogically connected), how they reason (they don't for all practical purposes), how they express exaggerated emotion, how they are very quick to take action without coherent thought and of the general extreme-conservativism and intolerance of crowds.The individual who becomes part of a crowd tends to loose himself, and feels invincible as he is aware of the similarity of mind and purpose of all those surrounding him.LeBon notes how individuals become unthinking entities of the Herd, and can be unconsciously made to do acts, which can either be of great criminality or heroism.The reasoning of the solitary individual is superior to that of a crowd which has no individuality.All are "equal" in a crowd where, for instance, a mathemetician is caught up in the same spirit as a laborer and class and intelligece differences fall to the lowest common denominator.One advangage of crowds is that they can express the spirit of a class, caste, or race of a people better than the individual can, and that crowds are capable of great deeds such as victory in a war or the spread of a religion that would be beyond simply one person's effort.The back title of _The Crowd_ mentions that Hitler, Mussolini in addition to Freud were familiar with LeBon's work, and it is readily apparent that their followers acted very similar to the behavior that LeBon describes.The basic point of _The Crowd_ is this: For Bettor or Worse, Never Underestimate the Power of Stupid People in Large Groups. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crowds    2. General    3. Social Psychology    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - General    7. Anthropology    8. Social Science / General   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Mathematical models    3. Methodology    4. Research    5. Social Science    6. Social networks    7. Sociology    8. Social Science / General    9. Social research & statistics    10. Social, group or collective psychology   

Subjects:  1. Child development    2. Developmental - Child    3. Family    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. Family relationships    6. Infants    7. Infants & Toddlers - Infants    8. Life Stages - Infants & Toddlers/Infants    9. Mental Health    10. Parent and infant    11. Psychology    12. Sociology    13. Child & developmental psychology    14. Psychology & Psychiatry / Child Development    15. Social, group or collective psychology   

Subjects:  1. Cross-Cultural Psychology    2. Intervention Strategies In Social Work    3. Person-in-environment system    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare    6. Social Psychology    7. Social Science    8. Social Work    9. Social work with minorities    10. Sociology    11. Political Science / Social Services & Welfare    12. Social welfare & social services   

Reviews (3)

Plain-English guidance for excellent software
This book comes so highly recommended because it lowers all the barriers for the student. The text is easily absorbed, the software is free, and the datasets are there.Many guides on Social Network Analysis (SNA) seem like they are written for someone who already knows how to do SNA. The original Pajek manual is one example (Pajek is pronounced pai-yak). This book is like the missing manual. It guides the novice carefully through the analysis process. The free software, Pajek, is one of the best Social Network programs currently. Although Pajek was initially just for visualizations of large networks, and it still only has a subset of the UCInet functions, the algorithms are fast and plentiful. The book and software should keep a student busy until they add more programmatic SNA tools to their toolkit (e.g. R-project sna).

The digital version is a joke!
It does not allow paid customer to read it in another computer or print a hard copy. To be exact, it allows paid customer to print 5 pages every 28 days. The book has more than 300 pages, so go figure how long it takes to print your book. The purpose of buying a manual is to learn to use the software while reading it. How do you expect your customer to use the software when he is reading the book on the same computer? And this is hurting the eyes! This is damaging Amazon's reputation too!

A really exellent textbook and manual
I am dipping my toe into the world of networks analysis and this was the perfect way to learn about them and to learn how to use an excellent software package (which is free!)The book is well written and structured with examples to play with and excellent data sets to download from the web. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer simulation    2. Mathematical Analysis    3. Mathematical models    4. Mathematics    5. Pajek (Electronic resource)    6. Social Science    7. Social networks    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Social Science / Sociology / General    11. Social research & statistics    12. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (2)

Persuasion Theory and Practice
Includes 34 social science and communication journal style articles on persuasion theory and persuasion research methods from a communication worldview. Multiple chapter authors are all well published. Too dense for undergraduates unless specific readings are guided by an instructor. A graduate student in a school of communication could launch a whole career with this handbook as a starting point. If you can obsorb these chapter readings, no one in this field will be out ahead of you for several years. Applicable to political campaign managers, advertising gurus, and health care practitioners alike.

a MUST HAVE book !!!
This very comprehensive handbook is something that every researcher in consumer psychology, attitude research, and the related fields must have or read. It is one of those books like Chaiken & Eagly's "Dual Process Theories in Social Psychology", or "The Psychology of attitudes". Lots of information on the most recent developments in the subfield/theory of innoculation theory and affective attitudes, which i find most important about it. EXCELLENT. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Criticism    3. Interpersonal Relations    4. Persuasion (Psychology)    5. Persuasion (Rhetoric)    6. Philosophy    7. Psychology    8. Social Psychology    9. Social aspects    10. Business & Management    11. Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication    12. Sociology, Social Studies