Appropriate for one-semester social psychology courses in colleges and universities.

In this first Canadian edition, the authors have provided essential content in a Canadian context, using a relaxed, story-telling style. Fundamentals combines a scientific approach, drawing on both classic and contemporary research, with a focus on applications. Each chapter is concise and self-contained in terms of topics and concepts. Consequently, instructors can assign the chapters in any order they please; concepts are always explained in clear terms so that students won’t need to have read earlier chapters in order to grasp the meanings of later ones.

Based on the highly-regarded full-size Aronson text, Fundamentals has 10 streamlined chapters (compared to 13 plus 3 separate applied chapters in the comprehensive text):

• Topics of social cognition and social perception have been condensed into a single chapter, “Social Cognition and Social Perception: How We Perceive and Think about the Social World” (Chapter 3).
• Examination of self is now presented in a single chapter, “Self-Knowledge and Self-Evaluation:Self-Understanding and the Need to Maintain Self-Esteem” (Chapter 4).
• Chapter 9, “Prosocial Behaviour and Aggression: Helping and Harming Others,” combines coverage of these two sides of human behaviour.