Synopses & Reviews
Reflecting the many contributions of Muzafer Sherif to social psychology during the past thirty years, this volume presents selections from among Sherif's most widely known essays and provides a systematic overview of his evolving interests, concepts, methods and research findings. Twenty-five essays are divided into five sections according to content; the theoretical and methodological problems at the heart of Sherif's work; the experimental model for interaction process and products; problems of self and reference groups; concepts, attitudes and ego-involvements; and contributions to problems of in-group and intergroup relations through experimental and field research.
Though the selections range over a broad spectrum each is characterized by the precise and incisive work techniques Sherif devised as well as by its intrinsic relevance to significant issues. Sherif writes to clarify theory, to define conceptual tools, and to use tools and theory to demonstrate the substantive results of his researches. Each research finding is added to its predecessors as the author advances to his goal of a social psychology that is consistent as it moves from the most basic psychological processes to the complexities of individual involvement in collective activity
Muzafer Sherif was born and raised in Turkey and came to America during the Second World War after the U.S. State Department helped release him from Turkish jail for speaking out against the Nazi movement. He became on of the world's foremost social psychologists, writing some twenty-four books and sixty articles. He was the recipient of many awards, including the 1967 Kurt Lewin Award and the inaugural Cooley-Mead Award, and served in many roles, most notably professor and director of the Psychosocial Studies Program at Penn State University. He is recognized as the founder of social judgment theory. Many of his classic books such as The Psychology of Social Norms (1936) and Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment (1961) remain in print. He died in 1988. Augustine Brannigan is professor of sociology at the University of Calgary and author of The Rise and Fall of Social Psychology published by AldineTransaction in 2004.
Synopsis
Reflecting the many contributions of Muafer Sherif to social psychology during the past thirty years, this volume presents selections from among Sherifs most widely known essays and provides a systematic overview of his evolving interests, concepts, methods, and research findings. Twenty-five essays are divided into five sections according to content; the theoretical and methodological problems at the heart of Sherifs work; the experimental model for interaction process and products; problems of self and reference groups; concepts, attitudes, and ego-involvements; and contributions to problems of in-group and intergroup relations through experimental and field research.