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Felix C. Brodbeck is Chair of Organizational and Economic Psychology at Ludwig‐Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. His main research interests are leadership, group performance, collective information‐processing, economic decision‐making, diversity and cross‐cultural psychology. He has edited or authored several books, including Culture and Leadership Across the World, and numerous research papers. He was until 2018 (Co‐) Editor‐in‐Chief of the Journal of Economic Psychology.

Roland Deutsch is Professor of Social Psychology at Julius‐Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany. His research covers several areas in social cognition and motivation including dual‐process models, indirect measures, moral and motivational conflicts, and the perception of social inequality.

Catrin Finkenauer is Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science at the University of Utrecht. Her research on interpersonal relationships includes basic research on relationship processes (e.g., trust, understanding) and applied research on interventions targeting children who have been witness to or a target of domestic violence and abuse.

Geoffrey Haddock is a Professor of Social Psychology at Cardiff University, UK. He has published widely on the topics of attitudes and social cognition. His current research focuses on affective and cognitive processes of evaluation.

Miles Hewstone is Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Oxford, and Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford University, UK. His main research topic is intergroup relations and the reduction of intergroup conflict, especially via intergroup contact. He has published widely in the field of social psychology, edited or authored many books, and was founding co‐editor (with Wolfgang Stroebe) of the European Review of Social Psychology. He has received numerous awards for his research.

Johan C. Karremans is Associate Professor at the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research mainly focuses on the processes that benefit or harm interpersonal relationships, especially in the face of relationship threat (e.g., conflict, attractive alternatives).

Barbara Krahé is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Her research focuses on aggression, especially sexual aggression and the impact of media violence on aggression. She is actively involved in the International Society for Research on Aggression, serving as President from 2018 to 2020.

Mark Levine is a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Lancaster, UK. His research focuses on the role of social identity in prosocial and antisocial behaviour. He is particularly interested in the research possibilities afforded by new technologies and digital data. This has included analysing CCTV data, using virtual reality environments and studying naturally occurring online data.

Andrew G. Livingstone is Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Exeter, having previously held positions at the University of Stirling and Cardiff University. His research focuses on social identity, emotion and intergroup relations. He is currently a Section Editor of the Social and Personality Psychology Compass and was formerly an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology.

Gregory R. Maio is a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Bath, UK. He has published widely on the topics of values, attitudes and social cognition. His current research focuses on the psychological properties of social values.

Rachel Manning is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at University of Buckingham, UK. Her research interests include prosocial behaviours such as intervention in emergencies, charitable giving and volunteering.

Antony S. R. Manstead is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University, UK, having previously held positions at the Universities of Sussex, Manchester, Amsterdam and Cambridge. He has been Editor or Associate Editor of several journals, the most recent being the European Review of Social Psychology. His research focuses on emotion, attitudes and social identity.

Robin Martin is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK. He has served on the faculties of the Universities of Aston, Queensland, Cardiff, Swansea and Sheffield. He conducts research in the areas of social influence processes (especially majority and minority influence), workplace leadership, innovation and team working.

Carolyn C. Morf is Associate Professor of Personality Psychology at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research focuses on understanding self‐regulatory processes through which individuals construct and maintain their desired self‐views. She also examines the expression of these self‐regulatory processes in personality (in particular narcissism). Her edited books include the Handbook of Methods in Social Psychology (Sage, 2004).

Bernard A. Nijstad is Professor of Decision Making and Organizational Behavior at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His main research interests are individual and group creativity and individual and group decision‐making.

Brian Parkinson is Professor of Social Psychology at Oxford University, UK. His research focuses on the interpersonal causes, effects and functions of emotion. His books include Heart to Heart: How our Emotions Affect Other People (2019), Ideas and Realities of Emotion (1995) and (with Fischer and Manstead) Emotion in Social Relations (2005). He is currently co‐editor of the Cambridge University Press book series Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction.

Richard Philpot is a Research Fellow in Social Psychology at Lancaster University, UK. His research focuses on bystander behaviour in public emergencies and the interplay between social identity and communication technologies.

Jenny Roth is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Limerick, Ireland. She uses a social cognition approach to explain social phenomena. Much of her research focuses on social identity, ingroup identification processes, and their antecedents and consequences.

Stefan Schulz‐Hardt is Professor of Industrial, Economic and Social Psychology at Georg‐August‐University Göttingen, Germany. He has published on group decision‐making, escalation of commitment, stress in the workplace and other topics. He was (Co‐) Editor in Chief of the Journal of Economic Psychology until 2018.

Peter B. Smith is Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK. His research has mostly been concerned with cross‐cultural aspects of formal and informal influence processes, and with cross‐cultural communication. He is author (with Fisher, Vignoles and Bond) of Understanding Social Psychology across Cultures, and a former editor of the Journal of Cross‐Cultural Psychology.

Russell Spears is Professor of Psychology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His main research interests are in social identity processes, with particular focus on the group emotions that play a role in intergroup relations. He has edited the British Journal of Social Psychology and (with Anne Maass) the European Journal of Social Psychology.

Wolfgang Stroebe is Emeritus Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University and, since 2011, Visiting Professor at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Jointly with Miles Hewstone, he was Founding Editor of the European Review of Social Psychology, which he (co‐)edited for 25 years. He has published widely on social and health psychology. His present research focuses on mass shootings and motivational bases of US gun ownership (gunpsychology.org).

Nicole Tausch is Reader in Social Psychology at the University of St Andrews, UK. Her research interests lie broadly in the areas of social identity, intergroup relations, prejudice and collective action. She is a recipient of the British Psychological Society’s Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions to Psychology.

This is the seventh time we have sat down to write a preface for this long‐running textbook. As we do so, we realize that a book that has met the needs of students and instructors for more than 30 years must be doing something right, in fact many things. Essentially these involve choosing what information to present in each chapter, and how much of it; balancing the presentation of both key historical landmarks and cutting‐edge developments in terms of theory and research; integrating that information so that each chapter tells a coherent story; and writing in a clear, well‐structured manner that explains in a compelling way.

In the competitive market for textbooks on any subject, against stiff competition, you have to keep up with developments in the scientific literature. In this seventh edition we have once again extensively updated the material and integrated recent theoretical and empirical developments.

The fact that we have regularly undertaken such revisions has certainly contributed to the success of our book. The field of social psychology continues to expand, both in its material and in the number of countries in which it is taught, and any successful textbook will have to move with the times. As a result of the increasing complexity of our field, it has become impossible for any single person to be an expert on all the different areas of social psychology. The fact that we succeeded in persuading internationally leading experts on each of the various topics to contribute to this book – and to regularly revise their chapters – guarantees a level of accuracy that would be impossible to achieve in a single‐author textbook or even a book written by a small team of authors.

This bestselling textbook was always intended to appeal to students as well as to instructors, who teach social psychology at universities throughout Europe and many other parts of the world. As judged by its longevity, its sales and its translations (a dozen languages), we have succeeded. In this case ‘we’ refers not just to us as editors, but to our authors who are all experts on their topics and were willing to work with our necessarily tight editorial control in order to provide a well‐integrated volume, in which the reader quickly knows what they will find in each chapter, where to find it and how to use this valuable resource to the best, in order to provide an excellent course or to excel in their examinations.

Over the seven editions we have never stood still. We have added and removed topics, and we have added and removed authors; the latter has helped to ensure that new perspectives are represented and material does not get outdated. This latest edition contains one completely new chapter, on social cognition, to reflect a series of recent developments in that area of social psychology. Topics that remain are updated in each new edition. This edition provides students and instructors with the core of social psychology – chapters dealing with methods, social perception and attribution, social cognition, self and social identity, attitudes, social influence, aggression, prosocial behaviour, relationships, group processes and intergroup relations. But it also casts a look beyond the Western perspective and includes a chapter on cultural social psychology, emphasizing that social psychology is a global science, but acknowledging the fact that replications of social psychological studies in other parts of the world often result in somewhat different findings. On the topic of replications, the revised methods chapter – as well as the introductory chapter – brings the reader up to date with the controversy surrounding this issue, something that we felt should be studied for the lessons that can be drawn from it.

Each new edition also provides an updated set of examples of relevant social‐psychological phenomena, so that the reader can relate the material in each chapter to the events that they encounter in everyday life, read about in newspapers and on the Internet, and see on their TV screens.

Other than coverage of the material, another feature of each new edition is that we have continuously made didactic improvements and added pedagogical aids to each new edition. Each chapter provides the reader with a very clear and comprehensive presentation of the central theories, concepts, paradigms, results and conclusions in each new area. In terms of structure, the reader will find that each chapter contains specific features, designed to improve learning and enhance the enjoyment of the task:

• A ‘route map’ provides a brief overview of the chapter, written in clear English.
• A chapter outline reflects the coverage in each chapter.
• The definitions of each key concept are covered in each chapter, and provided in special glossary boxes in the margins to aid revision; they are also gathered together in an alphabetical glossary at the end of the book.
• The body of the text in each chapter is broken down into clear sections, and the reader is guided by subheadings throughout the chapter. We have sought to avoid long, uninterrupted passages of text, and to punctuate the text with figures, tables and occasional photographs.
• Key theories are depicted in special ‘theory boxes’ to aid understanding of more complex processes.
• Each main section or subsection of the chapter begins with ‘learning questions’ – these are the major questions that the student should be able to answer having read the chapter.
• Each chapter ends with a summary and conclusions in the form of bullet points.
• A list of key concepts presents the main terms that a student should know about each topic area.
• A list of further reading is suggested, with a thumbnail summary indicating what the student will find in each source.
• Each chapter contains boxed features of four different types:
  • Theory Box Key theories are made accessible to aid the understanding of more complex processes.
  • Research Close‐Up Brief summaries of classic and contemporary research studies, explaining clearly why and how the research was done, what it found and what its implications are.
  • Individual Differences Illustrative items from scales used to measure variables discussed in the text.
  • Social Psychology Beyond the Lab Descriptions of some ‘real‐life application’ of theory and research described in the chapter.

Features designed to aid learning and help both instructors and students do not end with the material inside the book. Extensive online resources are also provided on the web (www.wiley.com/go/hewstone7), including a bank of over 1000 self‐study and instructor test‐bank questions, links to other useful websites, and PowerPoint presentations and flashcards.

As always when we complete a new edition, we find that we ourselves have also learned a great deal. Our authors have shared their wide knowledge and communicated so engagingly that we ourselves are encouraged to go and read more, as we hope readers of the book will be too. Such a large book cannot, of course, be completed without the help of others, whom we gratefully acknowledge here. First and foremost, we thank our authors for their excellent manuscripts and their willingness to go through repeated revisions in response to our editorial feedback. The final part of the long process from first draft to publication is of course seeing the manuscript typeset, proofread and published. We owe a debt to many in this process. We would like to thank the team at Wiley for producing a beautiful book and Camille Bramall for her careful copy‐editing. Finally, we thank Rachel New once again for her help throughout the editorial process.

Miles Hewstone, Oxford
Wolfgang Stroebe, Groningen

CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS

Key Terms are listed on each chapter opening page, highlighting the main topic areas for students.

Chapter Outline reflects the coverage of each chapter by main section headings.

A short outline of each chapter, written in clear English, is presented in the Route Map of the Chapter.

ENHANCED LEARNING TOOLS

Each main section or subsection starts with a ‘learning question’ (coloured purple in the printed book), major questions that the student should be able to answer after reading the chapter.

Each main section ends with a Summary to aid memorizing key segments of the content as students progress through the chapter.

Key Terms introduced in each chapter are listed alphabetically at the end of the chapter. They are printed in bold at the first point of use in the current chapter and appear with their definition at the first main point of discussion in the book. All Key Terms and definitions are collated and arranged alphabetically in the Glossary at the back of the book.

The main chapter text is punctuated by diagrams, graphs, tables and occasional photographs, all designed to improve the reading and learning experience.

Key theories are made accessible in the text by way of Theory Box features to aid the understanding of more complex processes.

Research Close-Ups provide brief summaries of pertinent research studies, both classic and contemporary, as an aid to explain why and how research was carried out and what the results implied.

Individual Differences are illustrative items from scales used to measure variables discussed in the text.

Social Psychology Beyond the Lab boxes feature various ‘real-life applications’ of theory and research applicable to the content of the current chapter.

END-OF-CHAPTER RESOURCES

A list of key learning points are presented in the Chapter Summary to help students consolidate their knowledge and understanding of the chapter’s content.

Each chapter ends with a list of Suggestions for Further Reading indicating key material for further independent study.

BOOK COMPANION SITE FOR INSTRUCTORS

The Book Companion Site contains an extensive support package for instructors and can be found at

www.wiley.com/go/hewstone7.

On the website instructors will find:

• Test bank with over 1000 questions, including true/false, multiple choice and essay questions.
• Computerized test bank allowing instructors to create and print multiple versions of the test bank, as well as allowing instructors to customize exams by altering or adding new questions.
• PowerPoint presentations containing a combination of key concepts, examples, and figures and tables from the book.
• Links to the BBC Radio 4 ‘Mind Changers’ series with contributions from the editors.

BOOK COMPANION SITE FOR STUDENTS

The Introduction to Social Psychology student website provides students with support material that will help develop their conceptual understanding of the material. The student website contains:

• Self-Study Quizzes including true/false, multiple choice and ‘fill in the blank’ questions to aid students’ learning and self-study.
• Links to relevant journal articles that are referenced in the text to encourage further reading and critical analysis of the material.
• Flashcards showing key terms and definitions from the glossary.
• Links to the BBC Radio 4 ‘Mind Changers’ series with contributions from the editors.