Understanding Social Psychology Across Cultures: Living and Working in a Changing World
About this ebook
`It is useful in informing interactions with those of similar or different cultures and in understanding how cultural misunderstanding can occur. For these reasons I believe it is worth reading and would recommend' - The Psychologist
`This will be my favourite text for recommending to graduate students who want to know what cross-cultural psychology is about. I wished all of their professors had read it. For example, I never saw levels of analysis explained so clearly. I was comforted by the statement in the book that many studies in the published literature don't clearly state their level of analysis - so failing to understand those articles is not only my problem! The book is impressively comprehensive and broad, yet very readable, up-to-date and practically oriented. Every source cited has been read critically and put into context. A masterpiece' - Geert Hofstede
`The authors of this gracefully-written text have a vision of their field that incorporates but far transcends the experimental social psychology familiar to Americans. Using concepts and data from a range of cultures, they address problems in developmental, personality, and applied psychology, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural interactions and global change. Not since Roger Brown's classic has a text made social psychology so interesting!' - Robert R. McCrae
`This book is one of the best available texts on cross-cultural psychology. It reviews a large amount of cross-cultural studies and covers a wide range of perspectives on culture.... It reveals what is unique to cross-cultural psychology and reminds us that culture is central to the advancement of psychology as a discipline' - Patricia M Rodriguez Mosquera, Brunel University
`The concept for this book is excellent. As a global society we have many pressing problems. It is wonderful to see these leading cross-cultural psychologists make a highly sophisticated effort at applying the resources of social psychology to the needs of cultures throughout the world' - Jim Nelson, Valparaiso University, USA
Illustrating ways in which culture shapes psychological processes across a wide range of social contexts, Understanding Social Psychology Across Cultures examines the strengths and limitations of the key theories, methods and instruments used in cross-cultural research.
The book contains a broad range of pedagogical devices including: further reading and discussion questions at the end of each chapter; chapters on culture-level studies, personality and developmental issues, and a glossary of key terms.
About the author
Peter B. Smith was born near Colchester, UK, in 1937. and obtained his PhD from Cambridge University in 1962. After working at Leeds University, he joined the University of Sussex in 1966 and never found a good reason to leave. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology. He has studied cross-cultural aspects of leadership, conformity and informal influence processes, as well as cultural differences in styles of communication. He is the author of eight books and more than 180 other publications. He is former president of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, and has served as Editor of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Michael Harris Bond was born in Toronto, Canada in 1944, obtaining his PhD in social psychology from Stanford University in 1970. Working first at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, he next joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he was Professor of Social Psychology for many years. He has contributed to many aspects of cross-cultural psychology, focusing particularly on Chinese social behavior, comparative studies of belief systems, and improvements in cross-cultural research methods. He has published more than 270 papers and books in the field. In 2009, he was appointed Chair Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.