Social Psychology in the Public Interest

Social psychological findings interest students in large part because they relate so directly to everyday experience. The Social Psychology in the Public Interest Feature reinforces these links. Topics include Does High Self-Esteem Cause Happiness or Other Positive Outcomes? (Chapter 3 “Self”), Detecting Deception (Chapter 5 “Perceiving Others”), Terrorism as Instrumental Aggression (Chapter 9 “Aggression”), and Stereotype Threat in Schools (Chapter 11 “Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination”). The goal here is to include these applied topics within the relevant conceptual discussions to provide students with a richer understanding within the context of the presentation.