Why doesn't our behavior always match what we say we believe? How and when are we most likely to be persuaded? What is the social psychology of violence? How reliable are eyewitness testimonies? Are racism and prejudice on the decline or are we just better at hiding them?
"Angela Sabates's book is a thorough survey of current social psychological theory and research. It gives credit where it is due because, indeed, social psychologists have taught us much about the negative power of social situations as well as our capacities for distorted social perception. At the same time, her creation-fall-redemption framework suggests places where the current social psychological paradigm falls short and points to a research program that takes better account of our inherently positive--and still redeemable--social tendencies."
