There are only a handful of classic books in social psychology, which makes a definitive list relatively easy to create, and also highly useful to interested scholars and laypersons. Any list of classics is sure to be subjective. The list compiled here includes works that have been cited in many texts and papers. Several histories of social psychology are also taken into account. The primary reference text is Currents of Thought in American Social Psychology by Collier, Minton, and Reynolds (1991). The order is alphabetical by year of publication:
The List
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1908:
- Edward A. Ross, Social Psychology: An Outline and Source Book
- W. McDougall, Introduction to Social Psychology
1924:
- Floyd Allport, Social Psychology.
1935:
- Kurt Lewin, A Dynamic Theory of Personality
1936:
- Kurt Lewin, Principles of Topological Psychology
1954:
- Gordon Allport, The Nature of Prejudice
1957:
- Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
1958:
- Fritz Heider, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations
1959:
- Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
- John Thibaut and Harold Kelley, The Social Psychology of Groups
1972:
- Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal
1984:
- Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor, Social Cognition
1989:
- Richard E. Nisbett and Lee Ross, The Person in the Situation
References
edit- Collier, G., Minton, H.L., & Reynolds, G. (1991). Currents of Thought in American Social Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.