Social psychology / Saul Kassin, Steven Fein, Hazel Rose Markus.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In the preface of our last edition, we described the 21st century as "an exciting yet tumultuous time." On the one hand, we noted, social media have enabled people all over the world to be "social" like never before-to communicate and share opinions, pictures, music, and footage of live events with people everywhere. On the other hand, humanity remained deeply divided by racial, social, and political differences, religious and ethnic conflicts, and economic disparities. As the legendary Charles Dickens (1859) said in A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Now, a mere 3 years later, these trends have become magnified. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, unleashing a sudden global health emergency, confusion reigned. Before long, hospitals were packed, offices were closed, travel was restricted, and people socially distanced. Students attended school remotely; to the extent possible, workers did their jobs from home. Yet the old adage that the best way to bring people together is to introduce a common enemy did not work. Rather than uniting humans, it seemed, COVID had the opposite, divisive effect. Add to the devastating pandemic Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the increasingly tense relations among and within many nations, the off-the-charts spike in mass shootings across the United States, alarm over the powers of artificial intelligence, and increased levels of loneliness and depression, and it is clear that the social animal is in need. Encircled by its dual place in science and world events, social psychology-its theories, research methods, and basic findings-has never been more relevant or more important"-- Provided by publisher.