Christopher R. Agnew, Donal E. Carlston, William G. Graziano, and Janice R. Kelly (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377798
- eISBN:
- 9780199864522
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377798.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Clinical Psychology
The inaugural Purdue Symposium on Psychological Sciences (PSPB) gathered leading thinkers in social psychology to consider theoretical and empirical issues relevant to behavior, across the field and ...
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The inaugural Purdue Symposium on Psychological Sciences (PSPB) gathered leading thinkers in social psychology to consider theoretical and empirical issues relevant to behavior, across the field and with respect to various subfields of social psychological inquiry. This volume presents the contributions of the PSPS symposium participants. Each contributor highlights theoretical and/or measurement issues about behavior, including how behavior is treated in current social psychological theory and research. The book's coverage of behavior is divided into two overarching sections: (1) behavior and intra-individual processes, including social cognition and individual differences, and (2) behavior and inter-individual processes, including close relationships and group dynamics. Despite the imposed sections, there is significant overlap in issues examined across sections. Focusing attention on a multiplicity of issues surrounding the study of behavior is timely and important. Some scholars believe that, across various sub-disciplines of the field, social psychology has contributed a great deal to our understanding of behavior and its antecedents. From this perspective, there is considerable utility in drawing together such work in one place. Other scholars suggest that, though there has been great progress elucidating the internal cognitive, affective and motivational underpinnings of behavior, much less research focuses on external behavior itself. From this perspective, it is important to identify the theoretical gaps, the empirical needs, and the focal issues that still demand attention. In this volume, we review some of these key issues with contributions from some of the world's leading social and personality psychologists.Less
The inaugural Purdue Symposium on Psychological Sciences (PSPB) gathered leading thinkers in social psychology to consider theoretical and empirical issues relevant to behavior, across the field and with respect to various subfields of social psychological inquiry. This volume presents the contributions of the PSPS symposium participants. Each contributor highlights theoretical and/or measurement issues about behavior, including how behavior is treated in current social psychological theory and research. The book's coverage of behavior is divided into two overarching sections: (1) behavior and intra-individual processes, including social cognition and individual differences, and (2) behavior and inter-individual processes, including close relationships and group dynamics. Despite the imposed sections, there is significant overlap in issues examined across sections. Focusing attention on a multiplicity of issues surrounding the study of behavior is timely and important. Some scholars believe that, across various sub-disciplines of the field, social psychology has contributed a great deal to our understanding of behavior and its antecedents. From this perspective, there is considerable utility in drawing together such work in one place. Other scholars suggest that, though there has been great progress elucidating the internal cognitive, affective and motivational underpinnings of behavior, much less research focuses on external behavior itself. From this perspective, it is important to identify the theoretical gaps, the empirical needs, and the focal issues that still demand attention. In this volume, we review some of these key issues with contributions from some of the world's leading social and personality psychologists.
R. Walter Heinrichs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195122190
- eISBN:
- 9780199865482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195122190.003.0007
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter focuses on biological and behavioral antecedents of schizophrenia that may reflect an early brain lesion or a genetic predisposition to develop the illness. The idea of a cumulative ...
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This chapter focuses on biological and behavioral antecedents of schizophrenia that may reflect an early brain lesion or a genetic predisposition to develop the illness. The idea of a cumulative liability for schizophrenic illness that increases with genetic and environmental “hits” over the course of childhood and adolescence is very appealing from a theoretical vantage point. Such a perspective can make up for the causal weakness of individual stresses and vulnerabilities. However, the empirical findings do not amount to a very powerful collection of illness-promoting hits and risks at the present time. Too many vulnerable children are indistinguishable from their peers and siblings and still go on to suffer from schizophrenia as young adults. Thus, the chapter moves to the question whether children who become schizophrenic are already different from their peers in childhood. The chapter concludes that some are different but most are not, at least not in terms of the characteristics studied to date.Less
This chapter focuses on biological and behavioral antecedents of schizophrenia that may reflect an early brain lesion or a genetic predisposition to develop the illness. The idea of a cumulative liability for schizophrenic illness that increases with genetic and environmental “hits” over the course of childhood and adolescence is very appealing from a theoretical vantage point. Such a perspective can make up for the causal weakness of individual stresses and vulnerabilities. However, the empirical findings do not amount to a very powerful collection of illness-promoting hits and risks at the present time. Too many vulnerable children are indistinguishable from their peers and siblings and still go on to suffer from schizophrenia as young adults. Thus, the chapter moves to the question whether children who become schizophrenic are already different from their peers in childhood. The chapter concludes that some are different but most are not, at least not in terms of the characteristics studied to date.
