The Social Animal 598376 215878232 2008-05-30T02:30:50Z Sailrpengn 1401732 First written year; based on first publish date {{expand|date=December 2007}} {{unreferenced|date=December 2007}} '''''The Social Animal''''' is [[Elliot Aronson]]'s book about [[social psychology]]. Originally written in 1972, The Social Animal covers, in a style written for the general audience, what modern psychology has deduced about the reasons for certain aspects of human behavior. ==Contents== Aronson begins the book by citing a number of scenarios, real and constructed--reactions to the Kent State shootings, the prison experiments at Stanford, and a 4-year old boy given a drum set among them--that illustrate a variety of human behaviors seen in real life. The rest of the book is spent primarily on explaining how human minds operate and interact with each other, using these situations as examples. The book covering topics including the causes of prejudice, aggression, and cognitive dissonance. In explaining the reasons why people behaved in unusual ways, Aronson cites his first law: <blockquote> People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy. </blockquote> ==Style and use of experimental method== The vast majority of the book leans on the importance of case work and experimental study. Thus, the Social Animal's descriptions of human behavior are largely validated with citations of studies done by researchers of social psychology. Throughout the book, Aronson relies on the use of controlled experiments to validate empirical observation. ==Examples== (dissonance reduction at three mile island, Genovese murders, jigsaw classroom) [[Category:Psychology books|Social Animal, The]] {{psych-book-stub}}