Social Psychology of Visual Perception

"A valuable volume that successfully introduces the reader to inventive paradigms and discusses the wide-ranging theoretical implications of the intriguing findings emerging from this expanding endeavour. ... The synthesis of historical perspectives and sensitive current approaches make this volume easy to recommend to students of social psychology in the second decade of the 21st century." - Andrew P Bayliss, University of Queensland, Australia, in Perception "The writing is lucid. ... References accompanying each chapter should prove useful for researchers, as should suggestions for further work. Recommended [for] upper-division undergraduates through [to] faculty and professionals." - R. H. Cormack in CHOICE "Perception depends on perceivers, and human perceivers are inescapably social. This intriguing set of papers describes some of the intricate ways our social sensibilities affect how we see, illuminating both perception and social psychology." - Barbara Tversky, Ph.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, Stanford University, USA "We know a great deal about vision but very little about perception. Providing an adequate portrayal of the psychological meaning of perceptual experience has proved to be far more elusive that specifying vision's informational bases in optical structure and ocular-motor adjustments. This is as true today as it was a half century ago when Jerome Bruner and colleagues launched the "New Look" in perception. Emily Balcetis and G. Daniel Lassiter have compiled an outstanding collection of chapters in the Social Psychology of Visual Perception, with each contribution providing compelling evidence that social and emotional factors contribute to the psychological meaning of perceptual awareness. This is a book that will inform and delight anyone interested in the psychology of everyday perceptual experience." - Dennis R. Proffitt, Ph.D., Commonwealth Professor and Chair of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA