Conversations About Social Psychology


Conversations About Social Psychology is available in hardcover, paperback and electronic format on all major booksellers, including:

Additional Collections include: Conversations About Psychology, Volume 1 & Volume 2; Conversations About Neuroscience.

This Ideas Roadshow Collection includes the following 5 Ideas Roadshow Conversations plus a detailed preface highlighting the connections between the different books. Each individual book is broken into chapters with a detailed introduction and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:

I. Being Social – A conversation with Roy Baumeister, Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Roy Baumeister and explores his unique combination of biological and psychological thinking from recognizing essential energetic factors involved with willpower and decision-making, to framing free will in evolutionary biological terms to measuring the numbness associated with social rejection as a form of analgesic response, and more.

II. Mindsets: Growing Your Brain – A conversation with Carol Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and renowned psychologist Carol Dweck and provides behind-the-scenes, detailed insights into the development of Carol’s important work on growth mindsets and fixed mindsets: how different ways of thinking influence learning ability and success.

III. The Mind-Body Problem – A conversation with Janko Tipsarevic, founder and CEO of Tipsarevic Tennis Academy in Belgrade, Serbia. He is former professional tennis player, with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Janko Tipsarevic and gives behind-the-scenes insights on what it takes to achieve excellence in professional sports, what mindset is needed to reach one’s true potential and a penetrating and inspirational window into the social psychology of professional tennis.

IV. The Science of Emotions – A conversation with Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Barbara Fredrickson who is also Director Positive Emotions & Psychology Laboratory at UNC Chapel Hill. Topics covered by this extensive conversation include Barbara’s work on the science of positive emotions, including her broaden-and-build theory, the undoing effect and upward spirals, while highlighting relevant evolutionary-driven hypotheses together with measurement details of empirical studies.

V. Critical Situations – A conversation with Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Philip Zimbardo. During this extensive conversation Philip Zimbardo relates his intriguing life history and the survival techniques that he developed from the particular dynamics of his upbringing in the Bronx to his quarantine experiences, his experiences with South Bronx gangs, and more. Further topics include his relationship with his former classmate Stanley Ingram and the impact the different experiences in his youth had on the development of his personal situational awareness and how that influenced his psychological research, and more.