Social Psychology and Counseling

Social Psychology and Counseling offers a rather innovative approach to the social psychological underpinnings of professional mental health services in two respects. First, while psychology has been applied to the subject of mental health in the past, little effort has been directed to link the typical topics of social psychology to the subject of counseling practice. Thus, this volume examines such traditional social psychological topics as conformity, aggression, interpersonal attraction and prejudice with specific attention to the ways in which extant research and theory in such areas can inform professional practice. Second, most of the authors in this volume are engaged in professional practice while recently completing academic training in scholarly investigations required for a Ph.D. While most of the authors are thus in early stages of their careers, they offer especially contemporary interpretations of both research and practice related to such issues as risky behavior among adolescents, violent tendencies of incarcerated offenders, impacts of social media use on depression, social influences on eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, school violence, and consequences of stereotype threat. Chapters deal with implications for policy as well as psychotherapy, and perspectives from positive psychology are used in considering the enhancement of mental health and interpersonal relations as well as the prevention of mental health problems. Finally, the critical social theory that serves to ground a commitment to social justice in the programs of most of the authors is reflected here in chapters that challenge assumptions of mainstream social psychology particularly around issues of race and culture.