Social Psychology looks at the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations. It asks how others’ actions and behaviors shape our actions and behaviors, how our identities are shaped by the beliefs and assumptions of our communities. Fundamentally it looks for scientific answers to the most philosophical questions of self. These seven books about a range of issues within social psychology—identity, gender and sexuality, radicalism, social assumptions and biases—address just a few of the questions about who we are.

Neither science nor philosophy will ever answer all of the questions of why we behave the way we do. But these seven books on social psychology answer a few them, and more importantly, raise hundreds more questions to keep the pursuit understanding forever moving forward.

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