This book honors Jack W. Brehm's contributions to psychology, all of which revolve around a central theme of motivation and social behavior. It begins with two personal chapters and then presents a collection of cutting-edge, substantive chapters authored by researchers whose work Brehm has strongly influenced. It concludes with a chapter by Jack Brehm that reflects on the field of psychology, discusses a new theory of social influence, and offers ideas about the direction in which our understanding of human behavior could move. Motivational Analyses of Social Behavior will be of value to research scientists, educators, and practitioners interested in social motivational processes and those who developed major theories in this area. Interested readers include individuals specializing in social, clinical, organizational, personality, health, and motivational psychology, and psychophysiology. The book would also be ideal for advanced courses on social motivation and the history of psychology.

In honour of Jack Brehm's contributions to contemporary psychology, this volume revolves around the focus of most of his work - motivation and emotion in social context. It demonstrates Jack Brehm's enormous influence on the field by highlighting how others have taken his ideas and expanded upon them, especially in the areas of dissonance and reactance processes and motivational and emotional intensity. influence. It begins with two personal chapters, one written by the book's editors, and the other by Jack's oldest friend in academia, Peter Schonbach. The remaining chapters provide current and significant extensions of Jack Brehm's work on social motivation. Jack's former students including Stephen Worcel, Camille Wortman, Robert Wicklund, Tom Pyszczynski and Eddie Harmon Jones, contribute over half of the chapters. A list of all his PhD students is included. The book concludes with a chapter by Jack Brehm, offering insight into his reflections on the field of social psychology, an overview of his new theory on social influence, and ideas for future study.

Proof of a ground-breaking psychological theory: that the fear of death is the hidden motive behind almost everything we do. 'A joy ... The Worm at the Core asks how humans can learn to live happily while being intelligently aware of our impending doom, how knowledge of death affects the decisions we make every day, and how we can stop fear and anxiety overwhelming us' Charlotte Runcie, Daily Telegraph 'Provocative, lucid and fascinating' Financial Times 'An important, superbly readable and potentially life-changing book . . . suggests one should confront mortality in order to live an authentic life' Tim Lott, Guardian 'Deep, important, and beautifully written ... utterly original' Daniel Gilbert

Hanging On and Letting Go: Understanding the Onset, Progression, and Remission of Depression presents a complementary rather than a competing theory of depression, which will interest a wide spectrum of practicing psychotherapists, researchers studying depression, and personality and social psychologists interested in the more general issues of motivation and the self. While many contemporary theories are derived from fragmentary often unsystematic assumptions about human behavior, the theory presented in this book looks at the whole human being before mapping out the various manifestations of depression, its causes, its development and its treatment. An integrated and substantial conception of self-awareness and self-regulatory processes constitutes the framework which helps to explain depression-related phenomena. The authors proceed to posit vulnerability factors that predict depression in those who experience loss, and they scrutinize spontaneous remission of depression, which occurs more frequently than researchers generally assume. This book makes an important contribution to the battle against the suffering that depression brings on.

Social and personality psychologists traditionally have focused their attention on the most basic building blocks of human thought and behavior, while existential psychologists pursued broader, more abstract questions regarding the nature of existence and the meaning of life. This volume bridges this longstanding divide by demonstrating how rigorous experimental methods can be applied to understanding key existential concerns, including death, uncertainty, identity, meaning, morality, isolation, determinism, and freedom. Bringing together leading scholars and investigators, the Handbook presents the influential theories and research findings that collectively are helping to define the emerging field of experimental existential psychology.