Thoughts about Exchanging Resources

Reviews the book, Societal Structures of the Mind by Uriel G. Foa and Edna B. Foa (see record 1975-06588-000). Given the breadth and fragmentation of the field of psychology, there are few current books aimed at advanced psychological audiences that attempt to integrate developmental, cognitive, social, abnormal, and cross-cultural phenomena using a single, theoretical perspective. Foa and Foa have attempted this type of integration, and in this book they present their theoretical approach and discuss empirical evidence related to it. The key notion they use to explain behavior is resource exchange. Social interaction consists of the giving and taking away of six classes of resources--love, status, information, money, goods, and services. As the book's title implies, a full understanding of behavior requires the study of both social events and cognition. This is certainly a plausible theme, and one compatible with much contemporary work in social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)