Dr. Carson, a clinician and social psychologist, sets out to explain the transactions that occur between people. Although he focuses on the dyadic relationship, his findings are purportedly applicable to larger social matrices. The author has borrowed heavily from the thinking of earlier social theorists, especially Erickson, Leary, Lewin, and Sullivan. Perhaps this book's most important single
... [Show full abstract] contribution is its lucid and careful restatement of Sullivanian theory. Unfortunately, the author experiences some difficulty when he attempts to extend and make explicit the thinking of Sullivan. In particular, the richness and vitality of the original writings of Sullivan receive at times an awkward and pseuedotechnical treatment. Nonetheless, several chapters devoted to the processes of learning, perception, and cognition are carefully planned and thoughtfully integrated; they provide an operational paradigm for understanding behavioral phenomena in terms of learned and perceived events.
The author writes a great deal
