Affect control theory asserts that people interpret their social experiences in such a way as to confirm sentiments they already hold about the people with whom they are interacting. This work describes a variety of tests, using both experimental and survey data, that demonstrate the accuracy of the theory's predictions of behaviour. The authors expand the theory to cover such topics as emotions, attributional processes, establishment of identity, and the impact of locations on social interaction. They also show how the theory can be explored through a powerful computer simulation that...

Writing in Sociology: A Brief Guide shows students how to write research reports, literature reviews, internship reports, and other genres often assigned in sociology classes with extensive real-world examples and attention to principles of audience, purpose, genre, and credibility. It is part of a series of brief, discipline-specific writing guides from Oxford University Press designed for today's writing-intensive college courses. The series is edited by Thomas Deans (University of Connecticut) and Mya Poe (Northeastern University).