BOOK REVIEWS 447

and important concept for explaining social behaviour; the relationships are intra- as well as interpersonal; rather than being seen as a product of interpersonal relations the group should be seen as “an adaptive social psychological process that makes social cohesion, co-operation and influence possible” (1x40).

The heart of the book lies in Chapter 3 which is adaptation of a previously published work. It attempts to set out in a logical form a theory with nine assumptions (e.g. “That self-categorization at any level tends to form and become salient through comparisons of stimuli defined as members of the next more inclusive self-category”) and twenty-two hypotheses (e.g. That group cohesion is produced and increased by factors which lead to the formation and salience of shared in group membership”). Neither the assumptions nor the hypotheses are counter-intuitive though it is not always clear how easily the latter could be tested. Whereas it is a joy to see psychological theory set out in a logical progressive, well argued and persuasive fashion, it is frustrating that it is SO often expressed in Bristol-new-speak. Consider hypothesis II: “That ethnocentrism depends upon the perceived prototypicality of the ingroup in comparison with relevant outgroups (relative prototypicality) in terms of the value superordinate self-category that provides the basis for the intergroup comparison”. Once that is expressed in plain English it seems sensible enough, even mundane.

At the heart of much of this theorising is the idea that group behaviour is both different from and irreducible to interpersonal relationships (let alone intrapersonal belief systems) and yet need not involve concepts such as the group mind. Furthermore, whereas so much of social psychology has emphasized the negative features of behaviour in groups, this book takes the opposite line suggesting that ingroup identification is an adaptive process that makes prosocial relations possible. In many ways this is a book about social cognition. But it makes no attempt to refute other current approaches which attempt to explain the same or similar phenomena in terms of strictly individual-difference variables. Indeed there is no reference to personality in the index or individual differences. The nearest thing is “Individualism” which is thought of as a bad thing. There appears to be no room for individual differences in this perspective, which does not deny they exist, but refuses to consider them worthy of inclusion into the theory.

ADRIAN FURNHAM

References

Armistead N. (Ed.) (1974) Reconstructing Social Psychology. Penguin, Harmondsworth. Eysenck H. and Wilson G. (Eds) (1978) The Psychological Basis of Ideology. MTP, Lancaster. Tajfel H. (1978) Dl@rentiating Between Social Groups. Academic Press, London.

F. J. MCGIJIGAN: Psychophysiology Measurement of Covert Behavior. A Guide for the Laboratory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ (1979). X + 131 pp. f 16.00.

This book aims to “facilitate the empirical efforts of future psychophysiologists (advanced undergraduate and graduate students) and professional researchers” in sensing, amplifying, recording and quantifying “small-scale behavior”. The first chapters give very short overviews of psychophysiology, its history and a description of major measures of covert behavior, followed by a short account of the neurophysiological basis of these measures. The far largest part of the book is devoted to the description of laboratory techniques and their essential features such as sensors, signal modification systems, recording devices, quantification and signal processing. This part certainly is the strength of the book; it gives a comprehensive overview of important technical matters which are described in a way that is easy to understand for beginners in the field. A thorough glossary provides descriptions of the basic terms used in psychophysiology. Views on the use of computers as costly, difficult and preventing close contact with raw data, however, seem to be out-of-date. The final chapter provides a theoretical framework for covert processes, such as neuromuscular circuit models of information processing.

The book is a good introductory text, providing a general background in psychophysiological techniques and methodology, but researchers who are interested in a particular measure (e.g. skin conductance) are better advised to consult more extensive volumes such as Techniques in Psychophysiology (I. Martin and P. Venables, 1980).

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DOUGLAS N. JACK~WN and J. PHILIPPE RUSHTON (Eds) Scientific Excellence: Origins and Assessment. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA (1987). pp. 7-376.

Genius, creativity and originality are the extreme ends of a continuum of individual differences which has always been of particular interest to scientists and artists, and is also of great social importance. This book, which contains 16 chapters by a variety of contributors deals with a number of quite disparate topics. It has three parts-assessment, personological origins and so&cultural origins. The first part deals with citation analysis as a legitimate evaluation tool. The second part deals with scientific abilities, high research productivity, scholarly impact and such like topics. The third part is concerned with the publication review process, the role of journal editors, capitalist versus socialist models of fostering scientific excellence, and such like. Most of these contributions are of intense interest, and contain references which many readers would not otherwise have accesss to.

The questions asked in this book are many and varied. What determines creativity, originality, and insight, leading to superior scientific performance? What sort of environment fosters scientific discovery? What is the role played by early influences, by mentors, peers and funding sources? The answer in most cases Seems to be that we don’t really know, although some points stand out. Creative people tend to be introverted, stable when scientists, neurotic when artists. Social Institutions are more often likely to hinder than help the creative scientist, or probably the creative artist-this book is more concerned with science than art, of course, as the title implies. Attempts to measure creativity and excellence, such as by citation analysis, appear to be good beginnings, but suffer from many defects. There is no doubt that we have a long way to got yet before we have even a beginning of a proper understanding of scientific excellence, its origins and its development.