Overview

Social Psychology and the Ancient World: Methods and Applications fosters an interdisciplinary dialogue between classics and social psychology. Classicists use modern social-psychological insights to interpret ancient texts, while social psychologists engage with classical case studies to refine their own conceptual frameworks. This dialogue unfolds through an innovative structure: thematic sections introduced by social psychologists are paired with wide-ranging case studies by classicists, covering topics such as the psychology of tragic characters, comedic group dynamics, and the cognitive processes at play in oracles and deification. The volume offers methodological guidance for reconstructing the social psychology of past societies, addressing questions like: How did ancient Greeks understand character? How did laughter shape social cohesion? What role did emotional contagion play in narratives? How did ancient societies accommodate religious innovation? And above all: how do we know, and how can we properly investigate such questions?

Full Product Details

Author:   Luuk Huitink ,  Vlad Glaveanu ,  Ineke Sluiter
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   8
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.831kg
ISBN:  

9789004731288

ISBN 10:   9004731288
Pages:   424
Publication Date:   19 June 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Foreword Preface Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: How to Do the Social Psychology of the Ancient World  Luuk Huitink and Ineke Sluiter Part 1: The Psychology of Selfhood: Character and Individual Introduction to Part 1: the Psychology of Selfhood Now and Then  Sandra Jovchelovitch 2 Taming the Extraordinary: Shifting Motives and the Psychology of Tragic Actors  Sheila Murnaghan 3 Individuals or Types? Ancient Criticism and Modern Psychology on Characterization in Greek Tragedy  Evert van Emde Boas Part 2: Social Representations: the Role of Comedy and Satire Introduction to Part 2: Social Representation in Practice  Gordon Sammut 4 Innovation, Group Psychology and the Comic Dêmos  Alexandra Hardwick 5 “Not by Others but by Our Own Feathers”: a Social-Psychological Reading of Aristophanes’ Birds  Xenia Makri 6 Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Satire: Rethinking the Laughter of Derision  Ralph M. Rosen Part 3: Narrative Meaning-Making Introduction to Part 3: Narrative Meaning-Making  Max J. van Duijn 7 Emotional Contagion, Empathy, and Sympathy as Responses to Verbal and Visual Narratives: Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues  Douglas Cairns 8 The Experience of Coincidence in Euripides’ Ion  Jacqueline Klooster 9 Finding Orestes: Oracles and Abductive Reasoning  Michiel van Veldhuizen Part 4: Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation Introduction to Part 4: Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation across the Ages  Vlad P. Glăveanu 10 Playing Make-Believe with Objects: Counterfactual Imagination and Psychodrama in Greek Tragedy  Anne-Sophie Noel 11 The Posthumous Future in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus  Karen Bassi Part 5: Accommodating New Concepts Introduction to Part 5: Possibilities of Existence—Making and Changing Subjectivities and (Ancient) Worlds  Paula Castro 12 How the Ancient World Learned to Sin  David Konstan 13 Anchoring Religious Innovation: the Social Psychology of Deification in Athens 307 BCE  Thomas R. Martin 14 Cyrus’ Learning Curve Views of Adolescent Psychology in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia  Luuk Huitink and Eveline Crone Index

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Author Information

Luuk Huitink, PhD 2013, is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek at the University of Amsterdam. His research combines cognitive, linguistic and narratological approaches to Greek literature. He is, among other things, co-editor of Experience, Narrative and Criticism in Ancient Greece (OUP 2020). Vlad Glăveanu, PhD (2012), is Full Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology at Dublin City University and Adjunct Professor in the Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology at Bergen University. He is an expert in creativity, culture, wonder, collaboration, and possibility studies. Ineke Sluiter, FBA, PhD 1990, is Distinguished Professor of Greek at Leiden University. Her latest publications include ‘Situated Cognition: Sophocles, Milgram, and the Disobedient Hero’ (with Bob Corthals), in: Felix Budelmann & Ineke Sluiter (eds.) Minds on Stage. Greek Tragedy and Cognition. OUP 2023. Contributors are: Karen Bassi, Douglas Cairns, Paula Castro, Eveline Crone, Max van Duijn, Evert van Emde Boas, Vlad Glăveanu, Alexandra Hardwick, Luuk Huitink, Sandra Jovchelovitch, Jacqueline Klooster, David Konstan, Xenia Makri, Thomas R. Martin, Sheila Murnaghan, Anne-Sophie Noel, Ralph M. Rosen, Gordon Sammut, Ineke Sluiter, Michiel van Veldhuizen.

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