Expanding the Boundaries of Health and Social Science : Case Studies in Interdisciplinary Innovation

Health psychology has a wide scope, encompassing all influences on behaviour from emotion to overcrowded living situations. This volume articulates both the benefits of interdisciplinary exchange and the best strategies for working together.

Health Psychology, once subsumed under social psychology, has in recent years surpassed it to become one of the most dynamic, interesting areas in the field. One of the reasons for the rapid success of health psychology is that it provides an in-depth look at the influence of behaviour on the national obsessions of health and wellness. Health psychology has a wide scope, encompassing all influences on behaviour from emotion to overcrowded living situations. Because health psychology combines in-depth research in a variety of areas within the discipline, collaboration between these areas is especially important. Yet, health psychology faces a problem not uncommon to any highly interdisciplinary science: a lack of information on how to foster collaboration between areas. This unique volume will provide a solution to the problem of collaboration by articulating both the benefits of interdisciplinary exchange and the best strategies for working together. The contributors, including Richard Davidson, Michael Meaney, John Caccioppo, and Neil Schneiderman, have carried out the most innovative and successful collaborative research endeavors in major areas of health psychology. Their experience will provide much-needed guidance and inspiration for future collaborative research in the discipline. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students in health psychology, as well as to officers in universities, foundations, and government agencies seeking to develop programs that expand the boundaries of health psychology.