Books with insight, intrigue and impact

Books on transgenerational trauma, misinformation and feminism in Social Psychology were among the 2023 winners of the BPS Book Award. The award, which recognises exceptional published works in psychology, includes three categories – academic monograph, popular science, and textbook.

Professor Stephen Frosh (Birkbeck, University of London), who previously worked as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Vice Dean at the Tavistock Clinic, received an award in the academic monograph category for his book Those Who Come After: Postmemory, Acknowledgement and Forgiveness. His book explores the transgenerational impact of personal and social trauma, drawing on discussions of 'postmemory' and 'haunting.

'I am very pleased and grateful to the BPS for naming my book as the winner of the 2023 book award,' Frosh said. 'The book is a psychosocial study of the transgenerational impact of personal and social trauma that ranges across psychoanalysis, social theory, music, art and philosophy. It explores the legacies of suffering in relation to "those who come after" – the descendants of victims, survivors and perpetrators of terrible events. I hope this book offers some insights into how we might relate sensitively to personal and social suffering, acknowledging the poignancy and ethical force of trauma testimonies.'

Two winners were chosen in the popular science category. Ben Alderson-Day, Associate Professor in Psychology and a Fellow of the Institute for Medical Humanities (Durham University) won for his book Presence: The strange science and true stories of the unseen other.

Alderson-Day said it was a real honour to win the award for the book which explores the uncanny feeling we sometimes experience that another person is present when they are not. 'As a student I was inspired to work in psychology by reading previous BPS winners like Madness Explained by Richard Bentall and Consciousness: Creeping up on the Hard Problem by Jeffrey Gray. I am delighted that Presence is in such illustrious company, and I hope it can have the same effect on psychologists of the future.' 

Alderson-Day wrote for The Psychologist about presence in 2016, and in the book's acknowledgements he thanks our editor 'for insisting there was a bigger story'.

Sander van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab (University of Cambridge) also won in the popular science category for Foolproof: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity. He said that misinformation was one of the defining challenges of our time. 

'With Foolproof, my goal was to bring to life decades of robust psychological research to help explain why our brains are so susceptible to falsehoods, how and why misinformation spreads in society, and above all, to share insights from our research in a way that empowers citizens around the globe to spot misleading information in daily life. It's a tremendous honour for me to receive this recognition from the BPS and I am tremendously grateful.'

Two titles were also chosen in the textbook category – Dr Val Wilson (University of Kent) won for her book Psychology in Diabetes care and practice. A spokesperson for publisher Routledge said the book was a fantastic guide to diabetes care and practice which enabled readers to learn more about how to manage the condition, reduce psychological distress and improve diabetes self-management. 'We are thrilled with this quality recognition.'

The second textbook category winner was A Feminist Companion to Social Psychology by Dr Madeleine Pownall (University of Leeds) and Professor Emerita Wendy Stainton Rogers (Open University). They said they were pleased the book had been recognised by the BPS. 'A Feminist Companion to Social Psychology is like having a feminist friend who sits beside you as you study, somewhat cynical but also a bit giggly, whispering things like "actually there's a very different way of looking at that", and every now and again hissing "That's a load of patriarchal clap-trap". It will show you how creative feminist theory and research can be, but also shock you with social psychology's "horrible histories' of sexual harassment". It may anger and challenge you, but we hope it will bring you wisdom, insight and joy. Maddi remembers learning about feminist scholarship "on the side" as a student and wishing that there was a way of connecting this to the core social psychology content she was learning. This book makes that happen!'

Maddi added: 'I'm about to embark on another big writing project. I first wrote for The Psychologist as a 16-year-old Psychology student, and I still credit it as the place I found my academic voice!'

Nominations for this year's award will open in March.

You can search The Psychologist website to find lots more from several of the authors, but in particular see:

Sander van der Linden 
Ben Alderson-Day
Madeleine Pownall and Wendy Stainton Rogers