Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Introduction: the human essence / John F. Dovidio and Martijn Van Zomeren -- Individuality -- An existential psychological perspective on the human essence / Daniel Sullivan and Roman Palitsky -- Masters of our universe: the existential animal / Travis Proulx -- Free will and the human essence : responsible autonomy, meaning and cultural participation / Roy F. Baumeister -- Essential self-evaluation motives : caring about who we are / Aiden P. Gregg and Constantine Sedikides -- The tripartite motivational human essence : value, control, and truth working together / James F.M. Cornwell and E. Tory Higgins -- People as penguins : thermoregulation as part of the human essence / Hans I. Jzerman and Lotje J. Hogerzeil -- The obviousness and obvious limits of individuality as human essence / Martijn van Zomeren -- Sociality -- Prosocial behavior as a human essence / David A. Schroeder and William G. Graziano -- The human essence in helping relations : belongingness, independence and status / Arie Nadler -- Does aggression make us human? / Joseph A. Vandello and Curtis Puryear -- Morality and social identity / Naomi Ellemers -- Justice and human essence / Tom R. Tyler -- Biology as destiny or as freedom? : on reflexivity, collectivity and the realization of human potential / Stephen Reicher -- Six social elements in search of an essence / Roger Giner-Sorolla -- Cultural embeddedness -- Talking about humanness : is human essence talk a human essence? / Yoshihisa Kashima -- Promotion or preventing change through political participation : about political actors, movements, and networks / Bert Klandermans -- Values and the human being / Jan Cieciuch and Shalom H. Schwartz -- The relational essence of cultural psychology : decolonizing love and (well-) being / Glenn Adams, Sara Estrada-Villalta, and Tugçe Kurtis -- Human essence : toward a relational reconstruction / Kenneth J. Gergen -- Human essences and cultural embeddedness : a gene-culture co-evolution perspective / Ronald Fischer -- Human essence in conclusion : why psychology needs a bigger picture and some suggestions on how to get there / Martijn van Zomeren and John F. Dovidio.