First published in 1985. A person may be caught in the midst of a patently ridiculous act, interrupted in a moment of apparent confusion, or even aroused from sleep, and yet respond to a query of What are you doing? with remarkable ease. The answer that is given is an identification of action. It is the central idea of this book that such action identifications perform pivotal functions in a broad range of psychological and social processes.

Recent neuroscience research makes it clear that human biology is cultural biology - we develop and live our lives in socially constructed worlds that vary widely in their structure values, and institutions. This integrative volume brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from the human, social, and biological sciences to explore culture, mind, and brain interactions and their impact on personal and societal issues. Contributors provide a fresh look at emerging concepts, models, and applications of the co-constitution of culture, mind, and brain. Chapters survey the latest theoretical and methodological insights alongside the challenges in this area, and describe how these new ideas are being applied in the sciences, humanities, arts, mental health, and everyday life. Readers will gain new appreciation of the ways in which our unique biology and cultural diversity shape behavior and experience, and our ongoing adaptation to a constantly changing world.

This handbook provides a comprehensive review of social cognition, ranging from its history and core research areas to its relationships with other fields. The 43 chapters included are written by eminent researchers in the field of social cognition, and are designed to be understandable and informative to readers with a wide range of backgrounds.

A comprehensive, up-to-date examination of the most important theory, concepts, methodological approaches, and applications in the burgeoning field of judgment and decision making (JDM) Emphasizes the growth of JDM applications with chapters devoted to medical decision making, decision making and the law, consumer behavior, and more Addresses controversial topics from multiple perspectives – such as choice from description versus choice from experience – and contrasts between empirical methodologies employed in behavioral economics and psychology Brings together a multi-disciplinary group of contributors from across the social sciences, including psychology, economics, marketing, finance, public policy, sociology, and philosophy 2 Volumes

This provocative book provides the first comprehensive and informative overview of the role of various subjective experiences in social cognition and behavior, and argues that the study of such experiences may be one of the key unifying themes of social psychology. Based on recent theoretical and empirical developments in the discipline, this select group of leading international researchers surveys extensive evidence and shows that subjective experiences play a key role in most aspects of social cognition and social behavior. The book contains five main sections, discussing the role of subjective experiences in social information processing (Part 1), their influence on memory (Part 2) and their role in intergroup contexts (Part 3). The role of affective experiences in social thinking and behavior is analyzed (Part 4), and the influence of subjective experiences on the development and change of attitudes and stereotypes is also addressed (Part 5).

Virtually every question in social psychology is currently being shaped by the concepts and methods of implicit social cognition. This tightly edited volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the field. Foremost authorities synthesize the latest findings on how automatic, implicit, and unconscious cognitive processes influence social judgments and behavior. Cutting-edge theories and data are presented in such crucial areas as attitudes, prejudice and stereotyping, self-esteem, self-concepts, close relationships, and morality. Describing state-of-the-art measurement procedures and research designs, the book discusses promising applications in clinical, forensic, and other real-world contexts. Each chapter both sums up what is known and identifies key directions for future research.

While social psychology has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of basic principles that underlie social behavior, these principles themselves--including expectancies, goals, explanations, arousal, social influence, interdependence, social conflict, persuasion, and social standards--have never been directly reviewed in a comprehensive manner. Filling a significant gap in the literature, this authoritative reference and text illuminates the essential processes, mechanisms, and structures at different levels of analysis--biological, cognitive, motivational, interpersonal, and group/cultural--to provide access to the central principles that guide social psychological investigation. Formatted for easy reference and comparison, each chapter describes alternative conceptualizations of a particular principle and reviews research supporting (and failing to support) these different perspectives. Covering all the significant theories and research programs, the empirical literature is surveyed not for the traditional function of providing comprehensive reviews of content areas, but for its relevance to broad conceptual issues. This enables readers to get a better idea of the "big picture" concerning various social psychological principles, facilitating their ability to keep track of conceptual trends and developments in social psychology. An essential tool for all social psychologists, as well as professionals in related fields, this authoritative handbook also serves as an invaluable text for advanced classes in social psychology.