Social Cognition

Martha Augoustinos is Professor of Psychology at the University of Adelaide and Co-Director of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender. Iain Walker is a Senior Research Scientist with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, where he leads the Social & Behavioural Sciences Group. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Western Australia, and 3 other Australian universities. Ngaire Donaghue is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Murdoch University in Western Australia.

′It’s very good news that Martha Augoustinos and her co-authors have brought out a new, revised edition of Social Cognition. It really is an excellent, broad-ranging book, whose clear discussion of differing approaches should appeal to undergraduates of psychology. But make no mistake: this new edition, just like the previous ones, is so much more than a textbook. It contains an important, underlying argument about the social nature of thinking.′

• Chapter 1: IntroductionDefining social psychologyThe crisis in social psychologySocial cognitionAims of this bookOrganization of this bookConcluding commentsPART IChapter 2: Theoretical FoundationsIntroduction to social cognition modelsIntroduction to social identity theoryIntroduction to social representations theoryIntroduction to discursive psychologyA post-cognitive psychology?PART IIChapter 3: Social PerceptionSocial cognition and social perceptionSocial identity theory and social perceptionSocial representations and social perceptionDiscursive psychology and social perceptionChapter 4: AttitudesWhat is an attitude?Social cognitive approaches to attitudesAttitudes and social identitiesAttitudes and social representationsDiscursive psychology and attitudesChapter 5: AttributionsSocial cognition and attributionSocial identity and attributionsSocial representations and attributionsDiscursive social psychology and attributionsChapter 6: Self and IdentitySocial-cognitive approaches to self and identityFunctions of the selfSocial identity approaches to self and identitySocial representations approaches to self and identityDiscursive approaches to self and identityChapter 7: PrejudiceSocial cognition and prejudiceSocial identity and prejudiceSocial representations and prejudiceDiscursive psychology and prejudiceChapter 8: IdeologySocial cognition and ideologySocial identity and ideologySocial representations and ideologyDiscursive psychology and ideologyPART IIIChapter 9: ConclusionThe individual and societyLevels of analysisRealist vs constructivist epistemologiesSocial change