Table of Contents

Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture1.Introduction a.Approaches to Studying the Social Thinker b.Ebb & Flow of Cognition in Psychology & Neurosciencec.What is Social Cognition? d.People Are Not Thingsf.Brains Mattere.Cultures Matterg.Summary Basic Topics in Social Cognition2.Dual Modes in Social Cognitiona.Automatic Processesb.Controlled Processesc.Motivations Influence Which Modes Operate d.Models of Both Automatic and Controlled Processesf.Summary3.Attention and Encodinga.Salience: A Property of Stimuli in Contextb.Vividness: An Inherent Property of Stimuli c.Accessibility: A Property of Categories in Our Headsd.Direct Perception: Not Just in Our Headse.Faces: The focus of social attention4.Representation in Memorya. Associative Networks: Organizing Memoryb. Procedural and Declarative memory: What memory Doesc. Parallel Versus Serial Processing: Coordinating Memory Processesd. Embodies Memory: Including Physical Representatione. Social Memory Structures: Why Social Memory mattersF.Summary Topics in Social Cognition: From Self to Society 5.Self in Social Cognition a.Mental Representations of the Selfb.Self-Regulationc.Motivation and Self-Regulationd.The Self as a Reference Point e.Summary6. Attribution Processa. What is Attribution?b. Early Contributions to Attribution Theoryc. Processes Underlying Attributiond. Attributional Biasese. Summary7.Heuristics and Shortcuts: Efficiency in Inference and Decision Making a.What Are Heuristics?b.When Are Heuristics Used, and When Do They Lead to Wrong Answers?c.Judgments Over Timed.Summary8.Accuracy and Efficiency in Social Inferencea.Errors and Biases as Consequential: impoving the Inference Processb. Errors and Biases in Social Inference: Perhaps They Don't Matter?c. Are rapid Judgments Sometimes Better Than Thoughtfully Considered Ones?d. Neuroeconomics: Back to the Future?e. Summary9.Cognitive Structures of Attitudes a.Backgroundb.Cognitive Features of Two Consistency Theoriesc.Lay Theories and Attitude Changed.Functional Dimensions of Attitudese.Summary10.Cognitive Processing of Attitudesa.Heuristic Versus Systemic Modelb.Peripheral Versus Central Routes to Persuasion: Elaboration Liklihood Modelc.Motivation and Opportunity Determine Attitude Processes: The MODE Modeld.Implicit Associationse. Embodied Attitdesf. Neural Correlates of Attitudesg.Summary11.Stereotyping: Cognition and Biasa.Blatant Stereotypesb.Subtle Stereotypesc.Effects of Biasd.Summary12.Prejudice: Interplay of Cogntive with Affective Biases a.Intergroup Cognition and Emotion b.Racial Prejudicec.Gender Prejudiced.Age Prejudicee.Sexual Prejudicef.Summary 13.From Social Cognition to Affecta.Differentiating Among Affects, Preferences, Evaluations, Moods, and Emotionsb.Early Theoriesc.Physiological Theories of Emotion d.Social Cognitive Foundations of Affecte.Summary14.From Affect to Social Cognitioncognition a.Affective Influences on Cognitionb.Affect Versus Cognitionc.Summary15.Behavior and Cognitiona.Goal Directed Behaviorb.When Are Cognitions and Behavior Relatedc.Using Behavior for Impression Managementd.Using Behavior as a Test Hypotheses About Othersd.Summary References Cited Author Index Subject Index

About the Author

Shelley E. Taylor is professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale University. Her research interests are in health psychology, especially the factors that promote long-term psychological adjustment, and in social cognition. In the former capacity, she is the co-director of the Health Psychology program at UCLA. Professor Taylor is the recipient of a number of awardsmost notably, the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Psychology Award, a 10-year Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and an Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award in Health Psychology. She is the author of more than 200 publications in journals and books and is the author of Social Cognition and Positive Illusions.