`Throughout, the text is written in a lively, engaging style with key points illustrated by everyday examples... entertaining to the reader.... The book will be clearly useful as an undergraduate text to introduce students to the range of North American and European research in the social cognitive tradition. No other single text currently achieves this aim... for those not familiar with social cognition research, we would recommend it as a good, balanced overview and introduction to the broad range of research and theories used in this area' - Psychology and Health

This comprehensive introduction to social cognition is the first to integrate successfully the distinct traditions that have grown up on different sides of the Atlantic over the past 20 years. It guides readers through the bewildering and sometimes contradictory array of theories, methodologies and applications, demonstrating how fruitfully the contrasting styles can cross-fertilize.

The authors discuss work on attitudes, social schemas and attributions alongside that on social identity and social representations, while pointing out important linkages across these domains. Taking the best of the North American cognitivist and individualist social psychology, they integrate it with the broader framework of European research on identity and ideology. They also assess the more recent discursive and postmodern challenges to orthodox social cognition models.