Social Cognition, from Brains to Culture

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an approach to studying the social thinker from the point of view of the human brain, from self to society, and from self-awareness to social cognition.

Abstract: Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture 1. Introduction a. Approaches to Studying the Social Thinker b. Ebb & Flow of Cognition in Psychology & Neuroscience c. What is Social Cognition? d. People Are Not Things f. Brains Matter e. Cultures Matter g. Summary Basic Topics in Social Cognition 2. Dual Modes in Social Cognition a. Automatic Processes b. Controlled Processes c. Motivations Influence Which Modes Operate d. Models of Both Automatic and Controlled Processes f. Summary 3. Attention and Encoding a. Salience: A Property of Stimuli in Context b. Vividness: An Inherent Property of Stimuli c. Accessibility: A Property of Categories in Our Heads d. Direct Perception: Not Just in Our Heads e. Faces: The focus of social attention 4. Representation in Memory a. Associative Networks: Organizing Memory b. Procedural and Declarative memory: What memory Does c. Parallel Versus Serial Processing: Coordinating Memory Processes d. Embodies Memory: Including Physical Representation e. Social Memory Structures: Why Social Memory matters F. Summary Topics in Social Cognition: From Self to Society 5. Self in Social Cognition a. Mental Representations of the Self b. Self-Regulation c. Motivation and Self-Regulation d. The Self as a Reference Point e. Summary 6. Attribution Process a. What is Attribution? b. Early Contributions to Attribution Theory c. Processes Underlying Attribution d. Attributional Biases e. Summary 7. 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 Time d. Summary 8. Accuracy and Efficiency in Social Inference a. Errors and Biases as Consequential: impoving the Inference Process b. 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. Summary 9. Cognitive Structures of Attitudes a. Background b. Cognitive Features of Two Consistency Theories c. Lay Theories and Attitude Change d. Functional Dimensions of Attitudes e. Summary 10. Cognitive Processing of Attitudes a. Heuristic Versus Systemic Model b. Peripheral Versus Central Routes to Persuasion: Elaboration Liklihood Model c. Motivation and Opportunity Determine Attitude Processes: The MODE Model d. Implicit Associations e. Embodied Attitdes f. Neural Correlates of Attitudes g. Summary 11. Stereotyping: Cognition and Bias a. Blatant Stereotypes b. Subtle Stereotypes c. Effects of Bias d. Summary 12. Prejudice: Interplay of Cogntive with Affective Biases a. Intergroup Cognition and Emotion b. Racial Prejudice c. Gender Prejudice d. Age Prejudice e. Sexual Prejudice f. Summary 13. From Social Cognition to Affect a. Differentiating Among Affects, Preferences, Evaluations, Moods, and Emotions b. Early Theories c. Physiological Theories of Emotion d. Social Cognitive Foundations of Affect e. Summary 14. From Affect to Social Cognitioncognition a. Affective Influences on Cognition b. Affect Versus Cognition c. Summary 15. Behavior and Cognition a. Goal Directed Behavior b. When Are Cognitions and Behavior Related c. Using Behavior for Impression Management d. Using Behavior as a Test Hypotheses About Others d. Summary References Cited Author Index Subject Index