Social Cognition

This book makes the potentially overwhelming domain of social cognition interesting, accessible and meaningful. Rather than desperately cramming in ideas, like socks into an overpacked suitcase – Hamilton and Stroessner give space to think through with the reader the empirical findings, the ideas, debates and crucially, the relevance of the work covered.  Hamilton and Stroessner provide a thoughtful, meaningful guide to the terrain of social cognition - the book will teach you, providing the detail to answer exactly the questions that often arise when reading about these topics. What is particularly remarkable is that all of this is achieved alongside that rare and precious quality of smooth, intelligent and thoughtful integration of ideas, enabling the reader to see more clearly both the parts and the whole of social cognition.

-- Paul Dickerson

I read this new textbook on Social Cognition because of my long-standing interest in the social cognition literature in social psychology.  I was not disappointed.  The book is not only an excellent text but a scholarly achievement in its own right. The unique structure of the chapters provides an effective structure for coverage that is both comprehensive and comprehendible.  Unlike many texts in this area that read like encyclopedia entries, the organization of this book provides a more narrative structure that facilitates understanding of a wide-ranging and complex research literature. I particularly liked the novel chapter on the Time dimension that covered some fascinating work on perception of time, change across time, and anticipating the future.

Overall, I learned a lot from this book that was new to me and also came to see some familiar research in a new light.

-- Marilynn Br