Presenting state-of-the-art research from leading investigators, this volume examines the processes by which people understand their interpersonal experiences. Provided are fresh perspectives on how individuals glean social knowledge from past relationships and apply it in the here and now. Also explored are the effects of biases and expectancies about significant others on relationship satisfaction and personal well-being. Broad in scope, the book integrates findings from experimental social psychology with insights from developmental, personality, and clinical psychology. Throughout, chapters strike an appropriate balance between theory and method, offering an understanding of the core issues involved as well as the tools needed to study them.

About the Author

Mark W. Baldwin, PhD, received his doctorate in 1984 from the University of Waterloo and held postdoctoral fellowships at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He then spent several years pursuing an opportunity to cowrite and cohost the award-winning children's television series Camp Cariboo. Returning to academia, Dr. Baldwin taught and researched psychology at the University of Winnipeg for 8 years before assuming his current position, in 1998, in the Department of Psychology at McGill University in Montreal. Along the way, he served as Chair of the Social and Personality section of the Canadian Psychological Association and Associate Editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and coauthored (with Rick Hoyle, Michael Kernis, and Mark Leary) the book Selfhood: Identity, Esteem, Regulation. His major research interests include interpersonal cognition, self-esteem, and adult attachment theory. Most recently, Dr. Baldwin and his students have been exploring the possibility of designing computer-based exercises to modify maladaptive automatic social cognition and have established the website www.selfesteemgames.mcgill.ca to report this research.

Reviews

The past two decades have seen unprecedented advances in the availability of tools for studying human mental processes. No application of these methods is more compelling than their use to illuminate interpersonal cognition and its profound effects on relationships and individual well-being. This outstanding volume summarizes these extraordinary advances in our understanding of interpersonal cognition. Presenting cutting-edge research by leading scholars, it provides an indispensable resource for scholars, professionals, and students interested in linking the inner world of the individual with the outer world of social connections.--Harry Reis, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester

The way we think and the way we relate to others are among the most crucial and distinctive human traits. They have also been two of the most powerful themes in social psychology. This exciting book brings them together to show how interpersonal processes shape cognition, and vice versa. The individual chapters cover a fascinating set of cutting-edge ideas and research findings that are guaranteed to expand the reader's understanding of how people understand each other--and why they sometimes fail to do so.--Roy F. Baumeister, PhD, Department of Psychology, Florida State University

Our mental representations of loved ones, friends, acquaintances, and even enemies--and corresponding thoughts and feelings about ourselves--are the topic of this book. Contributions from multiple perspectives transcend arbitrary boundaries between 'cognition,' 'affect,' and 'motivation,' clarifying the dynamic processes by which thoughts about another person trigger concerns about rejection or warm feelings of security and commitment. This is truly socialcognition: the thoughts and feelings about other people and relationships that define us as social beings.--Eliot R. Smith, PhD, Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington

One of the most important developments in social psychology in recent years has been the creative and vibrant work at the intersection of social cognition and interpersonal relationships. Thanks to Mark Baldwin, we now have in one volume definitive theoretical statements by the leading thinkers in the field. This volume is suitable as a text for graduate-level courses in relationships or social cognition, or for advanced seminars in personality and social psychology. It deserves to be on the bookshelves of anyone interested in social cognition and interpersonal relationships.--Niall Bolger, PhD, Department of Psychology, New York University
- A welcomed and well-received collection of 16 original chapters from leading researchers in the hot topic of interpersonal and social cognition....Baldwin has done an excellent job of ensuring that authors refer to chapters internal to the volume and that chapter authors are more than familiar with each other's work to promote an integration that is uncommon in large collections such as this....An excellent collection on an important topic....Relevant to all of psychology's subdisciplines and could be used for courses on social cognition. --PsycCRITIQUES, 4/22/2006

Book Information
ISBN 9781593853457
Author Mark W. Baldwin
Format Paperback
Page Count 462
Imprint Guilford Publications
Publisher Guilford Publications
Weight(grams) 666g