Explanations, Accounts, and Illusions: A Critical Analysis

This book provides a lucid survey of the major viewpoints in social psychology concerning peoples self-awareness (or lack of it), their explanations of their own actions, and their cognitive illusions and self-misunderstandings. In this readable but scholarly review, John McClure examines the major approaches to social cognition developed in America and Europe, including the more orthodox models which draw on information-processing and behavioural concepts; and the innovative approaches which draw on hermeneutic models, discourse analysis and, in particular, critical theory. The book provides a clear picture of what social psychology shows about peoples awareness of the causes of their own actions. It also describes the nature of the misperceptions and cognitive distortions that underlie psychological disorders, and that contribute to peoples failure to achieve their aims.