The Message Within: The Role of Subjective Experience In Social Cognition And Behavior

This provocative book provides the first comprehensive and informative overview of the role of various subjective experiences in social cognition and behavior, and argues that the study of such experiences may be one of the key unifying themes of social psychology. Based on recent theoretical and empirical developments in the discipline, this select group of leading international researchers surveys extensive evidence and shows that subjective experiences play a key role in most aspects of social cognition and social behavior. The book contains five main sections, discussing the role of subjective experiences in social information processing (Part 1), their influence on memory (Part 2) and their role in intergroup contexts (Part 3). The role of affective experiences in social thinking and behavior is analyzed (Part 4), and the influence of subjective experiences on the development and change of attitudes and stereotypes is also addressed (Part 5).

Herbert Bless is Professor of Microsociology and Social Psychology at the University of Mannheim Joseph P. Forgas is Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He is Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, of the American Psychological Society, and of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology