Many of our thoughts and decisions occur without us being conscious of them taking place; connectionism attempts to reveal the internal hidden dynamics that drive the thoughts and actions of both individuals and groups. Connectionist modeling is a radically innovative approach to theorising in psychology, and more recently in the field of social psychology. The connectionist perspective interprets human cognition as a dynamic and adaptive system that learns from its own direct experiences or through indirect communication from others. Social Connectionism offers an overview of the most recent theoretical developments of connectionist models in social psychology. The volume is divided into four sections, beginning with an introduction and overview of social connectionism. This is followed by chapters on causal attribution, person and group impression formation, and attitudes. Each chapter is followed by simulation exercises that can be carried out using the FIT simulation program; these guided exercises allow the reader to reproduce published results. Social Connectionism will be invaluable to graduate students and researchers primarily in the field of social psychology, but also in cognitive psychology and connectionist modeling.

Electronic Inspection Copy available to instructors here 'Since its very first edition, Social Cognition has been the undisputed bible of the field, and this new edition is the best one yet. Insightful, authoritative, and beautifully written by two of the field's most eminent researchers, it is an indispensable guide for students and scientists alike. The book that came first remains first.' -Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University, UK 'This latest edition of the best overview of social cognition research somehow succeeds in lifting the bar higher still for its competitors. It is authoritative yet readable, and has depth as well as breadth -- an irresistible invitation to the field!' - Miles Hewstone, University of Oxford, UK In Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture 2nd Edition, Fiske and Taylor carefully integrate the many new threads of social cognition research that have emerged in the intervening years since the previous edition, including developments within social neuroscience, cultural psychology and some areas of applied psychology, and continue to tell a powerful and comprehensive story about what social cognition is and why it's a significant phenomenon in society today. Every updated chapter now includes more figures and tables, glossary entries, and further readings. A supplemental test bank including some full-text journal articles corresponding to chapters in the book is available online at: www.sagepub.co.uk/fiskeandtaylor. This textbook will be indispensable to students of social cognition and social psychology worldwide, at undergraduate or graduate level. Visit the Companion Website at www.sagepub.co.uk/fiskeandtaylor

Organisms survive and succeed because of their ability to learn and adapt to changing circumstances and new demands. As discussed in the chapters of the present volume, an appreciation of the mechanisms and principles of learning and conditioning is fundamental to any analysis of normal behavior as well as to an informed understanding of our well being (including examination of such issues as anxiety and fear, brain-immune system interactions, drug addiction and abuse, emotional learning, and social behavior) and mental health (for example, autism, depression, helplessness and schizophrenia). The twenty-three chapters in this volume, written by a distinguished collection of internationally renowned scholars, articulate the basic, yet sophisticated, way in which learning and conditioning processes influence our everyday behaviors, both normal and maladaptive, and help explain a variety of clinically important phenomena and disorders.

Although neural network models have had a dramatic impact on the cognitive and brain sciences, social psychology has remained largely unaffected by this intellectual explosion. The first to apply neural network models to social phenomena, this book includes chapters by nearly all of the individuals currently working in this area. Bringing these various approaches together in one place, it allows readers to appreciate the breadth of these approaches, as well as the theoretical commonality of many of these models. The contributors address a number of central issues in social psychology and show how these kinds of models provide insight into many classic issues. Many chapters hint that this approach provides the seeds of a theoretical integration that the field has lacked. Each chapter discusses an explicit connectionist model of a central problem in social psychology. Since many of the contributors either use a standard architecture or provide a computer program, interested readers, with a little work, should be able to implement their own variations of models. Chapters are devoted to the following topics and models: * the learning and application of social categories and stereotypes; * causal reasoning, social explanation, and person perception; * personality and social behavior; * classic dissonance phenomena; and * belief change and the coherence of large scale belief systems.

This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. One of the most, if not the most, exciting developments within cognitive science has been the emergence of connectionism as an alternative to the computational conception of the mind that tends to dominate the discipline. In this volume, John Tienson and Terence Horgan have brought together a fine collection of stimulating studies on connectionism and its significance. As the Introduction explains, the most pressing questions concern whether or not connectionism can provide a new conception of the nature of mentality. By focusing on the similarities and differences between connectionism and other approaches to cognitive science, the chapters of this book supply valuable resources that advance our understanding of these difficult issues. J.H.F.

The social sciences, especially economics, management, and organizational science, are experiencing a tremendous renewed interest for their epistemological and methodological statutes, as witnessed by the many books and specialized journals established during the last two decades. Relational Methodologies and Epistemology in the Economics and Management Sciences identifies and presents the four main network-based methodologies including network analysis, Boolean network simulation modeling, artificial neural network simulation modeling, and agent-based simulation modeling in addition to their conceptual-epistemological implications and concrete applications within the social and natural sciences. Featuring a critical assessment of relational methodologies and their practical applications, this timely publication is ideal for use by corporate R&D departments, researchers, theorists, and graduate-level students.

The issues raised by the role of language in education are some of the most important and contentious faced by education systems across the globe. Language is embedded in the concepts of nationhood and identity, and is therefore directly linked to the very social and political fabric of a country. In a climate of increasing globalisation, development and mobility of populations, nations around the world are concerned with the tension between cultivating a sense of cultural and linguistic cohesion and making use of the linguistic diversity that exists in every country and region. This book examines the implications and impacts, the dilemmas and potential for language education in relation to education systems and wider society. Split into three key parts, it considers: *current issues in language education, including the role of language in maintaining power and inequalities, in encouraging participation and inclusion and in challenging the status quo; *different approaches to language education around the world; *the potential for language to provide opportunities for the disadvantaged, illustrated by case studies of three cities. This recent volume of the internationally respected World Yearbook of Education continues the tradition of offering a wide range of international perspectives from leading commentators on a universal concern. The material amassed here will be essential reading for teacher educators, education researchers and school leaders across the world.