Abstract
From the outset, perspectives on social cognition have taken an emphatically pragmatic stance, as evident in early writing by W. James, G. Allport, J. Bruner, S. Asch, F. Heider, R. Tagiuri, and E. Jones. After a hiatus, during which social cognition research neglected its proper attunement to social behavior, researchers again are emphasizing that thinking is for doing, that social understanding operates in the service of social interaction. Early and recent (but not intermediate) theories have reflected a pragmatic orientation in 3 recurring themes: People are good-enough social perceivers; people construct meaning through traits, stereotypes, and stories; and people's thinking strategies depend on their goals. The pragmatic viewpoint again opens up new areas for research and theory in social cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: