ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by contrasting the two social cognition paradigms in their broadest and most abstract terms. It suggests the types of social selves and the modes of social relating that are likely to characterize participants who are tested within each of these paradigms. The chapter considers the implications of these social-self and relational mode differences for the study of certain social psychological phenomena. Some of the more obvious phenomena to consider in this regard include attribution, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. The 'social' cognition paradigm uses data-analytic models which assume that each participant's cognitive responses are statistically independent from those of other participants. As the chapter explores, neither the seeming paradox nor the seeming redundancy are accidental. One answer to this question, suggested in the chapter, is that different research paradigms can implicate different psychological syndromes, each with its own characteristic mode of social relating, its own characteristic form of social cognition, and its own characteristic type of social self.
