ABSTRACT
Language is the essence of interpersonal behavior and social relationships, and it is social cognitive processes that determine how we produce and understand language. However, there has been surprisingly little interest in the past linking social cognition and communication. This book presents the latest cutting-edge research from a select group of leading international scholars investigating the how language shapes our thinking, and how social cognitive processes in turn influence language production and communication. The chapters represent diverse perspectives of investigating the links between language and communication, including evolutionary, linguistic, cognitive and affective approaches as well as the empirical analysis of written and spoken narratives. New methodologies are presented including the latest techniques of text analysis to illuminate the psychology of individual language users, and entire cultures and societies.
The chapters address such questions as how are cognitive and identity processes reflected in language? How do affective states influence language production? Are political correctness norms in language use effective? How do partners manage to accommodate to each other’s communicative expectations? What is the role of language as a medium of interpersonal and intergroup influence? How are individual and cultural identities reflected in, and shaped by narratives in literature, school texts and the media?
The book is aimed at all students, researchers and laypersons interested in the interplay between thinking and communication, and should be required reading for all professionals who use language in their everyday work to interact with people.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|113 pages
The Interdependence of Social Cognition and Communication
chapter 2|18 pages
Counting Little Words in Big Data
chapter 4|19 pages
Feeling and Speaking
chapter 5|18 pages
In the Mood to Break the Rules
chapter 6|20 pages
Intergroup Fluency
part 2|65 pages
Cognition and Communication in Dyadic Encounters
chapter 9|18 pages
Parameters of Nonaccommodation
part 3|78 pages
The Psychology of Narratives
chapter 15|18 pages
Narrative Constructions of Italian Identity
part 4|65 pages
The Political and Social Consequences of Communication and Cognition