Social Representations and the Social Bases of Knowledge

Knowledge forms an important topic of contemporary psychology. There are, however, various psychological approaches that have more or less developed independently of each other. In cognitive psychology the focus is mainly on the acquisition of knowledge, its presentation in memory, its recall, application, and change as individual processes. In the research on "subjective therapy," the individual organization of knowledge and its application in action are treated. Cultural and environmental psychologists study the influence of the knowledge contained in human artifacts. The sociopsychological study of "Social Representations" finally refers to the individual and social structures and functions. In this volume the intent is to build firm bridges between these approaches.