A Social-Cognitive Perspective on Social Support

Abstract

(from the chapter) Applies the social cognition approach to research in social support. First, the chapter reviews traditional models of perceived support and examines the evidence for them. Next, the authors argue for a social-cognitive perspective of social support that draws heavily from basic research in social cognition. Following this, research on social-cognitive processes in social support that drawn from basic research in social cognition is described and additional social-cognitive processes that should be particularly relevant for social support are examined. The chapter concludes with the authors identifying crucial research issues for the future. Additional topics include: advantages of taking a social-cognitive approach to social support; benefiting from basic research: how are the personal characteristics of others represented in memory; perceived support and the interpretation of novel supportive persons and behaviors; perceived support and the recall of supportive behaviors; making social support judgments; and the role of mood in support judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)