Time to Bring Communication/Interaction Out of the Closet?

Reviews the book, Language, Interaction and Social Cognition edited by Gün R. Semin and Klaus Fiedler (see record 1992-97980-000). Several recent volumes targeted for colleagues in social and cognitive psychology make strong arguments for taking communication (or social interaction, if you prefer) more seriously as a formative influence on psychological processes. The title and introductory chapter of this volume suggest that it falls in the same camp. Semin and Fiedler argue for a dialectical relationship between interaction and thought. Beyond the Introduction, the focus is largely on the application of language labels to people and what that application tells us about social information processing and stereotyping. Interaction/communication processes are not highlighted. Higgins and McCann do provide a useful updating of their "communication game" research, and Strack and Schwarz demonstrate why standard psychological research contexts are themselves best treated as communicative events with the data produced a product of communicative processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)