Interest in social cognition is one of the major new developments in social psychology in recent years. This paper argues for a radically expanded view of social cognition as not merely the information-processing analysis of social domains, but as a field genuinely devoted to the study of the relationship between individual cognition and socio-cultural representations. Social cognition as a field of research thus has the unique potential of unifying the hitherto separated individual and social realms in psychology. Four relevant lines of argument are considered: (1) The implications of the currently dominant information-processing metaphor are contrasted with traditional social psychological theories. (2) Next, the historical roots of social cognition research in sociology, psychology and phenomenology are outlined, in support of an expanded conceptualization of the field. (3) The expansion of current research in three specific directions is suggested, to include (a) developmental, (6) affective and motivational, and (c) collective processes in social cognition. (4) The methodological implications of this expanded view of social cognition are discussed. It is concluded that a genuinely social approach to cognition as advocated here is not only congruent with historical formulations, but also offers exciting new opportunities for empirical research in social psychology.Human knowledge is a social product. Not only is formal 'science' a social enterprise (Kuhn, 1962), but the everyday ideas, theories, representations and reasoning which govern mundane events are themselves the outcome of extensive social cognitive processes. Indeed, it is possible to argue that all cognition has social origins (Mead, 1934), and, in turn, social living is based on the consensual cognitive representations of individuals (cf. Thomas, 1928;Weber, 1947). As Titchener noted nearly 60 years ago, 'experimental and social psychology are coordinate and complementary . . . for the collective mental life everywhere points back to the mental capacities of the individuals that make up society . . . and individual consciousness is supported by the mental life of the community' (1921A980, p. 312). Although the interdependence of individual thinking and social reality has thus been well recognized by the classics in both sociology (Durkheim, 1898;Weber, 1947) and in psychology (Wundt, 1905;Lewin, 1951), current research in cognitive social psychology seems to be overwhelmingly individualistic, dominated by the information-processing paradigm (cf. Krauss, 1980;Zajonc, 1980). Yet social cognition as an emerging field in social psychology has the unique promise of bridging the individual and the social realms in the discipline. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the evolution of a cognitive social psychology, by (a) highlighting some of the shortcomings and restrictions embodied in current social cognition research, (6) reviewing the historical roots of interest in social cognition, and (c) proposing three specific areas of expansion which a...