INTRODUCTION - SOCIAL COGNITION, PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSING OF EMOTIONALLY SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION

This special issue examines two perspectives on how people comprehend and respond to significant features of their lives: psychoanalytic psy chology and social cognition. The articles included present new empiri cal findings relevant to the overlap of psychoanalysis and social-cogn itive psychology, as well as commentaries from each perspective. This introduction summarizes important conceptual and methodological challe nges in the integration of two such distinct approaches to emotionally significant information.