Handbook of Self-Knowledge

Vazine (psychology, Washington U.) and Wilson (psychology, U. of Virginia) assemble 25 essays by psychologists from the US, Canada, Europe, and Israel who examine various aspects of the interdisciplinary area of self-knowledge for psychologists and undergraduate and graduate students. They discuss the origins and nature of self-knowledge, including how children develop an understanding of their own and other people's minds, and the behavioral, mental, biological, and social processes that make self-knowledge possible. The second section covers specific domains about the self, including knowledge about personality, attitudes, unconscious thought and decision making, emotions, desires, relationships, reputations, and pathologies, followed by sections on how accurately individuals perceive their past and future selves and the motives and biases that influence self-knowledge, including obstacles to accurate self-perception and how they might be overcome. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)