Abstract

The field of social judgment, perhaps more than any other, has been one where the boundary between social and more general psychology is constantly shifting and hard to draw. This has also meant that the field is difficult to circumscribe. Either it tends to be defined so broadly, for instance in terms of how we “make sense of our social world,” that it potentially includes topics from all the other chapters of this volume; or it is defined far more narrowly, with reference to particular methodological paradigms, but here the problem is that research within a number of these paradigms has tended to develop rather independently, so that the resulting narrower definitions overlap only partially with one another. In view of this lack of a clear consensus on the scope of the field, the review that follows will necessarily be selective, and perhaps somewhat more narrative than systematic. The cast of characters in this narrative likewise will be less than exhaustive, and I apologize in advance for any omissions that disappoint. My main purpose, however, will be to highlight the influences that have shaped the field, as I see it, and offer prospects for its continued development. I shall be offering my personal view of the key ideas that are worth taking from this area of work, how these have evolved, and where they may lead.