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Modern psychological theory and research has been profoundly influenced by psychoanalysis. This influence is most apparent in the fields of developmental and social psychology, but cognitive psychologists have also begun to take an interest in psychoanalytic theory. This is a happy circumstance, but not a surprising one. Many concepts and constructs in cognitive psychology—especially those in the area of social cognition—are derived in part from earlier psychoanalytic formulations. For example, the concept of person schemas (Markus, 1977) is closely related to psychoanalytic object relations theory, with its emphasis on the role of mental representations of self and significant others as cognitive “maps” that motivate and direct behavior (Bornstein, 1987). Many of the connections between cognitive psychology and psychoanalytic theory are made explicit in Erdelyi's (1985) groundbreaking text. Horowitz's Psychodynamics and Cognition is a timely and valuable contribution to the continuing effort to bridge the gap between psychoanalysis and cognitive psychology. The book can inform psychoanalysts—at least those who are willing to be informed—about the contributions of cognitive psychology to our understanding of psychodynamics. Equally important, the book may inform those cognitive psychologists who are open minded enough to take psychodynamic ideas seriously about the potential contributions of psychoanalysis to cognitive psychology.
Psychodynamics and Cognition is based on a 1984 conference sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation's Program on Conscious and Unconscious Mental Processes, which Horowitz directs. Contributors to the program included some leading psychoanalytic researchers (e.g., Luborsky, Spence), as well as several researchers not typically associated with