List of contributors; PART I: INTRODUCTION: George Gaskell & Colin Fraser: The social psychological study of widespread beliefs; Dan Sperber: The epidemiology of beliefs; PART II: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES: Rob Farr: Social representations of widespread beliefs; Douglas W. Bethlehem: Attitudes, social attitudes, and widespread beliefs; Hilde T. Himmelweit: The dynamics of public opinion; Elinor Scarbrough: Attitudes, social representations, and ideology; PART
III: STUDIES OF WIDESPREAD BELIEFS: Jos Jaspars & Miles Hewstone: Social categorization, collective beliefs, and causal attribution; Willem Doise: Social beliefs and intergroup relations: the relevance of some sociological perspectives; Raymond Cochrane & Michael Billig: The political and social beliefs of
adolescents; Patten Smith & George Gaskell: The social dimension in relative deprivation; Alan Lewis: Shared economic beliefs; Glynis M. Breakwell: Social beliefs about gender differences; Author index; Subject index.