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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

 

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THE WEISSMAN GLOBAL SEMINAR PRESENTS

 

 “Learning One Thing and Believing Another: An Introduction to the Psychological Immune System” 

Eric Mandelbaum, Philosophy

Thursday, February 15, 2018, Room 8-210, 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Lunch Served.  RSVP Alison.griffiths@baruch.cuny.edu

 

A central function of democracy is to find compromise among disparate opinions. Yet in our current culture, debate often serves to rigidify or even strengthen one’s preexisting opinions. My talk examines the cognitive and epistemological underpinnings for understanding why and when such belief entrenchment occurs. Using the framework of a “Psychological Immune System,” I will discuss how people’s self-conception blocks consilience and creates extremists in both the political and social realms.

Eric Mandelbaum works on a wide range of topics in cognitive architecture. Before joining Baruch College, he taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Oxford University, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His work has received numerous prizes and fellowships including from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Baruch College Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Research.

Alison Griffiths, Ph.D
Professor 
Faculty Fellow Global Strategies
Department of Communication Studies
Weissman School of Arts & Sciences
Baruch College | The Graduate Center
The City University of New York
1 Bernard Baruch Way B8-240
New York, NY 10010
646 312 3730 (t)
646 312 3721 (f)

www.alisongriffiths.org
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/wsas/academics/communication/agriffiths.htm