Cognitive Science 0215 - Ways of Seeing

While exploring the structure of the mind, we often think of visual perception as one of the most basic cognitive processes, and social cognition as among the more advanced forms of higher-level cognition. In this course, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to exploring how these two aspects of the mind connect. We will question how socio-cultural structures (such as norms, values, beliefs, and institutions) do, and do not, influence what we see, and how visual perception itself traffics (and may be specialized for) social information. Readings will be drawn from primary literature in the fields of psychology, cognitive neuroscience, infant cognition, biology, and sociology. Topics of discussion will include attention and dis-attention, figure and ground processing; face processing (including the processing of attractiveness), thin slicing and perceptual stereotypes, agency and intentionality, gaze processing, and social and cultural influences on perception.

Mind, Brain, and Information Writing and Research Multiple Cultural Perspectives Independent Work This is a course in the Culture, Brain, and Development Program.