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Sep 25 CogSci Colloquium: Iris Berent 4:00pm

CogSci Colloquium: Iris Berent

Friday, September 25th, 2020

04:00 PM - 06:00 PM

Storrs Campus
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/95285812000?pwd=L2NFbFNuamVxNFlGSXF5T0N1bFc3QT09

The Cognitive Science Colloquium Series is proud to present Iris Berent, Ph.D.

Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University

Friday, September 25th, 4pm, virtually via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/95285812000?pwd=L2NFbFNuamVxNFlGSXF5T0N1bFc3QT09

Meeting ID: 952 8581 2000
Passcode: R9EXuC

Dr. Berent will provide a talk entitled "How we reason about innateness"

Abstract: Few questions in science are as controversial as the origins of knowledge. Whether ideas (propositional attitudes, e.g., “objects are cohesive”) are innate or acquired has been debated for centuries. Here, I ask whether our difficulties with innate ideas could be grounded in human cognition itself.

I first demonstrate that people are systematically biased against the possibility that ideas are innate. They consider epistemic traits (specifically, ideas, as opposed to horizontal faculties, such as attention) as less likely to be innate compared to non-epistemic traits (sensorimotor or emotive)— those of humans, birds and aliens, and they maintain this belief despite explicit evidence suggesting that the traits in question are in fact innate.

I next move to trace this bias to the collision between two principles of core cognition—Dualism and Essentialism. Dualism (Bloom, 2004) renders ideas immaterial; per Essentialism, the innate essence of living things must be material (Newman & Keil, 2008). It thus follows that epistemic traits cannot be innate. A second series of experiments tests these predictions.

These results show for the first time that people are selectively biased in reasoning about the origins of innate ideas. While these findings from adults cannot ascertain the origins of these biases, they do open up the possibility that our resistance to innate ideas could be in our nature.

I conclude by briefly considering how the dissonance between Dualism and Essentialism can further account for a wide range of other phenomena, from why we are seduced by neuroscience to why we fear the takeover of humanity by AI, and what we think happens when we die.

Please join Iris for a virtual happy hour (open to all) @ 6 PM via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/8587400098?pwd=YmszU2h2UmxNZGJpM1ZMMGZ2c1cvQT09

Open meeting w/ all graduate students @1:30 - 2:00 PM via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/8587400098?pwd=YmszU2h2UmxNZGJpM1ZMMGZ2c1cvQT09

Contact Information: crystal.mastrangelo@uconn.edu
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Sep 30 Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Stuart Vyse3:30pm

Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Stuart Vyse

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

Storrs Campus
Zoom meeting

We invite you to attend Dr. Stuart Vyse’s talk as part of the psychology colloquium Wednesday, September 30th at 3:30pm via Zoom. Dr. Stuart Vyse, psychologist and writer, contributing editor and columnist for Skeptical Inquirer, professor from Connecticut College will be presenting his talk titled "The Latest in Autism Claptrap and Why Science is Losing". We hope that you will join us!
Event address for attendees:
https://zoom.us/j/6884899144?pwd=THFzczdDZmx1TlczNEZxeWo1dlJHdz09
Meeting ID: 688 489 9144
Passcode: 2020

Contact Information: Shu Jiang shu.2.jiang@uconn.edu
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Oct 14 Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Tracy Centanni3:30pm

Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Tracy Centanni

Wednesday, October 14th, 2020

03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

Storrs Campus
Zoom Meeting

Dr. Tracy Centanni from Psychology Department of Texas Christian University will be presenting her work.

Contact Information: Shu Jiang, shu.2.jiang@uconn.edu
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Mar 24 Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Victor Ferreira3:30pm

Psychology Colloquium: Dr. Victor Ferreira

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

Storrs Campus
Zoom Meeting

Dr. Victor Ferreira from Department of Psychology of UCSD will be presenting his work.

Contact Information: Shu Jiang, shu.2.jiang@uconn.edu
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