The cognitive turn in social psychology, advanced since the late 1970s by pioneers like Tory Higgins, Dave Hamilton, and John Bargh, fundamentally reshaped the field. Through the lens of social cognition research, central issues in social psychology (such as person perception, impression formation, social influence, intergroup relations) are investigated at the level of information processing. Studies of social cognition examine the structures and processes involved in forming representations and evaluations of social objects (e.g., people, groups). The seminar will provide students with an understanding of the concepts, methods and findings of research on the following main topics:
- The distinctive approach of social cognition: Factors of perceiving objects as human(-like)
- An early cognitive perspective: Attribution research
- (Automatic) activation of knowledge from memory in social thinking and behavior
- When social cognition becomes unfair: Stereotyping and prejudice
- Social cognition as co-cognition: Sharing representations with social subjects |
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