Critical Cognition Syllabus
Publications that outline a critical approach to cognition:
A New Path: Why we need Critical Approaches to Cognitive and Psychological Sciences.
“Lack of an easy universality doesn’t mean there is less for cognitive and psychological researchers to study. On the contrary, there can still be structure and tendencies in the iterative interaction between humans and their environment that researchers may characterize and seek to understand.”
What Can Cognitive Science do for people?
“No group of people’s cognition should be relegated to an interesting exception because their culture or nation-state is not (currently) dominating the scientific research enterprise.”
Fear Not of Cognition and Context
“our fundamental understanding of what we study must change from an inward-looking focus on internal cognitive processes to an expansive multilevel consideration of humans in their developmental, cultural and societal context. It is in this context that humans are inextricably embedded. It is in this context that we must position cognition to have any chance of truly understanding it.“
Reconstructing the Study of Human Cognition
“A comprehensive reconsideration of the assumptions, level of analysis,
the scope of consideration, and the overall approach of cognitive research may be
needed in order for the field to progress.”
Critical cognitive science: A systematic review towards a critical science
“The chase for generalizability embodies colorblindness in that the universal assumptions leave no room for diversity”
Readings for further expansion and edification
The papers listed are based off years of reading around topics related to how we study human cognition. The categories I use are somewhat ad hoc and not mutually exclusive. The list are more of an introduction than a comprehensive coverage of the topic, meant to get the reader some introductory knowledge. Many potential followup readings are available in the bibliographies of the listed papers. Don’t take the presence of a paper as necessarily an endorsement of 100% of the authors perspective. I’m happy to take feedback on the lists. Please add any suggestions below.
Meta Science and Science Reform
Black, Feminist and Cultural Psychologies
History of Science
Race Science and Racism in Psychology