Call for participation; speakers and papers: CogSci2010 Workshop - Cognitive Social Sciences

CogSci2010 Workshop: Cognitive Social Sciences: Grounding the Social Sciences in the Cognitive Sciences Portland, Oregon, USA. 11 August, 2010 http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/wsp2010 This workshop is aimed at exploring the cognitive (psychological) basis of the social sciences and the possibilities of grounding the social sciences in cognition (psychology). The cognitive sciences have made tremendous strides in recent decades. In particular, computational cognitive modeling (i.e., computational psychology; Sun, 2008; Thagard, 1996) has changed the ways in which cognition/psychology is explored and understood in many profound respects. There have been many models of cognition/ psychology proposed in the cognitive sciences (broadly defined), leading to detailed understanding of many cognitive/psychological domains and functionalities. Empirical psychological research has also progressed to provide us with much better understanding of many psychological phenomena. Given the advances in the cognitive sciences, can we leverage the successes for the sake of better understanding social processes and phenomena? More fundamentally, can the cognitive sciences (including experimental cognitive psychology, computational psychology, social- personality psychology, developmental psychology, cultural psychology, psycholinguistics, philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and so on) provide a better foundation for important disciplines of the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, as well as some "humanity" fields: religious studies, history, legal studies, literary studies, communication, and so on)? Thus far, although very much a neglected topic, there nevertheless have been various efforts at exploring this topic. Some of the efforts were computationally motivated (see, e.g., Sun, 2006: "Cognition and multi-agent interaction", published by Cambridge University Press). Some other efforts were more empirical or theoretical in nature (see, e.g, Turner, 2001: "Cognitive Dimensions of Social Science", published by Oxford University Press). There are both theoretical and practical rationales for developing "cognitive social sciences" (see Turner, 2001; Sun, 2006; DiMaggio, 1997; Camerer, 2003; Tetlock and Goldgeier, 2000). We contend that the social sciences may find their future in the cognitive sciences (at least in part), which may well lead to a powerful and productive combined intellectual enterprise. This combination or grounding may provide the social sciences with imaginative scientific research programs, hybridization/integration, new syntheses, novel paradigms/ frameworks, and so on, beside providing the cognitive sciences with new data sources and problems to address. PROGRAM The speakers and papers have been selected, including, among others, Paul Thagard, Mark Turner, Pascal Boyer, Selmer Bringsjord, Jun Zhang, Christian Lebiere, Cleotilde Gonzalez, Rosaria Conte, etc. The full schedule/papers/abstracts are available at http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/wsp2010 REGISTRATION The workshop is open to all registered attendees of the CogSci conference. Registration is now open and details are available at http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2010/registration.html (A late fee of US$100 applies after 7 July, 2010.) Please indicate clearly on the registration form that you intend to attend this workshop. DATES 7 July, 2010: Last day before registration late fee applies 11 August, 2010: Workshop 12-14 August, 2020: CogSci 2010 conference