Social judgments
Class: Monday, 1:30pm - 4:30pm, Cohen Hall 337
Office hours: Monday, 10pm - 12pm. I can also take appointments, contact me by email (hugo.mercier "at" gmail.com).
Course requirements
The grade will be based on:
- Participation in class (30%). Also includes questions regarding the readings to be sent on the Sunday before each class.
- Two short papers during the term (30%). These papers will bear on any of the readings discussed so far. They have to be at least 1,500 words long (without the references). The deadlines are: October 23 and November 20.
- One long paper and its presentation (40%). This paper can bear on any of the topics addressed in the class (possibly several of them). It has to be at least 3,500 words long (without the references). The deadline is the last class, during which students will present their work to the class (December 05).
1: Introduction 09-12
The methodology of experimental psychology will be very quickly described. A few core concepts, such as unconscious and modularity will also be introduced.
Here are the slides: first and second part.
2: The social life of non-human primates 09-19
Chapters from de Waal, Chimpanzee Politics
3: Modularity and the social self 09-26
Chapters from Kurzban, Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite
4: Emotions 10-03
Chapters from Frank, Passions within Reason
5: Understanding others 10-17
Ross and Ward, Naive Realism, & Nickerson, The Projective Way of Knowing
6: Communication 10-24
Chapters from Gambetta, Codes of the Underworld
7: Reasoning 10-31
Mercier & Sperber, The Argumentative Theory
8: Conspicuous consumption 11-07
Chapters from Miller, Spent
9: Morality 11-14
Haidt, The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail
10: Inequality 11-21
Chapters from Wilkinson & Picket, The Spirit Level
11: Applications 11-28
Chapters from Thaler & Sunstein, Nudge
12: Presentations 12-05