-- Cognitive Lecture Series --

"Un"common Sense: Shifting Perspectives in

the Anthropological Investigation

of Cognition

James Mullooly, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology

DATE: February 3rd
TIME: 12 Noon
WHERE: CSUF Science 2, Room 107

ABSTRACT:

"Common sense" can be considered social or psychological depending on whether one stresses the "common" or the "sense". Occupying an intermediate space between sociology and psychology, the investigation of common sense is conducted outside of normal channels in areas like social psychology, ethnomethodology and cognitive anthropology. This presentation will open with a general introduction to cognitive anthropology and will be followed by a detailed investigation of the nature and stability of common sense. Cognitive anthropologists argue that an individual's indigenous cognitive categories are used to make sense of reality. Research I have conducted on struggling middle school students illustrates that "common sense" can considerably shift for isolated groups. Deck Time is a ritual enacted at a summer camp the students attend where they are asked to share high points of their day. I argue that the social landscape of Deck Time is reframed in such a way that common sense understandings of student responses change to allow all responses (correct or not) to be considered correct. I will emphasize the patterning of a social field according to specifically "cultural" principles and in the process, suggest implications for social cognition.