Mind-Brain Lecture: Eric Knowles (NYU)
organized by Vittorio Gallese's Einstein group
Social class is increasingly understood as a cultural phenomenon, with
different classes defined by divergent values, lay theories, and
self-concepts. In this talk, I describe findings from an ongoing
research program on the social-cognitive effects of social-class
cultures. I first discuss how social classes arise as adaptations to
particular resource ecologies (i.e., levels of wealth, education, and
other forms of capital). I then present evidence that social classes
possess characteristic lay theories and values concerning the
"motivational relevance" of other people—such that higher-class
individuals chronically regard other people as relatively irrelevant to
their goals and well-being. I argue that, through these forms of
cultural knowledge, social class affects social cognition in deep ways.
Specifically, I show that higher social class is associated with reduced
visual attention to other human beings and poorer Theory of Mind
performance as compared to lower social class. I close by outlining a
research agenda for further studies of the influence of social-class
cultures on social cognition.
Eric Knowles, New York University
https://psych.nyu.edu/knowles/
