SOC388 - 8. Zerubavel Flashcards by Darlin Veloso

Cognitive Sociology

Studies way we think

Studied with Goffman

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Cognitive Sociology

Social structure in an abstract way

Interested in understanding perception of time (how we experience time)

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Cognitive Sociology

Interested in attention, perception, classifications (categories), memory (things we learn to remember), identity, meaning (how we construct it and how it shapes our behavior.

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Cognitive Sociology

Physiological foundation

Brain attain particular patterns in particular contexts

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Cognitive Sociology

Extent to which patterns in thinking are universal (either through physiology or culturally)
Cognitive sociologists study how groups of people construct the culture that mediates meaning for people

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Cognitive Sociology

How ideas we share mediate our behavior, interactions, social structure
Culture: ideas we share within our group

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Normative Dimension of Thinking

Sensation in form of emotion can have cultural scripts

Emotion expression regulation - what we are allowed to show and how we express it

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Normative Dimension of Thinking

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Sociomental Conventions

Mental norms shared by people

Understanding of cognition:

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Sociomental Conventions

Individual level – learn about narratives focused around individuals (Einstein)
Western understanding

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Sociomental Conventions

Thinking is so inherently social so the demarcation between individual + social thinking should be blurred

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Sociomental Conventions

No one thinks in a vacuum, innovators in history took ideas and were influenced by their context
Minds are not tabla rasa

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Sociomental Conventions

Universal Level: patterns in brain shared by all human animals
Social Level: patterns shared by a social group
Group can be large or small

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Sociomental Conventions

In between individual and universal

Insofar as thinking is shaped by norms, thinking is never just individual or universal

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Sociomental Conventions

Need to pay attention to universal patterns of thinking – forms basis of studying changes
When we have categories, we tend to focus on similarities – job interviews

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Sociomental Conventions

Function: Allows us to predict things – focus on differences of job interviews we would not be able to prepare – creates anxiety

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Cognitive Socialization

We are socialized to think in particular ways

Socialized to pay selective attention, memory

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Cognitive Socialization

Ignoring is just as important as paying attention to something – used to think it’s a passive thinking process
Not paying attention to an embarrassing moment – tact – active decision

Cognitive Socialization

Socialized to look at faces when we speak to each other, not socialized to pay attention to ears
We feel uncomfortable when they are looking at other body parts

Cognitive Socialization

Different sexes:

Idea that was prevalent before – presumed 2 mutually exclusive category

Cognitive Socialization

Back then these two sexes weren’t distinguished, used to focus on similarity
Then we looked at differences and morphology

Cognitive Socialization

Kinds of things we visually and cognitively focus on (similarities and differences)

Cognitive Socialization

Primary socialization – learn from parents on what we are supposed to ignore and not talk about
Some ideas are intersubjective and some are different

Cognitive Repertoire

All the patterns of thinking that we get from our groups that makes us who we are

Cognitive Repertoire

Web Of Sociomental Affiliations

We belong to different groups with different patterns of thinking Simmel

Web Of Sociomental Affiliations

Each group is a sociomental affiliation Web refers to that fact that there’s a lot of them Explains the complexity in thinking patterns

Web Of Sociomental Affiliations

Thought Communities

Belong to many thought communities Similarity with Durkheim’s collective consciousness Thought communities constitute our web of sociomental affiliations which in turn constitute our cognitive repertoire

Thought Communities

Kuhn – historian of science | Scientific revolutions which change ideas over time

Thought Communities

Happens when we encounter increasing number of problems using a theory to explain a phenomenon it results in a paradigm shift

Thought Communities

More epistemological change | Look more at relations of difference – makes us foreground things that are different

Thought Communities

Sociologists see social structure, deviance, bureaucracy which are abstract concepts others don’t see Trained to focus on normative and collective

Thought Communities

Islands of Meaning

Once we have the term, we can identify a specific phenomenon (deviance) Categories create meaning

Islands of Meaning

Once you have a concept (deviance), it creates an island of meaning that we place phenomenon in

Islands of Meaning

Three ways of thinking – vary across cultures Some are more rigid, more fuzzy or flexible ways Also variations within a culture