Toward Greater Integration: Fellows Perspectives on Cognitive Science

Abstract

Cognitive science is a multidisciplinary field. Whereas debates on whether this is beneficial continue to spring up, this multidisciplinarity comes with at least one obvious challenge, namely, safeguarding an increasing integration across its subfields. The new and open‐ended topic preluded here attempts to address this challenge by pursuing a multilayered agenda: to introduce the Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society and earn them the recognition and profile they deserve; to furnish a platform for reflection on cognitive science from a bird's eye view; and to present role models for younger generations. To achieve these goals, this topic provides all Fellows with an opportunity to showcase their scientific work, to outline what they consider to be its major contributions to cognitive science, and to elaborate on their visions for greater integration of the field.

Theoretical psychology: discursive transformations and continuity in Psychological Research/Psychologische Forschung

“…What necessitates this synthesis are the epistemological difficulties of experimental psychology which cannot be tackled by empirical research alone, for example the problem of disciplinary integration (Bender, 2022 ) or the choice of normative principles (Fiedler et al, 2022 ). These issues cannot be solved outside of the psychological discourse, for example in philosophy.…”

Introduction to topiCS Volume 14, Issue 1

“…Intended as an on-going and open-ended forum for all Fellows, the topic is launched here with a small, but fine selection of papers. In the preface to the Fellows Topic (Bender, 2022), the editor depicts its multilayered agenda and introduces the two Fellows who inaugurate the topic: Cleotilde 'Coty' Gonzalez from Carnegie Mellon University and Steven Sloman from Brown University, renowned for their work on, respectively, how people make decisions (summarized here in Gonzalez, 2022) and how they think (Sloman, 2022). The two not only do a great job outlining the answers that their research provides to fundamental questions in cognitive science, but they also provide a bird's eye view that allows for reflection on the field more broadly.…”

Introduction to topiCS Volume 16, Issue 1

“…We kick off with the newest contribution to the (ongoing) topic aimed at introducing the Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society (outlined in Bender, 2022), so far featuring articles by Cleotilde “Coty” Gonzalez (Gonzalez, 2022), Steven Sloman (Sloman, 2022), Jenny R. Saffran (Ruba, Pollak, & Saffran, 2022), and Michael J. Spivey (Spivey, 2023). This exclusive group is now joined by Barbara Malt from Lehigh University (US), who was elected Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society in 2022.…”