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| NYU Psychology | Programs | Courses | Research | Faculty | People | Events | Contacts | [Internal] |
| Carol Feldman | |
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| Research | Biography | Publications | Address |
| Research Associate
Professor Developmental ResearchI have always worked in the area that is the nexus between cognition and language, and I am particularly interested at present in the cognition of human affairs. What are its general patterns in adults, what are its developmental patterns, and what intellectual and cultural resources do they draw upon? In the latter category, it is already evident that such cognition draws upon, indeed incorporates, such supportive materials as the literary genres of the local culture, including such genres of the popular culture as those of television and cinema, but also such specialized genres as stories exemplifying the law of contracts and torts. The rule-governed patterns of autobiography and fiction, to mention two such genres that we have studied, become ways of thinking. Once learned, such genres can come to serve as mental models.It also draws upon history and its mythic tales. We are interested, for example, in how current ideas of American Identity are built out of them. All thinking is situated in a cultural context, and draws upon it. But perhaps the understanding of human action is more dependent on local cultural materials than the seemingly universal cognition of, say, scientific or mathematical understanding, or is dependent on them in a different way. This may be due in part to the way human actions, which are the target domain, are themselves largely a response to cultural considerations, particularly in the absence of biological stress. Not only is the target domain distinctive, but so also are the goals of the understanding of human action. Except in some distinctive situations such as prisons, where control may become a paramount goal, the usual goal for understanding human action is to discover the meaning of events that have already occurred or could occur, rather than to predict or control events. In this sense, the cognition of human affairs can be thought of as "interpretive" rather than explanatory, and it can perhaps be usefully called "interpretive cognition." In our lab, Jerome Bruner and I take as our main focus research
on interpretive cognition, especially its empirical expression under a variety
of conditions. Along the way, we grapple with its philosophical underpinnings,
its very considerable methodological challenges, and its expression in law.* The
research is supported by the Spencer Foundation. back
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Bruner, Jerome (2003). Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. C. Feldman (2002). Genres as Mental and Cultural Models: Interpretation in a Cultural Community. In F. Rastier and S. Bouquet (eds.), "Une Introduction aux Sciences de la Culture. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France (In the Series "Formes Semiotiques.") C. Feldman (2002). The Construction of Mind and Self in an Interpretive Community. In: "Literacy, Narrative, and Culture. J. Brockheimer, M. Wang and D. Olson, (eds.) London:Curzon. C. Feldman (2001). Narratives of National Identity as Group Narratives: Patterns of Interpretive Cognition. In J. Brockmeier and Donal Carbaugh (eds.), "Narrative and Identity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Press. Amsterdam, A. G. & Bruner, J.S. (2000). Minding the Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. C. Feldman and A. Akerman (in press). American National Identity: Cultural Changes 1997-1999. C. Mattingly and U. Jensen (eds). Aarhus, Denmark: The University Press C. Feldman and D. Kalmar (1996). Autobiography and Fiction as Modes of Thought. In D. Olson and N. Torrance (eds.), "Modes of "Thought: Explorations in Culture and Cognition (pp. 106-122). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Also, paperback edition, 1996. C. Feldman and S. Toulmin (1976). Logic and the Theory of Mind. "Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1975": 409-476. back to the top
Department of
Psychology Email: carol.feldman@nyu.edu Updated |