معرفی
Steven A Sloman is Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University, where he has taught since 1992. His research focuses on how people think, reason, make decisions, and form beliefs, with particular emphasis on causal reasoning and the social nature of cognition.
His research interests center on the community of knowledge concept - the idea that human cognition extends beyond individual minds into the social and physical environment. Sloman studies how people integrate their knowledge with others' knowledge, causal reasoning processes, judgment and decision-making, and categorization. His work demonstrates how people often overestimate their understanding (the 'illusion of explanatory depth') because they confuse others' knowledge for their own.
His publications reveal consistent exploration of causal models, reasoning systems, and the social foundations of cognition. A notable trend is his increasing focus on the 'community of knowledge' concept, showing how human intelligence depends on distributed cognition across social networks rather than residing solely within individual minds.
- Sorbonne University/INSEAD Distinguished Visiting Chair in Behavioral Sciences (2020)
- Elected Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society (2019)
- Elected Fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychologists (2019)
- Editor-in-Chief, Cognition (2015-2018)
- Elected Fellow of the Eastern Psychological Association (2010)
- Robert J. Glushko Distinguished Visiting Scholar (2009)
- Elected Fellow of the American Psychological Society (2009)
Sloman has supervised numerous students including Philip Fernbach, with whom he co-authored the influential book 'The Knowledge Illusion.' His funded research includes projects like 'Minimal Causal Explanation' ($216,000 from Fordham University and The John Templeton Foundation, 2014-2016), 'Opening minds by exposing the illusion of understanding' ($270,000 from Fuller Theological Seminary and The John Templeton Foundation, 2013-2014), and 'Causal models of decision making: Choice as intervention' ($300,000 from NSF, 2005).
Sloman maintains an active research laboratory at Brown University where his team investigates causal reasoning, decision-making processes, and the community of knowledge concept through experimental methods. His work bridges cognitive psychology with practical applications in areas like medical decision-making and information processing in the digital age.
