Steven Sloman

Steven Sloman is a Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. His research focuses on higher-level cognition, decision making, and collective cognition, with notable work exploring how communities think and the 'knowledge illusion' phenomenon detailed in his book The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone. He holds editorial roles at Cognition and Psychological Science.

Sloman earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University (1990) and joined Brown in 1992. His research examines causal reasoning, political cognition, and the interplay between individual and collective thought processes. He has contributed to discussions on misinformation, AI ethics, and policy evaluation through interdisciplinary lenses.

His work bridges cognitive science with societal challenges, addressing topics like radicalization via deepfakes, polarization effects in problem-solving, and the role of causal models in decision-making. Sloman’s findings have been featured in media such as Scientific American and The New Yorker.