46487 - Psychology of Intercultural Communication (1)

Course contents

The course cocuses on the effects of cultures and of languages on cognitive processes. 

Program:

Embodied and grounded cognition

Situated and distributed cognition

Extended mind, extended body

Nature and culture.

WEIRD: universalism in psychology

Perception, attention and cultures

Categorization and cultural differences

Thinking processes and cultures

Communications and cultures 

Language, spoken languages and body

Words As social Tools (WAT)

The case of abstract words

Experimental work

Readings/Bibliography

Program for students who will follow the course

1) Book:
a)  Liuzza, M.T., Cimatti, F., Borghi, A.M. (2010). Lingue, corpo e pensiero: Le ricerche contemporanee. Roma: Carocci.

In alternative: 

B1) Jesse Prinz (2011). Beyond human nature. How culture and experience shape the human mind. London, New York: Penguin. 

Or B2) Borghi, A.M., Binkofski, F. (2014).Words as social tools: An embodied view on abstract concepts. London, New York: Springer. 

2) one psychology paper in English (see the possible articles below, program for students who will not follow the course)

3) Slides will be available on the website http://laral.istc.cnr.it/borghi. The slides on each topic will be available one week after the presentation in class.

 

Program for students who will not follow the course

1) Book to read
a) Liuzza, M.T., Cimatti, F., Borghi, A.M. (2010). Lingue, corpo e pensiero: Le ricerche contemporanee. Roma: Carocci.
b) In alternative: Jesse Prinz (2011). Beyond human nature. How culture and experience shape the human mind. London, New York: Penguin.

2) One book among the following ones (the student can choose also the one he/she did not choose among the books at point 1):

Giuseppe Mantovani, Intercultura. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Cristina Zucchermaglio, Psicologia culturale dei gruppi. Roma: Carocci.

Paola Villano/ Riccio Culture e mediazioni. Bologna: mulino.

Lev Vygotsky, Pensiero e linguaggio.

Jean Lave e Etienne Wenger: L'apprendimento situato. Dall'osservazione alla partecipazione attiva nei contesti sociali. Trento: Erikson, 2006. 

 Elinor Ochs. Linguaggio e cultura. Roma: Carocci, 2006.

Andrea Carnaghi, Luciano Arcuri. Parole e categorie. Milano: Cortina, 2007.

3) Papers to read:

a. Heinrich, J. e Heine, S.J., (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2010.

b. Caruana, F. e Borghi, A.M. (2013). Embodied cognition: Una nuova psicologia. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia.

 

4) At least one paper to read among the following ones:

Malt, B.C., Sloman, S.A., Gennari, S., Shi, M., Wang, Y. (1999). Knowing versus naming: Similarity and the linguistic categorization of artifacts. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 230-262.

Borghi, A.M., Flumini, A., Cimatti, F., Marocco, D. & Scorolli, C. (2011).Manipulating objects and telling words: A study on concrete and abstract words acquisition. Frontiers in Cognition 2:15.

Paglieri F., Borghi, A.M., Colzato L.S., Hommel B., Scorolli C. (2013). Heaven can wait: How religion modulates temporal discounting. Psychological Research.

Lai VT, Boroditsky L. (2013). The immediate and chronic influence of spatio-temporal metaphors on the mental representations of time in english, mandarin, and mandarin-english speakers. Frontiers in Psychol ogy, 4:142. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00142.

Regier, T., Kay, P., Cook, R. (2005). Focal Colors Are Universal After All. PNAS, 102, 8386-8391.

Majid, A., Bowerman, M., Kita, S., Haun D.B.M, Levinson, S.C. (2004). Can language restructure cognition? The case for space. Trends in cognitive science, 8, 108-114.

 

Teaching methods

- lectures
- group exercises aimed at learning to plan and evaluate an experiment.
- group presentations followed by discussions

Assessment methods

For students who will follow the course.

The exam will consist in the writing and presentation of a group work, which will be discussed during the last lectures. Basis: one of the English papers, book Liuzza-Cimatti-Borghi (or, alternatively, book by Jesse Prinz or by Borghi-Binkofski.

For students who will not follow the course.

The exam will consist in an oral discussion.

Teaching tools

Slides will be available on the website http://laral.istc.cnr.it/borghi. The slides on each topic will be available one week after the lecture presentation.

Office hours

See the website of Anna Maria Borghi