Economists are still locked into sequential, top-down models of thought and action. But economists must be exposed to these ideas and internalize them. The third theme has to do with the social aspects of cognitive activity. Cognitive science is beginning to grapple with cognition in groups, just as economic theorists are trying to understand the implications of information sharing in groups as well as the possibilities for what they call the problem of social learning, that is, learning by observing the actions of others. John Padgett, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, illustrated some of these dimensions in a talk on social networks and political parties in Medici Florence.
Plans are under way to continue the economics program's cognitive science initiative.
Workshop participants have been invited to put together small research groups and to meet at the Institute to continue work on the issues discussed during the workshop. All rights reserved.